What We Do For Love
If we do not do something to prevent it, Africa’s animals, and the places in which they live, will be lost to our world, and her children forever.
– Nelson Mandela
I do it for love. That’s what the keeper told me at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. I had asked him what motivated him to give up so much to care for the elephants 24/7.
In this photo a young elephant snuck up behind the keeper after a feeding. The keeper responded with a reassuring touch, holding the orphan’s trunk like a parent would naturally reach for the hand of an anxious child. Like us, elephant babies are completely dependent on their mothers in their early years; they require constant care.
The healing power of the keepers’ love enables these babies to recover from traumatic loss. These men are conservation heroes, committed to the long journey of saving elephants and reintroducing them into the wild. I look for moments that evoke emotion and tell a heart-warming story to inspire viewers to support conservation. I do it for love too.
This image was selected as a Highly Honored finalist in the 2021 Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards.
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