A Life Among Elephants

60 years ago, almost nothing was known of elephants in the wild. But then one young Scottish biologist changed that forever. In 1965 Iain Douglas-Hamilton arrived in Tanzania to study African elephants. Later joined by his wife Oria and daughters Saba and Dudu, Iain and his family lived alongside elephants. As the first scientist to study the social behaviour of wild elephants, Iain’s work became the benchmark for everything we know about the animals today. But this Eden-like period was dramatically brought to a close as a poaching epidemic swept across Africa. Iain took to the front line and moved to Uganda where he led the fight-back against poaching in a country where war and economic collapse had made the elephants plight even more precarious. Returning to the field in Samburu, Northern Kenya, Iain set up NGO Save the Elephants. Here a new generation of Kenyan researchers are now taking elephant conservation into the future. Accompanied by his friend and protégé David Daballen, Iain revisits his incident-packed life as he catches up with the elephants that are so close to his heart.

Featuring powerful contributions from his wife, daughters and fellow pioneering zoologist Jane Goodall – A Life Among Elephants shows how sometimes you have to stand alone to protect what you love.