Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 8 March 2012.
A typical day for Daphne involves rescuing baby elephants from poachers, finding homes for orphan elephants, all the while campaigning against the possibility that the ivory trade might be re-opened. This title presents a memoir of her life.
A note from the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust*...
'Daphne Sheldrick is the first person ever to have successfully hand-reared newborn elephants. Her deep empathy and understanding, her years of observing Kenya’s rich variety of wildlife and her pioneering work in perfecting the right husbandry and milk formula have saved countless elephants, rhinos and other baby animals from certain death.
In this heart-warming and poignant memoir, Daphne shares her amazing relationships with a host of orphans, including her first love, Bushy, a liquid-eyed antelope; Rickey-Tickey-Tavey, a little dwarf mongoose; Gregory Peck, the busy buffalo weaver bird; Hupperty, the mischievous zebra, and the majestic elephant Eleanor, now a powerful matriarch with whom Daphne has shared over forty years of great friendship.
But this is also a magical and heart-breaking human love story between Daphne and David Sheldrick, the famous Tsavo Park warden. It was their deep and passionate love, David’s extraordinary insight into all aspects of nature and the tragedy of his early death that have inspired Daphne’s vast array of achievements, most notably the founding of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and the Orphans’ Nursery in the Nairobi National Park, where Daphne continues to live and work to this day.
Encompassing not only David and Daphne’s tireless campaign for an end to poaching and conserving Kenya’s wildlife, but above all their ability to engage with the human side of animals and their rearing of the orphans expressly so they can return to the wild.
An African Love Story is alive with love, compassion and humour, providing a rare insight into the life of one of the world’s most remarkable women.'
* The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is dedicated to the protection and conservation of wildlife and habitats in Kenya. Best known for the rescue and hand-rearing of milk dependent orphaned baby elephants and rhinos, so that they can return to the wild when grown, the DSWT also manages anti-poaching teams, mobile veterinary units and community outreach programs.
You may have seen the DSWT elephant orphans’ project featured in the BBC One series ‘Elephant Diaries’ or more recently ‘Nature’s Miracle Babies’, as well as the IMAX film Born to be Wild 3D, currently in 3D cinemas.
Primary Genre | Biographies & Autobiographies |
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