Wild Orphans Project:
Wild Orphans was the culmination of many
years spent by photographer Gerry Ellis photographing
throughout sub-Sahara Africa. He had a passion for photographing elephants and a
growing desire to create a photographic project on the great creatures. His reservation
was in searching for a new vision - others had done books on elephants, their natural
history and the majesty, Gerry was looking for a different perspective.
Gerry was about to leave Africa, perhaps for the last time, when a chance return visit to
the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust at the Nairobi National Park in Kenya, sparked an idea.
With the enormously generous support of Daphne Sheldrick he was granted permission
to spent the next several years working at the orphanage, with the staff and babies.
The opportunity created a unique opportunity to tell a very different elephant story.
Wild Orphans was the culmination of many
years spent by photographer Gerry Ellis photographing
throughout sub-Sahara Africa. He had a passion for photographing elephants and a
growing desire to create a photographic project on the great creatures. His reservation
was in searching for a new vision - others had done books on elephants, their natural
history and the majesty, Gerry was looking for a different perspective.
Gerry was about to leave Africa, perhaps for the last time, when a chance return visit to
the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust at the Nairobi National Park in Kenya, sparked an idea.
With the enormously generous support of Daphne Sheldrick he was granted permission
to spent the next several years working at the orphanage, with the staff and babies.
The opportunity created a unique opportunity to tell a very different elephant story.
| Wild Orphans |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| Link to more about the book |
| Link to more about Gerry Ellis |
Initially the Wild Orphans project was intended to be a more global look at wildlife
orphanages and their struggle to cope with the increasing tide of orphaned wildlife
do principally to poaching and loss of wildlife habitat. The shift in focus was the
influence of friend and publisher Lena Tabori. She saw the initial elephant work and
decided "there is a book right here", and so, despite starting work in Costa Rica,
Canada, Borneo and the USA, I put all my energy into the Orphan 8.
The decision was incredible serendipity; a collision of events created the unique
circumstances that enabled Wild Orphans to be created. In 1999, prolonged drought
and increased ivory poaching, brought by a pending CITES decision to re-list African
elephants on the endangered species list, delivered more orphaned baby elephants
to the Trust in one season that it had seen in the entire previous decade. Gerry
followed, photographed, and got to know eight of the young elephants who were
one month to one year old when they arrived at the Wildlife Trust.
orphanages and their struggle to cope with the increasing tide of orphaned wildlife
do principally to poaching and loss of wildlife habitat. The shift in focus was the
influence of friend and publisher Lena Tabori. She saw the initial elephant work and
decided "there is a book right here", and so, despite starting work in Costa Rica,
Canada, Borneo and the USA, I put all my energy into the Orphan 8.
The decision was incredible serendipity; a collision of events created the unique
circumstances that enabled Wild Orphans to be created. In 1999, prolonged drought
and increased ivory poaching, brought by a pending CITES decision to re-list African
elephants on the endangered species list, delivered more orphaned baby elephants
to the Trust in one season that it had seen in the entire previous decade. Gerry
followed, photographed, and got to know eight of the young elephants who were
one month to one year old when they arrived at the Wildlife Trust.
| follow details of the new project on the Wild Orphans blog |
| DONATE or ADOPT an orphan today |