Coming out of Africa as I begin a book on the lives of special animals.

Thanks to Save the Elephants for getting me into the splendor, joy, and heartbreak of Samburu and its elephants. With special gratitude to visionary grand-master Iain Douglas-Hamilton, the amazing David Daballen, Gilbert Sabinga, Lucy King, Shifra Goldenberg, Ike Leonard and Joe Soltis, and weightlifter Frank Pope.

Thanks to the Amboseli Trust for Elephants for exceptional kindness in getting me into the world of Amboseli and its elephants. Hugs to the strong-women geniuses Soila Sayialel, Katito Sayialel, and Vicki Fishlock. And a salute to Cynthia Moss.

For putting Humpty Dumpty together again, over and over, thanks to the Sheldrick Trust.

To the elephants themselves, as with their conversations that we cannot hear but can sometimes feel vibrating in our chest, I offer something without words, from deep within, hoping that they will somehow feel it.

But it will take more than good wishes, in this withering time, to keep them.

It will take voices and votes, words, politics, pressure, and dollars. I’ll do my best there, and I encourage others to join in.

In Kenya, I thank and support Save the Elephants, Big Life Foundation, Amboseli Trust for Elephants, and the Sheldrick Trust.

There is so much to do. There is so much at stake. Please do a little; it adds up. The outcry is beginning to be heard and felt.