The event was part of Amarula’s ‘Don’t Let Them Disappear’ campaign. In one of the key elements of the campaign, life-size elephant ice sculptures were placed in Johannesburg, Toronto and Sao Paolo last year. As the sculptures melted, the disappearance of elephants was tragically symbolised – but awareness was of their plight was spread. Amarula also put out a new bottle without an elephant on its label, signifying that the world could lose the African elephant. The Moodie Davitt Report homepage also underwent a spectacular makeover as part of the campaign.

Speaking at the event in London, Kahumbu detailed her work with elephants and WildlifeDirect’s use of advocacy through Kenyan courtrooms to raise awareness about the crisis facing them and other endangered species. She also discussed her television work, including creating a nature series in Africa that aims to capture the imagination and gain the support of locals – and particularly the younger generation.

“I have been working with elephants since I was a teenager,” she told guests at the event. “It is hard to explain what it is like to be close to one. They are so smart and intelligent, and have complex brains. Neurons criss-cross their brain in a totally different way to ours. They have a great sense of smell and hearing. We’ll never understand all the mysteries of elephants.”

She noted that Kenya was the first country to destroy ivory in a grand event [in 1989] that deterred poaching and the ivory trade, which was “at its height” that year. The result was the introduction of global bans and crackdowns which led to a steady rebound in the African elephant population. Much work has been done since then, but much remains to do – both in Kenya and other African countries.

A ‘Hands off our Elephants’ campaign was launched in Kenya, and led to the first meeting between Kahumbu and Amarula many years ago. She explained: “At a meeting, a member of Amarula came up to me and simply said, ‘what can we do to help’. So thank you so much to Amarula for all of your support since then.”

The main challenge is education, Kahumbu said. “In the judiciary system, criminals were getting away with it; files were mysteriously ‘lost’. Judges did not understand the severity of the problem.”

That has changed over time. “There has been an improvement in documentation and we have agitated not for the arrest of the poachers, but for who they work for – the ivory dealers. Today there is a 95% conviction rate in Kenya, and a low rate of poaching.”

But government officials are not always that sympathetic to the cause, and it can even be hard to gain public support when many media reports centre on negative incidents. “There is no education or introduction to wildlife in Africa,” Kahumbu explained. “There are now hundreds of protected areas but only 10% of Kenyans have been to one.