Nairobi National Park Elephant Orphanage – Sheldrick Trust Visiting Guide, Costs & What to Expect
The Nairobi National Park elephant orphanage is the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Nursery, located inside the park at Mbagathi Gate. Open 11 AM to noon daily except December 25. Advance booking required directly through SWT. No walk-ins. No third-party bookings. Entry donation: KES 2,000 citizen / $20 non-resident. You also pay a separate KWS park entry fee: KES 1,000 EA citizen / KES 1,350 resident / $40 African citizen / $80 non-resident via kwspay.ecitizen.go.ke.
Public Visit vs Foster Visit
11 AM Public ($15) | 5 PM Foster (requires $50 adoption) | |
Crowd | 200-400 people | 20-30 people |
Vibe | High energy, narrated, mud splashing | Quiet, stabling ritual, blankets |
Interaction | Behind rope, accidental touches | Closer to stables, more personal |
Photography | Action shots, mud wallowing | Golden hour light, stable portraits |
Maxwell | Not visible | Full view from adjacent enclosure |
Before you leave, there’s usually a table where you can sign up to adopt/foster one of the orphans. Check the SWT website for the current nursery herd. In April 2026, visitors ask for Kipekee (the high-energy favourite) and Kaikai by name. Don’t miss Tytan, an orphaned black rhino who’s bonded with Notty the zebra. A rhino and zebra as best friends is a 2026-only sighting at the nursery.
Combine Sheldrick with a Game Drive
This is what we recommend. If you’re paying park entry anyway, use the full day.
The standard combo:
Time | Activity |
6:00 AM | Hotel pickup, enter NNP via East Gate |
6:00-10:30 AM | Morning game drive (Athi Basin for rhinos, western circuit for birds) |
10:30 AM | Exit park, drive to Mbagathi Gate |
11:00 AM-12:00 PM | Sheldrick orphanage mud bath |
12:30 PM | Lunch (optional) |
2:00 PM | |
3:00 PM | Return to hotel |
Full-Day Combo Pricing (Per Person, 2 Sharing)
EA Citizen | Resident | African Citizen | Non-Resident | |
NNP + Sheldrick + Giraffe | KES 19,170 | KES 19,480 | $196 | $230 |
These prices reflect a 15% discount on standard rates, available on off-peak days subject to availability. On high-booking days and peak season (July-September), normal rates apply.
Included: Private Land Cruiser with pop-up roof, TRA licensed guide, fuel, park entry and gateway fee, vehicle entry fee, Sheldrick donation, Giraffe Centre entry, water, hotel pickup anywhere in Nairobi, airport transfers, M-Pesa backup.
Not included: Meals, guide tip ($20-50), travel insurance.
Email [email protected]
2026/2027 Quick Stats
Detail | Status (April 2026) |
Booking | Mandatory, 1-3 months ahead for peak dates |
SWT donation | $20 / KES 2,000 (cash only at nursery) |
KWS park fee | $80 / KES 1,000 (eCitizen Guest Pay) |
Best arrival | 10:15 AM at Mbagathi Gate |
Must-see residents | Kipekee the elephant, Tytan the rhino |
Is the elephant orphanage closing? No. The KWS Nairobi Animal Orphanage (the separate facility near Main Gate) is being relocated for the new Bomas convention centre. The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Nursery is not moving. These are two different places. SWT stays where it is.
Costs and Entry Fees
Two separate payments are required. Most visitors don’t realize this until they arrive.
SWT Nursery Donation (paid in cash at nursery)
Rate | |
Kenyan citizen / resident | KES 2,000 |
Non-resident adult | $20 |
Non-resident child (under 12) | $5 |
Foster parent | Free |
KWS Park Entry Fee (paid online before arrival)
EA Citizen | Resident | African Citizen | Non-Resident | |
Adult | KES 1,000 | KES 1,350 | $40 | $80 |
Child | KES 300 | KES 500 | $20 | $40 |
Plus 5% KWS gateway fee. Pay via kwspay.ecitizen.go.ke. As of 2026, there’s a “Guest” checkout so tourists don’t need to create a full account.
African Citizen rates apply to any African Union passport holder. Resident rates require a Kenyan Work Permit or Alien Card.
If you’re only visiting Sheldrick and not doing a game drive, you still pay the full KWS park entry fee. This catches visitors off guard. Several people have told me they felt the $80 non-resident park fee was steep just to visit the orphanage for one hour. I understand. But KWS controls the gate and there’s no orphanage-only ticket.
The silver lining: your KWS ticket is valid for the rest of the day. You’ve already paid, so you might as well do a game drive afterward.
