Background
His father, had served with the British Remounts during World War I, resettled near Nyeri and became a coffee farmer at Mweiga.
His father, had served with the British Remounts during World War I, resettled near Nyeri and became a coffee farmer at Mweiga.
Educated at the Canford School, David Sheldrick returned to Kenya until began in 1939. He served in the King"s African Rifles (KAR), seeing active service in Abyssinia and Burma. He had to deal with the problem of armed poachers, which he was forced to combat by utilizing staff from the Game Department and National Parks.
Sheldrick helped to develop the "s infrastructure.
There were no roads or buildings when he first arrived. He paved 1,087 kilometres of tourist all-weather roads, 853 miles of administrative roads and 287 kilometres of anti-poaching tracks.
He also oversaw the construction of a concrete causeway across the Galana River. After Sheldrick"s untimely death from a heart attack in 1977, aged 57, his widow, Daphne Sheldrick (Dame Daphne Sheldrick), established the DSWT in his memory.
Among other activities the trust runs the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi, next to Nairobi National Park.