Ruminations: Instant Kenyan Video Sensation

"It is said charity begins at home. And for these young orphaned elephants, this charitable foundation is what they call home."
"I'd kept my distance, but I was so focused and didn't even realize they were getting close."
"At first I felt the elephant trunk’s contact on my back but decided to keep going because I was doing my almost 10th take of my piece to camera."
"I wasn’t gonna let anything stop me. Until the baby elephant stuck its trunk in my mouth."
Alvin KIaunda, reporter for the Kenya Broadcasting Corp.

Elephant interrupts reporter in Kenya Still from video

It was an assignment. A little out of the ordinary, perhaps, but this man is a professional, and he decided he would take his story, backgrounding it at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, a non-profit operating an elephant orphanage in Nairobi. The foundation of the story was to emphasize the critical condition of Kenya's wildlife as the country battles its worst drought in decades.

According to local authorities, the extreme weather is ending up causing the death of twenty times as many elephants as poaching has. The country's Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife revealed in a recently released report that over a thousand animals have perished as a result of the drought. Animals whose lives have ended directly resulting from drought conditions include wildebeests, zebras, elephants and buffaloes, among others.

When Reporter Kaunda was tasked with tackling the item for his employer, the Kenya Broadcasting Corp., he thought that doing so from the location of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi, would add an extra touch of drama and engage his audience with the presence of orphaned elephants. He was experiencing initial difficulties in his delivery, however, and had already attempted ten full takes, none of which spoke to the issue in the way he had planned.

At the beginning of the clip the reporter was able to keep a straight face and remained very professional as he spoke about the young orphaned elephants

Finally, as the elephants drew closer to where he had stationed himself on the reserve, in the midst of detailing the effects of human action on the natural world, he felt the tip of an elephant trunk behind his left ear. One of the young elephants was clearly curious and had taken the opportunity of proximity to explore the visitor with its sensitive trunk. Which it draped over the journalist's shoulder, then twisting higher, investigated his ear, so unlike her own.

As four-year-old Kindani's trunk gently ran over the side of his head, the seasoned reporter held fast to his journalistic unflappability and continued to recite the delivery of his message to viewers. When the elephant's trunk began snuffling along his face, he could no longer remain unreactive and burst into laughter. Resulting video clips took no time appearing on line on the weekend, resulting in millions of views

"Most of us would have lost our professionalism far sooner."
"An important piece pertaining to the drought, but our orphans just saw a visitor to investigate!"
Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Nairobi, Kenya