"I was terrified the elephant would ram us"

African elephant in Kenya

- BY DANIEL STILES

IT WAS EARLY DECEMBER 2016 and the beginning of the hot, dry season in Kenya. I was driving with my friend, Patricia, cross-country through the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, a 36,000ha converted cattle ranch, home to the largest rhino population in East Africa.

Back then, I was working on a project based at Ol Pejeta that aimed to halt the illegal trade of great apes. I had lodgings and a car, and enjoyed off-road privileges not accorded to visitors. Ol Pejeta hosts the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, where some of our work was based. Patricia was here to witness the arrival of Manno, a trafficked chimpanzee we had just rescued from a private zoo in Iraq. Afterwards, we visited Sudan, Najin and Fatu, the last northern white rhinos on Earth, then hit the road again. I wanted to show Patricia a wild dog den I'd recently found.