The more time that I spend with Africa’s elephants, the more I fall in love with them and the more that my admiration grows as I discover new things that make these creatures such beautiful souls that I feel connected with.
And so I will be running 10km to raise money for the protection of them.
The charity that I will be raising money for is the David Sheldrick Foundation, run by Daphne Sheldrick – one of my heroes, and one of the main reasons that I got into wildlife filmmaking.
It is estimated that one elephant is killed every 15 minutes for their ivory tusks, meaning that there could be a complete loss of elephants in Africa by 2025 if no action is taken.
Founded in 1977 by Dr Dame Daphne Sheldrick, in honour of her late husband, the David Sheldrick Foundation is the most successful orphan elephant rescue and rehabilitation programme in the world.
Anti- poaching, safe guarding the natural environment, enhancing community awareness and rescuing elephant and rhino orphans are just some of the great work that the foundation provides 365 days a year.
The well-known BBC series Elephant Diaries highlights the wonderful work by the foundation based in Kenya, offering innocent elephants a second chance at the life they deserve.
By coincidence, after watching the Elephant Diaries series, I was bought Dr Dame Daphne Sheldrick’s autobiography for my first travels to Africa, and it was in fact the combination of these two insights into the lives of Kenya’s elephants that made me realise I wanted a career in wildlife documentary making.
To raise money for the foundation, alongside running 10K dressed in an elephant onsie, I will be doing a number of different tasks and challenges.
To follow my fundraising journey, stay up to date with my Facebook page AccordingToJess.
I will also be considering any fundraising requests from my supporters, so feel free to comment on this post, or via my Facebook page, if you want to see me doing anything in particular to earn your donation.
Here is my JustGiving page for all donations https://www.justgiving.com/jessyselephantrun
To find out more about the David Sheldrick foundation, head to www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org
According to Jess 