An African Love Story: Love, Life and Elephants

Daphne Sheldrick has spent her entire life in Kenya. For over 25 years, she and her husband, David, the famous founder of the the giant Tsavo National Park, raised and rehabilitated back into the wild orphans of misfortune from many different wild species. These included elephants, rhinos, buffaloes, zebra, eland, kudu, impala, warthogs and many other smaller animals. She has two daughters, both of whom have spent their lives helping her. In 2002 she received the BBC Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2006 she was made Dame Commander of the British Empire by the Queen, the first Knighthood to be awarded in Kenya since the country received Independence in 1963.

Virginia McKenna's leading film roles include such classics as THE CRUEL SEA and A TOWN LIKE ALICE for which she won a British Academy Award for Best Actress. She is however perhaps best remembered for her roles in BORN FREE (for which she won a Variety Club Best Actress Award), RING OF BRIGHT WATER and CARVE HER NAME WITH PRIDE. Virginia has written several books.The most recent is her memoir 'The Life in My Years'.She has also recorded numerous plays for radio as well as audiobooks, including 'The Butterfly Lion' and 'Why the Whales Came' by Michael Morpurgo. Virginia is founder Trustee of the Born Free Foundation - founded in 1984 - the animal welfare and conservation charity, whose CEO is her eldest son, Will Travers. She was awarded the OBE in 2004 for her contribution to the arts and animal welfare.