An African Love Story by Daphne Sheldrick

 

Subtitled Love, Life and Elephants, this is Sheldrick's 2012 memoir about her life in Kenya. She was born in the country when it was still a British colony and lived through the painful period culminating in independence and later managed Tsavo Nature Reserve with her husband David Sheldrick. When David died at 57, Daphne went on to found the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which continues to look after orphan animals, particularly elephants and rhinos. 

The best parts of the book are those where she talks about her relationships with the animals she has looked after, she shares touching, moving stories about orphan elephants rescued from perilous situations. She documents well the curse of poaching that has afflicted Kenya (and many other parts of Africa and beyond) on and off for many years. 

However, her views on Kenyan independence are so colonialist, they make for difficult reading. I find it saddening that she should see the Mau Mau rebellion as unjustifiable aggression against benign white settlers, when there were so many good reasons behind the rebellion (though in her circumstances, it was probably difficult to look beyond what must have been a real sense of personal danger being perpetrated on her by local black Kenyans, particularly as her grandparents were victims of a direct violent attack and their neighbours had been brutally murdered). 

So, in short, read the book for the heartwarming animal stories and if you're looking for insights into Kenyan history, you'll need to look elsewhere. 

Daphne Sheldrick died in 2018.

An African Love Story by Daphne Sheldrick, published (2012) by Viking. 

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Today is World Elephant Day. 

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I've been adding new items to the handmade section of my Crafty Green Magpie Etsy Shop.