Quick facts
Location (indicated in orange on the map): Wild Animal
Park, east of Nairobi Village
Size: African elephant exhibit is 3 acres (1.2 hectares); Asian elephant
exhibit is 2.5 acres (1 hectare)
Opening date: May 10, 1972
Nearest food stand: Elephant Cart
Be sure to look for…
African elephants
Asian elephants
More
• A Statement about Elephants from the Executive Director
• VIP Tours
• See images of the baby elephants
• Blog: Sound the Alarm!
Listen to an iZoofari Chat with an elephant keeper.
Other animal cams
Your generous donation helps animals here and in their wild homes. Please consider joining our conservation team today! For more on our conservation efforts...
Elephant Overlook
See photos of our elephant calves...
Blog: Elephant Search: Finding a Needle in a Haystack
Meet
the Park's |
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| Mabu | Swazi |
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| Moya | Samba |
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| Umngani | Lungile |
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| Ndula | Musi |
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| Khosi | Punga |
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| Kamile | |
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Room to move
There are lots of ways to view elephants these days. You can travel to Africa or Asia, of course, but the easiest way to observe these mighty creatures is to come to the Wild Animal Park! We have two large exhibit areas for our elephant herds: one for our Asian elephant group and another one for our African elephants.
An elevated walking path called the Elephant Overlook takes you out between the two exhibit areas to see what our pachyderms are up to. You can also view elephants next to the Elephant Show area or along the road next to the Asian elephants' enclosure.
Most elephants enjoy a dip in a pool of water, or at least like to get their feet wet. Each elephant exhibit offers a large pond, shaded with trees, for the elephants to do just that. There are also shade structures made of simulated rock and plenty of room to roam. From the elephant overlook you can even view each exhibit's elephant barn and holding yards, where the elephants go in the mornings when the keepers are cleaning the spacious main yards and hiding treats for the elephants to discover.
Fun facts
- A herd of seven African elephants, scheduled to be culled in Swaziland due to overpopulation, safely arrived in San Diego on a truly "jumbo" plane in August 2003. They are one of the most genetically valuable African elephant herds in North America.
- One of the Park's Asian elephants, Carol, became famous in the 1970s for her ability to "paint." Her paintings were used as fund-raisers.
- An African elephant named Hatari starred in a 1962 motion picture of the same name with John Wayne before arriving at the Wild Animal Park.
- In 1989 the Wild Animal Park began a "protected contact" system for handling elephants. In this system, keepers work with elephants from a shielded position, usually behind a barrier with openings that allows access to the elephant. We now work with other animal species in the same way.
- It's not a UFO! The round, yellow object in the background of our Elephant Cam is the Park's Balloon Safari ride.
2008 African elephant conservation program in Kenya
Elephants in the wild need large areas of land to roam and feed, but as they range, they often come into conflict with human settlements. This project will research elephant feeding and travel patterns within the Northern Rangelands Trust region. Researchers from our Behavioral Biology Division will train, educate, and work with local people to create a sustainable conservation management program where humans and elephants can co-exist.
