WILD CALLING

Embarking on a pinch-me voyage, Fernanda Ly discovered the poignant coming together of a blue-chip jewellery house with an effort to save a threatened species. By Jen Nurick.

Embarking on a pinch-me voyage to Kenya, model Fernanda Ly discovered the poignant coming together of a blue-chip jewellery house with an effort to save a threatened species.

Few corners of the world are as vulnerable to the realities of endangered wildlife as Nairobi, the starting point for Australian model Fernanda Ly’s trip of a lifetime to Kenya. Travelling as a guest of jewellery house Tiffany & Co., the model witnessed first-hand the ivory crisis threatening elephant extinction.

Ly’s trip builds on Tiffany & Co.’s 2017 launch of the Save the Wild collection – featuring lion, elephant and rhinoceros charms – as part of the #KnotOnMyPlanet social media campaign, with 100 per cent of the profits going to the Wildlife Conservation Network.

Ly had an illuminating and immersive week-long experience flying over Samburu National Reserve (“The vastness continued to stretch out over the seemingly endless savannah,” she says) and visiting Reteti Elephant Sanctuary.

“To meet demand, ivory is in a perpetual circuit of poaching and trafficking, which will inevitably ruin the continent,” says Ly. “Tiffany & Co. has become a frontrunner in conservation … [The company’s efforts are] testimony to humanity’s power to save the Earth.” Tiffany & Co. has pledged to make a donation of US$4 million in aid by December 2019, moving the needle for others like Ly to follow by example. “From our insignificant singularities, we can join hands to really make a difference,” she says.

1. “Camouflage selfie: I am one with the car.” 2. “Picturesque Kenya at sunset.” 3. “Making everyone nervous with my fearlessness.” 4. “On a surveillance flight.” 5. “An elephant en route to a watering hole. A very rare up-close experience.” 6. “At Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, where each calf has its own specialised milk formula.” 7. “A silent encounter with a lone bull.”

8. “Learning about the elephant-tracking phone app.”