Inspiring the Next Generation: How Birgit Hendry’s African Wildlife Guide Supports Youth Education

We are excited to share the release of East African Wildlife Guide: A fun introduction to the animals of Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi by Birgit Hendry, a book that bridges the gap between detailed safari guides and simple children's books. This beautifully illustrated guide covers all mammals you might encounter in East Africa, along with a few iconic reptiles and birds, and is designed to be both comprehensive and easy to read.

What makes this book even more special is that a portion of the proceeds will support our Youth Environmental Education programs in Tanzania, helping to educate the next generation of conservationists.

Birgit Hendry’s personal journey and passion for East Africa inspired her to create this guide. As she puts it:

Growing up in Europe, I always dreamed of living in Africa. In my late 20s my wish came true when I moved to Tanzania, where I had the privilege to work in wildlife areas all over the country and to raise a family there.Our kids had a great childhood, barefoot, surrounded by nature and animals, playing outdoors. They loved going on safari, camping in the bush, and experiencing wildlife up close. Most of the books in our house were on nature and animals and our son’s first word was ‘fish.'

We had everything from scientific guides to children’s animal books. As the kids got older, I was searching for a book that covered more animals than just the iconic lions, elephants and giraffe, but was still fun, easy to read and understand - a comprehensive book, which covered all the mammals one could possibly see in East Africa, from aardvark to zorilla, and maybe included a few birds and reptiles as well… something between a zoological science paper and a children’s picture book.

This is when I had the idea to write the East African Wildlife Guide – a fun introduction to the animals of Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi. What started as a guide for children and teenagers on safari became a comprehensive wildlife book for all ages, easy to understand with fun facts and illustrated with many photos, drawings, and maps.

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Birgit's deep connection to the land and her understanding of the challenges of human-wildlife coexistence led her to support APW:

I am very aware of the fact that it is a privilege to spend time in National Parks and Game Reserves and experience wildlife first-hand – a privilege that many local people in Africa don’t have. On the other hand, it is also important to remember that many African animals are dangerous, and it is very challenging to coexist with elephants, lions, crocodiles and venomous snakes, especially in rural areas, where agricultural land borders wildlife habitat. That’s why I firmly believe that sustainable conservation only works if local communities are involved and benefit from it.

African People & Wildlife understand this and have put the coexistence of people and wildlife at the heart of what they do. Since education is paramount to achieve this goal, I hope my book can contribute in a small way, both through reading it as well as financially. I would like to give back to the people and wildlife of a place that will always have special meaning to me, that’s why I chose the APW’s Youth Environmental Education programmes in Tanzania to benefit from a portion of the proceeds of my East African Wildlife Guide. I hope the book can make a small contribution to educating the next generation of conservationists.

Her dedication echoes the sentiment shared by Sir David Attenborough: "No one will protect what they don’t care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced."

We invite you to experience the beauty of East Africa through this guide and join us in sharing the power of environmental education with the next generation. You can purchase Birgit's book on Amazon today!