First published 2012
Daphne Sheldrick opens her memoir in the Kenyan wilderness where she became the first person to successfully hand-rear newborn elephants. Her Scottish family settled in Africa in the 1820s, but it was her marriage to David Sheldrick, the renowned Tsavo Park warden, that shaped her destiny. Together they developed the specialized husbandry techniques and milk formulas needed to save orphaned wildlife. Daphne introduces readers to her menagerie of rescued animals: Bushy the antelope, Rickey-Tickey-Tavey the dwarf mongoose, Gregory Peck the buffalo weaver bird, Huppety the zebra, and Eleanor the elephant, who became her companion for over forty years. When David dies unexpectedly, Daphne channels her grief into founding the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and the Orphans' Nursery in Nairobi National Park. She continues their shared mission to end poaching and conserve Kenya's wildlife while raising orphaned animals to return them to the wild. Her story captures both the technical challenges of wildlife rehabilitation and the deep emotional bonds between humans and animals.
Genres: biography, animals, 20th-century, autobiography, environment, 21st-century, conservation, africa
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, grief
Setting: Africa, Kenya, Nairobi National Park, Tsavo Park
Period: 1820s, 20th-century, 21st-century
352 pages · Hardcover · Farrar, Straus and Giroux