David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust – Africa
I will always be grateful to have discovered the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in 2007. At the time I was attending a meeting with Paul MacKenzie of Ele-Host Web Designs in Toronto to discuss the hosting of my real estate website. I noticed elephant pictures and sculptures in Paul’s office, and being a long time admirer of elephants, I asked about them. Paul told me about his trip to visit the Trust in Africa and I was delighted to learn about the incredibly important work being done on behalf of the orphaned elephants.
I adopted my first little orphan later that week. Her name is Makena. I have been a supporter of the Trust since then, and learning more about the elephants led me to read about, research and understand the issues that are being faced by animals species – domestic and wild – all over the world. At first I was overwhelmed and numbed by what I learned, but this new awareness inspired me to start this Blog and I am honured to feature the DSWT and their remarkable work.
David Sheldrick – 1919 – 1977
I quote – directly from the DSWT Website:
“David Sheldrick stands out, even today, as one of Africa’s most famous and proficient Pioneer National Park Wardens of all time. With just one lorry, and a handful of labourers, he was given the task of transforming a huge chunk of inhospitable arid land, previously uncharted and known only as the Taru desert, into what today is Kenya’s largest and most famous National Park – Tsavo.
The Park was established by Act of Parliament in 1948 and David Sheldrick was the first Warden of the Eastern Sector, an area of just over 5000 square miles, equal in size to Michigan State, Israel or Wales, a post he held until he was transferred to head the Planning Unit for all Kenya’s Wildlife Areas at the end of 1976. David died 6 months later, but the legacy he left endures”.
His character is summed up by Tim Corfield, in the Author’s Note to the Field Manual David’s Notes and Records inspired – “The Wilderness Guardian” which is now a Text Book throughout Africa in most Wildlife Institutions and Training Schools, and an integral part of every Field Warden’s library.
“How can I adequately portray this remarkable man and his achievements? The strong, handsome, weather-beaten face, the hard blue eyes, the powerful frame and large competent hands; the courteous manners, keen sense of humour and clear perceptive mind; his quietness, willpower and endurance, his deep underlying compassion and above all his integrity … his fight to create a real wilderness sanctuary – not a glorified game ranch, not a Zoo Park, not a scientific experiment nor playground, but an area where wilderness could simply be. Central to his efforts was a belief that wildlife and wilderness were not to be guarded simply for their own sake, but they were a well-spring for our spiritual refreshment – yours and mine and that of future generations.
When David Sheldrick first came to Tsavo, not one road or building existed. 28 years later he left a Park fully developed with an infrastructure that was unmatched anywhere in East Africa – 1087 kms of tourist all weather roads, 853 miles of administrative roads and 287 kms of anti-poaching tracks in the North, a Headquarters and Workshop to be proud of. With just a few labourers, he constructed the extensive concrete causeway across the Galana river, that has provided access to the remote Northern area of the Park for the past 60 years.
The entire infrastructure of Tsavo East National Park, as it is today, owes its existence to him; five Park Entrance Gates, the first Self Catering Lodge at Aruba which was once so popular and so lovely; the vast mad-made lake that served the wild residents in terms of permanent water for the next 60 years, even the spectacular position of the Voi Safari Lodge affording breath-taking views over that immense land. He installed boreholes, and Windmills to quench the thirst of Tsavo’s vast elephant herds, spreading the load and relieving congestion on the only two permanent rivers. More importantly, he left the blue print that has been the role model for today’s paramilitary Field Force Rangers geared to combating the armed incursion of bandit poachers.
And he would most certainly have approved of the record of the Trust that so proudly carries his name and strives so tirelessly to follow the guidelines he established in life, perpetuating his unbending integrity and ideals, still acting as a custodian of “right” in Tsavo, still working to protect and nurture that great wilderness that David loved so well in life and doing so bravely without fear or favour, just as he would have wished”.
“The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust was created in his memory, and as its Chairman, Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick has been guiding its conservation activities ever since.”
How Fitting – 2 of my adopted elephants – Kamboyo and Zurura! Kamboyo and I share a birthday – July 29th
