Daphne Sheldrick is the first person ever to have successfully hand-reared newborn elephants. Her deep empathy and understanding, years of observing Kenya's rich variety of wildlife and her pioneering work in perfecting the right husbandry and milk formula, has 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 the little dwarf mongoose; Gregory Peck, the busy buffalo weaver bird; Huppety the mischevious Zebra and the majestic elephant Eleanor, a now-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 has inspired Daphne's vast array of achievements, most notably the founding of the world-renowned David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and the Orphans' Nursery in The Nairobi National Park, where Daphne continues to live and work to this day.
Encompassing 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 rearing of the orphans animals 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.
