Love Builds Resilience
Love Builds Resilience
To be a baby elephant must be wonderful. Surrounded by a loving family 24 hours a day... I think it must be how it ought to be, in a perfect world.
Daphne Sheldrick founder Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage.
Research in child development shows that a secure and loving childhood is the best predictor of resilience and recovery from trauma later in life. Family ties are strong in elephant society. Baby elephants grow up surrounded by loving extended family members seldom wandering more than a few yards from their mothers in their early years.
Elephants know a lot about raising a calf with love, compassion and patience. The whole family cares for and protects the youngest members of the clan creating a safe and secure environment.
Like human babies, touch and nurturing are essential for baby elephants to thrive.
Elephants are compassionate and loving. They experience joy, grief and fear just like us.
During times of plenty and times of drought, elephant mamas teach their offspring essential tools for survival – where to find water, what foods to eat, how to stay safe. The current drought in Kenya is taking a huge toll on wildlife and local populations. The region where my Maasai friend Joseph Mutemi lives in Laikipia Kenya received rain in the past 10 days. He and his wife are now busy planting a garden with the hope it will survive this year. Food insecurity is a harsh reality.
Memories of Amboseli this past June still haunt me. The green and lush savannah shown in my book is now brown and dusty. The youngest animals are at risk when their mothers cannot find enough food to sustain themselves and a nursing calf. People are suffering from malnutrition. Ironically and tragically climate change impacts those who have the smallest carbon footprint first. Recently The Guardian posted dramatic images of climate change. Every step we take to protect the environment protects our future and the future of wildlife.
Learn more about the extraordinary wisdom of elephants in my photo/memoir large format coffee table book. There’s still time to get or give a copy before the holidays. Every purchase generates $10 for elephant conservation in Kenya.
Here’s what readers are saying:
In addition to her deeply beautiful and evocative photographs of the elephants of Amboseli, Kathy’s book is one of big heart, big life lessons shared bravely and naturally. She invites us to her safari, to her pilgrimage, so that we, too, can feel, see, and hear the gifts these elephants bestowed on her in the tender days after her mother’s passing—so that we, too, can taste their wisdom.
Mary Ann Burris, Founder of the Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health, Nairobi, Kenya
The Wisdom of Elephants intertwines spectacular photography, the challenges of wildlife conservation, and the importance of storytelling, to raise awareness of the numerous concerns surrounding Africa’s gentle giants. As one turns the pages and begins to identify with the individual elephants, it is clear that Kathy Karn’s career working with trauma survivors has set her up well to understand the plight of elephants as they lose their relatives and territory. Kathy’s stunning images of Africa’s last remaining tuskers are an enduring inspiration to those who care about them, and to those who work for their conservation.
Ryan Snider, Ph.D. Director, Socially Responsible Safaris
Kathy Karn's photography and reflections in The Wisdom of Elephants bring the sacred into our hearts. This beautiful book has magic in its ability to guide us to deepen our connections to ourselves, elephants, and nature.
Zainab Salbi, author and co-founder of Daughters for Earth and Women for Women International.