Handwritten Text:
Excerpt from the personal foreword by Dame Daphne Sheldrick / Founder of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to Joachim‘s book Elephants in Heaven.

"Why is it that most people feel such empathy for elephants, even if they have never had close contact with them? Is it because of their size, their quaint characteristics, or the fact that they are so incredibly endearing as babies, tripping over little wobbly trunks that seem to serve no useful purpose other than to get in the way? Or is it, perhaps, because elephants are “human” animals, encompassed by an invisible aura that reaches deep into the human soul in a mysterious and mystifying way. Having lived alongside African elephants for sixty years, spending more than forty of those years raising orphaned elephants, I know the species intimately and yet they still teach me new lessons about lifealmost daily.
So, in rescuing the orphans, helping them to heal and grow strong, and reintroducing them to the wild, we are not only saving their lives, but also offering the possibility of future life, one elephant ata time. That, to me, is the greatest legacy of my life’s calling, and every time a new baby is born to one of our ex-orphans, it fills me with happiness for the mother and a renewed hope for elephants. We share this planet with them, a planet that needs them to sustainall of us, so our futures are aligned and we are a better people when we follow their lead, living compassionately with our surroundings and one another."