A few days ago the gatekeeper at our William Holden Education Center had the surprise of his life. While he was busy washing the Education Center’s six-wheeler he was alerted by an unusual noise and hurried to his post at the entrance gate. There he was greeted by a huge mature bull Elephant who was whiling away the afternoon looking over the fence into the center’s grounds.

On sighting the alarmed guard the Elephant leisurely went on his way walking up the road towards the forest, not unlike a nosey neighbour pretending he wasn’t really spying.

An excited bunch of village kids followed at a safe distance.  Our visitor never looked back. Seemingly acutely aware of the impression made he decided not to take the scenic route to his forest home but instead to brave the wooden bridge over the troubled waters of the Nanyuki river where it borders the Wildlife Conservancy.

A hush went over the by now sizable crowd. Only recently the bridge had been declared unsafe for lorries weighing far less than our heavy friend intent on keeping his feet dry.

He had not heard about such things and without a moment’s hesitation he carefully crossed. The timbers creaked beneath him but before they could give way Jumbo was safely on the other side where the green foliage of the Mount Kenya Forest invitingly swallowed up all evidence of this unusual visit.

But why not, I say. Forever humans have gone to google the animals in their “natural habitat”.  Time for change I say!

Last month, only 30 miles away a Rhino and five Elephants fell pray to poachers. Only the slaughtered carcasses minus horn and tusks were the grisly evidence found in the bush.

Duma Duke, our “Chaircat” is scared! He and Bill and Diana are on high alert and ready to fight off any possible intruders should it come to that. But meanwhile Bunge, our Wildlife Manager has laid on extra armed security. Every evening, the Conservancy’s Rhino willingly walk to the safety of their night quarters, led by their own designated game scouts.

We are proud to have such dedicated and able staff safeguarding the animals’ lives!

To us your words are the encouragement and incentive to strive harder towards our goal of beating extinction at the finish line.

Here’s another short excerpt of a recent letter received that we’d like to share:

If a picture tells a thousand words then those taken by your many visitors must fill entire storybooks already.

It’s so incredibly peaceful that it is dangerously easy to forget why “Iris’ Ark” was brought to life in the first place, but it is such a great encouragement to see that the majority of your visitors understand that these amazing creatures live there for so much more a reason than mere entertainment.

Thank you for allowing me to visit the Conservancy and Orphanage. I will treasure those days with Jane and “the guys” forever.

(signed) LILLY

And here is another letter:

I wanted to express my gratitude for Iris Hunt’s story about Mary the Elephant. I recently found this article as I was researching pictures of elephants on the internet for a painting.

When I first moved to Los Angeles a little over a year ago there was a photography show called Ashes and Snow. The photos are large sepia prints depicting the sacred relationship between animals and people. Beautiful pictures of elephants were among the first images I saw. The gallery was dark and full of people and suddenly I found myself crying looking at these elephants. This had never happened to me before and it was overwhelming. The photos of the other animals were also beautiful but every time I saw the elephants my eyes filled with tears. The feeling was of awe, sadness, and joy looking at them. Your story about Mary brought all of those emotions back for me to experience again.

Storytelling has always been important for human beings and good stories are of critical importance as our world is changing. Stories fertilize the imaginations of humanity and give us the freedom and strength to believe that we can accomplish anything. Thank you for sharing your true story, it inspires me.