Elephant Havens
One of our beneficiaries is Elephant Havens - Botswana's only elephant orphanage that has made great strides toward the preservation of the African elephant by rescuing orphaned and abandoned elephants, reducing human-elephant conflict, and protecting wild habitats from human encroachment.
Founded in 2018 by Americans Debra Stevens, her husband Scott Jackson and local Guide Boago Poloko, Elephant Havens has experienced a rush of rescues in recent times. One need not look further than a baby elephant's feeding schedule, to realize the magnitude of the work this NPO does.
A baby elephant adds roughly two pounds of body weight each day after birth. This requires full-time handlers feeding a young calf every 3 hours around the clock - and unlike the human world, this intensive feeding scheme doesn’t improve after the first six weeks!
This is intensive yet equally rewarding work, as Elephant Havens has an excellent track record in rearing young elephants before releasing them back into the wild once they’re ready.
Community Upliftment
Elephant Havens has not only welcomed new orphans into their care, they've also grown to serve two schools, and secure a new school bus. This has made a huge difference in school attendance rates as the little ones no longer must walk miles through a wildlife corridor to get to school safely.
In one of their most recent updates, Shorobe Primary School (which serves more than 400 students) has been repainted inside and out. In addition to this 'facelift' the original historic 1963 school building and classroom from pre-independence days, has been restored and brought back to use. Each classroom block has been named after a different elephant orphan at Elephant Havens.
The impact of donor support is felt not only by a young short-tailed orphan named Makoba, who escaped a leopard only to lose a portion of his tail, but also by the youth and local people of Botswana—many of whom are now steady advocates for these elephants after seeing first-hand what a positive impact a conservation mindset can bring to a community and a country.
