Elephant sanctuary · South Africa

An elephant sanctuary, South Africa— operating for the ones who can’t go home.

Orphan calves pulled out of poaching corridors, and adults whose injuries rule out release. Usizo Wildlife Rescue— a nonprofit organization — operates on sanctuary land we own and additional land we lease, holds the herd, and carries the cost of lifelong sanctuary residency.

Why this species, why this ground

Calves orphaned by poaching, and adults whose injuries won't let them back to the wild. Lifelong sanctuary here.

The poaching corridor adjacent to Kruger produces more orphaned elephant calves each year than the existing network of bomas can absorb. We don’t run a release-to-the-wild program — an elephant that’s been snared, darted, or separated from its natal herd for more than a few weeks doesn’t go home safely. “Sanctuary here” means lifetime residency: a stable founder group, permanent veterinary cover, and an end to the intake wait list.

Every dollar at Usizo Wildlife Rescuecrosses the same five-line allocation model: property, veterinary care, retained staff, infrastructure, and a 12% operating reserve for unplanned intakes. 87¢ of every dollar lands on animals — the rest is the cost of keeping a ground-based operation honest. The full audit drops annually in our intake report.

The $4M, 24-month care-and-infrastructure campaign funds ongoing sanctuary operations, maintenance, land stewardship, staged improvements, biosecurity quarantine, and elephant-proof perimeter fencing across the primary sanctuary land we own and additional land we lease. We don’t send a monthly fundraising email. Donors hear from us once a year, and sponsors may receive supported-work or intake updates when appropriate for privacy, safety, and animal welfare; no specific animal is promised in advance.

One intake, on the public ledger

The animals on this page arrive because a donor closed the intake.

A single contribution moves the sanctuary forward at the same proportional split across the five allocation lines. Stripe issues your contribution receipt the moment checkout confirms.

Donate at $250See other tiers
Elephant residents in care

Meet the herd in sanctuary.

Each card is a real animal with a public profile — intake story, monthly cost of care, and the veterinary status we publish on the per-animal ledger.

An elephant in sanctuary at Usizo Wildlife Rescue
Jabari, a elephant — Usizo Wildlife Rescue resident
Elephant
Jabari
A juvenile orphaned by a poaching event on a corridor adjacent to Kruger. Pulled out with snare wounds on the rear leg, stabilized in quarantine for 14 days, and cleared for sanctuary residency. Jabari integrates slowly with a small adult female we expect will adopt.
Monthly cost of care
$1,850 / month
Milo, a elephant — Usizo Wildlife Rescue resident
Elephant
Milo
Milo is the reason our rehabilitation wing exists. He came to Usizo Wildlife Rescue as a young orphaned elephant who needed the kind of patient, round-the-clock care only a small sanctuary with a standing vet team can give. The intake was the moment everything about our existing plan — the new paddock fence, the lucerne contract, the wheelbarrows we keep by the gate for night feeds — became something we were no longer planning for, just running.
Monthly cost of care
$1,850 / month
For institutional funders

How every dollar is split →

All intake residents

Jabari, Nyota, and Themba →