African Adventure
Koan’s charitable trust, Magic Beans, is funding a series of 28 field trips, offering 840 school children in Kenya the chance to visit Nairobi and Tsavo National Parks to educate children and their communities about wildlife and conservation issues such as poaching.
Atonement star Keira Knightley recently paid a visit to the The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust for a fashion shoot with American Vogue, with which pictures the Koan team then gained coverage in Hello magazine and the Metro.
Keira played with Shimba who, in true Vogue fashion, indulged in a spot of modelling as well, swapping his normal blanket for a Louis Vuitton version.
The (DSWT) was founded by Dame Daphne Sheldrick in memory of her late husband, and provides a lasting legacy to the protection of wildlife in Africa. With an extensive community outreach programme, the DSWT also aims to provide sustainable livelihoods for those living on the boundaries of protected areas.
For more than 50 years, Dame Daphne Sheldrick has dedicated her life to the protection of orphaned elephants and rhinos. Recently immortalised in the BBC documentary series ‘Elephant Diaries’, she has rescued and rehabilitated over 75 African Elephants and 17 Black Rhinos since 1954 – all too often the forgotten victims of illegal ivory and bush meat poaching that has claimed the lives of their mothers.