AWF supporter Gary Baxel shares why the lifesaving work of the African Wildlife Foundation is important to him and how he is furthering his support to protect wildlife from extinction with a legacy gift. More

Kate Johnson's interest in Africa developed in the 1990s. While at first Africa had seemed too big, and travel too difficult to arrange, when a forest-ranger friend from Ireland planned a "crazily inexpensive" tour for a small group, she decided to take the plunge. More

Sue Orloff, like many women in their 60s, is fulfilling aspirations about which she had previously only dreamed. It all started when Sue was 22 and spent a year hitchhiking through parts of Africa. She realized then her life path should be work in wildlife conservation. Thirty years later, Sue is a professional wildlife biologist and published author of many articles on endangered species in the U.S. More

Jane Fouser’s wish to volunteer at the zoo finally came true after retirement. It was here that her passion for Africa ignited. As a docent, she obtained extensive information about the animals, many of which were African species. Volunteering for Dr. Travis, Jane assisted on projects related to chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park and to mountain gorillas with the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project in Rwanda. More

If variety is the spice of life, Sandra Rosencrans has packed several lifetimes worth of flavor into her 79 years. She has, after all, been an ad copywriter, TV voice-over actress, U.S. Army officer, chief of public affairs for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Mid-Atlantic Region, bed-and-breakfast proprietor, and even a professional stencil artist! More

Jennifer Ritman has always had a special affinity for animals—and they, for her. For Jennifer, the idea that so few elephants, mountain gorillas, lions and other wildlife exist in the wild was gut-wrenching enough to want to make a legacy gift for their sake. More

Like many New Yorkers, Billy and Cheryl Geffon's lives changed forever on Sept. 11, 2001. The day began like any other as Billy, a Wall Street money manager, and wife Cheryl, a veteran Newburgh, N.Y., school teacher, left for work. They came home shaken and with a completely new outlook on their priorities. More

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to travel across Kenya on an AWF member safari. The trip brought us to many breathtaking landscapes, where we enjoyed spectacular wildlife viewing both at national parks and at local conservancies that AWF helps to support. More

Silent, save for the rustling of their magnificent bodies against the tall grass, the large herd of elephants passed close by our Land Rover in grace and majesty. The matriarch's gait was slow, almost leisurely. Yet there was a regal sense to her posture; her head held high and straight. She and her group of calves and extended family members moved off into the distance. More

Growing up in Colorado and California, Sally Davidson cared deeply for animals and was often concerned for their welfare. Circuses in particular bothered her, because she didn’t like the way the animals were being used, and she worried about how they were being treated as they were transported from place to place. More

As an only child, Melanie Harkness (née Gray) spent a lot of time alone, but was rarely lonely. She remembers exploring nature for hours, interacting with the frogs and other creatures she encountered on her long outings. Through this unstructured time, she developed an intimate relationship with nature that molded her for the rest of her life. More

Legacy. It is a concept that many don't contemplate until later in life. For some, it can take a lifetime to answer such questions as, "How do I want to be remembered?" "What kind of impact do I want to make on the world after I'm gone?" and "Who should receive my worldly goods when I no longer need them?" Others simply procrastinate when it comes to pondering their mortality. More

Candace Ritz is not your average 29-year-old. A busy financial planner at a corporate law firm, Ritz has just bought her first home, volunteers for animal welfare organizations all over the world, and is now starting up her own eco-friendly greeting-card business. More

Susan Glasbrenner, a peace officer in New York, has never been to Africa, yet she can distinguish a black rhino from a white one and a dikdik from other similar-looking antelopes. From an early age, she learned to recognize the fantastical creatures of a distant continent, not from the back of a... More

"I envision children, no matter how far ahead in the future, having the opportunity I have had to be observed by a silverback gorilla, not through the bars of a cage, but because he chose to stop and turn back on the trail to look at me." More