Meet Our New Baby – Jotto!

I had the pleasure of visiting the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya on my last trip to Africa. I also met a little orphaned elephant named Jotto and quickly decided that he should become a member of the Infinite Safari Adventures family.

HERE IS HIS STORY:

Jotto is a young male calf who was found down a well on March 19th, 2016. Wells and farming essentials are accidents waiting to happen for many native African animals.

Local herdsmen reported the trapped calf to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and Jotto was rescued on March 20th while other team members searched in vain for Jotto’s mother. Sadly, his herd most likely left him with heavy hearts and no conceivable way to extract him from the well.

March is always the hottest time of the year in Kenya, particularly at lower altitudes, and this year due to the equinox combined with unpredictable weather patterns due to global warming, ambient temperatures countrywide were a lot warmer than anyone can remember, with advice to people at sea level to remain indoors and take regular cold showers in order to avoid heat stroke. For this reason, we named this little well victim “Jotto” (in Swahili spelled ‘Jotto’ and pronounced “Injoto~ – the word that describes such hot conditions).

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is a must on any elephant-lovers’ itinerary to Kenya. Their adoptions are affordable and they take great care of each and every animal.

Additionally, we will be in regular communication with the team at DSWT for updates on Jotto so you can follow along as our little baby grows up.