This is the Story of Phabeni, the New Baby Elephant Orphan at HERD

Elephant
Elephant
18 Video Views·Jan 7, 2026

Little Phabeni is an orphaned four-month-old elephant that was rescued in November 2023. One morning, a woman living near the Kruger National Park in Mpumalanga, on the park's boundary at Crocodile River, woke up to find an elephant calf in her property. There was no sign of his mother or herd.

The woman wanted to do the right thing and asked us how she could go about giving the calf milk. It is not an easy task to raise a baby elephant orphan, and is much better done by a dedicated elephant orphanage like HERD. It is a difficult process as in the longterm the baby will become an adult elephant that needs a family. Giving a calf milk is always tricky and giving the wrong milk can be fatal - even if it is only once.

Officials from Nature Conservation at the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency were sent to the scene and while en route contacted us at HERD to ask if we could step in to help. Having a request from Nature Conservation directly is much easier when it comes to getting the right paperwork for an export permit. This permit is needed to transport the elephant from Mpumalanga, in this case, to the Limpopo province where HERD is situated. Paperwork is essential in moving wild animals as you need permits in order to avoid and restrain the illegal movement of animals and animal parts.

While this was happening, wildlife vets from the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency, including Chris Hobkirk - who in fact helped rescue Khanyisa - were called to help tranquilise the baby for transport. Nature Conservation had a big crate for rhinos and could accommodate the little elephant.

"One of the vets made contact with me, as he wanted to know what I suggested he give the baby, based on our usual operating procedures," says Adine. "I really appreciated this as tranquilising wildlife is tricky business and how you go about it creates different after-effects. We discussed our estimates for the calf's weight based on what I saw on the videos and photos sent to me, and what I had experienced in the past. The calf was tranquilised and loaded into the crate. The vet handed a top-up tranquiliser to the team, as this would be needed for the trip to HERD. We didn't want to give the calf too much at once, as any sedation always has its risks. The vet also confirmed with me that the elephant had small injuries that will likely heal easily."

With the help of the veterinarians, the calf was transported to Kruger National Park's Phabeni gate, where the HERD team was waiting for him.

Comments are disabled for this video.