Daphne Sheldrick who spent over 60 years of her life saving elephants and protecting Africa’s wildlife, has died in Nairobi at the age of 84.

Born in Kenya in 1934, Daphne Sheldrick went on to work with her husband David, who founded Kenya’s largest National Park in Tsavo East, to protect some of Africa’s most iconic animals.

THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST

After her husband’s death in 1977 Daphne set up The Davide Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and over the next 40 years helped develop a better understanding of both elephants and rhinos.

Sheldrick was a pioneer in the successful hand-rearing of baby elephants and rhinos. She is credited with saving some 230 young elephants in Kenya and the techniques she developed helped save many others throughout Africa.

“IMMEASURABLE LEGACY”

Speaking shortly after her mother’s death, her daughter Daphne Angela Sheldrick said, “Daphne’s legacy is immeasurable and her passing will reverberate far and wide, because the difference she has made for conservation in Kenya is unparalleled. She will be sorely missed, but never forgotten and this is what Daphne drew the most comfort from in her final weeks.

“She lived alongside elephants and learned to read their hearts, much as they read ours – she understood their fragility, intelligence, capacity to love, to grieve, to heal, to support one another and she took those lessons to the global stage”.