Nearly 20 years have passed since Sunyei, an elephant, was discovered lost and abandoned in the African wilderness. She had just been born and had tragically become an orphan after being split from her mother.

Fortunately, Sunyei didn’t go too long without parental love and guidance.

With the aid of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya, Sunyei was saved. She first encountered Benjamin there, the nursery’s head keeper who acts as a mother figure to orphaned elephants like her.

According to Rob Brandford, executive director of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, “He organizes the daily care and wellbeing of the orphans, eventually ensuring that they are always happy and healthy.”

Sunyei was raised by Benjamin in a happy and healthy environment while learning the ins and outs of being an elephant from him and other keepers.

In order to go it alone, Sunyei left her trust’s caregivers in 2009. But although living freely, Sunyei’s love for Benjamin never faded.

Despite the fact that Sunyei decided to return to the wild more than ten years ago, Brandford stated, “it seems she has never forgotten the generosity that was done to her.”

That was never more evident than when Sunyei made the decision to leave the wilderness and visit Benjamin, bringing along her own child to meet the man who had reared her.

Here is a video of that incident:

Simply magical 🐘

Head Keeper Benjamin catches up with an orphaned elephant he helped raise, who has been successfully reintroduced back to the wild but came back to say ‘hello’. pic.twitter.com/dZcdg8ahOG

— Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (@SheldrickTrust) August 30, 2021

“It speaks volumes about their intelligence and sense of family that a fully grown, wild-living elephant felt the need to introduce a new baby to the human family that raised her that very morning. We can think of no other reason than she returned to a place of safety to show off her new baby to her keepers, with whom she still maintains close bonds!” stated Brandford.

Sunyei has previously visited and would do it again. She has visited them numerous more times since the aforementioned reunion, giving her adoptive parents the opportunity to see her child grow up.

In the end, that new generation was made possible by their efforts to save and raise Sunyei. She seemed to be aware of it.

Despite the fact that Sunyei has spent her entire life considering Benjamin and our caretakers to be family, Bradford added, “Any contact her keepers enjoy with her are always on her terms. She chose to share this moment with Benjamin and trusted him to do so, and that is what makes it so very meaningful.