What Is the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage
The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust rescues orphaned baby elephants and rhinos from across Kenya. The Nairobi Nursery is the first stage. Orphans arrive here as infants, sometimes just days old, traumatized and often dehydrated. A team of keepers raises them around the clock. Each keeper sleeps in the stable with their assigned elephant.
The trust is named after David Sheldrick, the founding warden of Tsavo East National Park in 1948. His wife, Dame Daphne Sheldrick, was the first person in history to perfect the milk formula (Lactogen mixed with coconut oil) that makes hand-raising infant elephants possible. Without that formula, this orphanage wouldn’t exist.
When the orphans reach about four years old, they move to reintegration units in Tsavo (Voi, Ithumba, or Umani Springs) where they gradually learn to be wild again.
SWT has successfully raised and reintegrated over 320 elephants. In 2025-2026, visitors have followed the story of Chapeyu, one of the oldest orphans ever rescued, who was treated for a spear wound and is now at the Voi unit.
The public visit is the midday mud bath. For one hour, you watch the nursery herd drink milk and play in the mud while a senior keeper narrates each rescue story. If you arrive by 10:45 AM, you’ll catch the warm coconut oil and vanilla scent drifting from the milk mixing room behind the green buildings as the keepers prepare the formula.
How to Book
This trips people up more than anything.
You must book directly through the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Third-party bookings (through tour operators, online travel agents, or hotel concierges) are not valid. If you show up with a booking made through someone else, you won’t get in.
Book as early as possible. Popular dates fill up weeks in advance, especially during school holidays and peak tourist season (July-September). The booking system asks for names and number of adults and children.
The SWT donation is paid in cash on arrival at the nursery, not online. The KWS park entry fee is separate and should be paid in advance through kwspay.ecitizen.go.ke. Don’t confuse the two. Paying one doesn’t cover the other.
Screenshot both your eCitizen KWS receipt and your SWT booking confirmation before you leave your hotel. Mobile signal at Mbagathi Gate is patchy. If you can’t pull up the email at the gate, the rangers won’t let you through. No scan, no entry, even with a paid booking.
Getting to the Orphanage
The nursery is inside Nairobi National Park, accessed through the KWS Mbagathi Gate (also called the KWS Workshop Gate or Magadi Gate), on Magadi Road.
Standard GPS often directs visitors to the Main Gate on Lang’ata Road. You cannot reach the orphanage from Main Gate. You must use Mbagathi Gate on Magadi Road. With the Bomas International Convention Centre construction on Magadi Road in 2026, the old “10:15 AM Galleria” rule is now 9:45 AM. If you aren’t past the Galleria Mall junction by then, construction and truck traffic will make you late. No late entries.
If you arrive by taxi or Uber, your driver drops you at the KWS gate. The driver doesn’t need to pay park entry unless they’re coming in with you. SWT runs a shuttle vehicle between 10:15 AM and 11:30 AM that carries walk-in visitors from the gate to the nursery.
If you’re doing a morning game drive first and heading to Sheldrick afterwards, your guide drives you directly to the nursery from inside the park. This is the most common way our clients visit. The timing works perfectly: game drive 6-10:30 AM, exit park, re-enter through Mbagathi Gate, arrive at nursery by 10:45.
One thing to know: if you leave the park after your game drive and want to re-enter for Sheldrick, you pay a second KWS park entry fee. There’s no re-entry pass. Plan your route carefully.
What Happens During the Hour
Gates close at 11 AM sharp. Arrive by 10:45 at the latest.
The viewing area is an open field with rope barriers separating visitors from the elephants. A worn footpath leads in from the bush. When the keepers release the herd, the elephants come running down that path. If you want the best view, stand directly opposite the end of the footpath. That’s where they enter and where the action is.
The herd usually comes in two groups. Each group gets bottles of milk. The formula is Lactogen (a human infant formula) mixed with coconut oil. They drink fast and messily. When they guzzle, they spray. The formula dries like glue on fabric and has a sweet-sour smell that lingers on your clothes all day. Don’t wear silk or anything dry-clean-only.
Look at the bottle caps. Some have yellow markings, others blue. That’s not random. Different caps indicate different nutritional recipes. Some orphans have stomach issues, others need more fat. It’s the kind of detail you’d never notice from a blog post.
After the bottles, they play in the mud wallow. Some spray water. Some roll. The smallest ones fall over each other.
A senior keeper narrates over a microphone. You’ll hear each elephant’s name, where it was rescued, what happened to its mother. Some stories are hard. A calf found next to its poached mother. Another pulled from a well. Look for keepers in green duster coats. The ones with faded, worn coats are “Master Keepers,” the most experienced. They’re the only ones allowed to handle neonates, the newborns who are extremely sensitive to human touch.
Most visitors crowd the middle of the rope line for photos. Stand at the far left or far right corners instead. That’s where keepers transition elephants between the nursery group and the older group. You get a head-on shot of elephants walking toward you, not just side profiles of them drinking.
The smell is what stays with me. Wet red earth, elephant dung, and that sweet-sour tang of the Lactogen. It’s not unpleasant. It smells like a stable after rain.
Watch the keepers’ hands on sunny days. They slather sunscreen on the babies’ ears. On rainy days, they follow the smallest orphans with big green umbrellas. If you see a calf wearing a thick blanket even in warm weather, it’s likely a neonate or a teething elephant struggling to regulate its temperature. Around 4 months old, their molars erupt and they lose weight fast. The blanket keeps them stable.
After the mud bath, the elephants walk back up the path in a line, and the keepers guide them to their bush areas. If you adopted an elephant online ($50 per year), you can return at 5 PM for the Bedtime Visit. This isn’t another mud bath. It’s the stabling, where keepers tuck the babies into their rooms with actual blankets and hanging milk bottles. Maybe 20 people attend. It’s quiet and intimate. Maxwell the blind rhino’s enclosure is right next to the stables, and this is the closest you’ll get to seeing him since he’s not part of the public visit.
What People Don’t Tell You
It’s crowded. There’s no way around this. The viewing area is compact and on busy days, visitors jostle for rope-front positions. Come early and claim your spot. The 5 PM foster parent visit is much quieter if you’ve adopted online.
You can’t meet Maxwell during the public visit. Maxwell is the famous blind black rhino near the nursery. SWT’s website confirms he’s not available during the 11 AM session. Your best chance is the 5 PM Bedtime Visit (foster parents only), where his enclosure is next to the stables.
Leave the white t-shirt at the hotel. The elephants splash mud and water everywhere. I’ve seen visitors leave looking like they’d been through a rainstorm of red clay.
The gift shop is cashless in 2026: Visa, Mastercard, or M-Pesa only. It’s also not always open. If you adopt on-site ($50 minimum), you get a physical nursery pack with a watercolor print and printed annual newsletter. If you only brought USD cash for the SWT donation, you won’t be able to buy souvenirs.
The noon exit jam. When the orphans head back at noon, 300+ visitors rush to the parking lot. This deadlocks Mbagathi Gate. Instead of joining the queue toward Galleria Mall, tell your driver to head to the KWS Clubhouse inside the park for lunch. By 1:30 PM the traffic has cleared.
Wear closed shoes. The path from parking to the viewing area is rocky and uneven.
People Also Ask
Is the Nairobi elephant orphanage worth visiting? Yes, if you prebook and combine it with a game drive. The elephant stories are moving and the mud bath is fun to watch. It’s crowded, but still worth the hour.
How much does it cost to visit the elephant orphanage? KES 2,000 citizen / $20 non-resident for SWT, plus KWS park entry: KES 1,000 EA citizen / $80 non-resident. Full fee details.
Do I need to book in advance? Yes. Booking is mandatory through the SWT website. Third-party bookings aren’t accepted. Popular dates fill weeks ahead.
What time does the orphanage open? 11 AM to noon daily except December 25. Arrive by 10:45. Gates close at 11 AM sharp.
Can I touch the elephants? Sometimes. If a baby elephant comes close to the rope, brief contact happens naturally. But the keepers don’t encourage it and you shouldn’t reach over the barrier.
Is it the same as the Nairobi Animal Orphanage? No. The Nairobi Animal Orphanage is a separate KWS facility near Main Gate (currently being relocated for the Bomas convention centre). Sheldrick is specifically for orphaned elephants and rhinos, and it’s not moving.
How do I get there without a car? Taxi or Uber to Mbagathi Gate (KWS Workshop Gate on Magadi Road). SWT runs a shuttle from the gate to the nursery between 10:15 and 11:30 AM. Your driver stays at the gate unless you’ve paid their park entry too.
Can I do Sheldrick on a JKIA layover? Tight but possible if your layover is 6+ hours. Day trip logistics.
What is the official name of the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage? The official name is the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (SWT). The Nairobi facility is called the SWT Nairobi Nursery. It’s commonly referred to as the “David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage” or just “the elephant orphanage.”
Where is David Sheldrick located? Inside Nairobi National Park, accessed via the KWS Mbagathi Gate (also called the Workshop Gate) on Magadi Road. Not through Main Gate on Lang’ata Road. Directions.
Plan Your Visit
Tell us your dates and we’ll build the right Nairobinationalpark.co.ke itinerary around Sheldrick. Morning game drive, orphanage at 11, Giraffe Centre in the afternoon. One day, three experiences.
Written by James Miner. Edited by Cess Wambui and Steve Ndungu (TRA licensed safari guide).
Last updated: March 2026. Visiting information verified with Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and Kenya Wildlife Service. Park fees via kwspay.ecitizen.go.ke.
