Fupi the orphaned giraffe returns to his whisperer – Ami Vitale’s best photograph

Lekupania is an incredible animal whisperer. He went from looking after his family’s livestock to becoming one of the best wildlife keepers in Kenya. He’s rehabilitated so many species, from warthogs to gerenuks, and he’s never lost an animal under his care. He has rescued even the most vulnerable, difficult creatures, such as Grévy’s zebra, which is a highly endangered species.

Lekupania works in Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy in the far north of Kenya. The giraffe is an orphaned baby “reticulated giraffe” named Fupi, which means Shorty in Swahili. Fupi was injured when he fell into a ditch. He was rehabilitated and returned to the wild. And now all the rehabilitated giraffes come every morning to check on Lekupania. They do a round of the stables and greet him, then make their way back to the wild.

This photo was taken in 2016, during a period of drought. Giraffes today are slowly and silently becoming extinct. Sometimes that’s due to poaching, but in this part of Kenya it’s mostly drought-related and from habitat loss. Current estimates suggest giraffe populations across Africa have dropped 40% in three decades, from around 155,000 in the late 1980s to less than 100,000 today. And there are fewer than 16,000 reticulated giraffes across Africa. West African and Rothschild’s giraffes are facing even more dire situations.

I only have a few frames of this moment. I was quite far away when I saw it. Trying not to scare the giraffe, I moved in quickly and quietly so that I could capture the intimacy between those two. The moment passed quickly: the giraffe leaned in and that was it.

Photography was, for me, always about wanting to make sense of the world we live in. I wanted to understand why there was so much suffering, and become a conflict photographer covering the war in Kosovo, then Angola, Afghanistan, Israel-Palestine, and Sierra Leone. I spent four years photographing the conflict between India and Pakistan – to try to understand it more deeply.

I realised the backdrop of every story was the natural world. In some cases, it was the scarcity of basic resources, like water. In others, it was the changing climate and loss of fertile soil. But I started to understand that it’s always the demands placed on our ecosystem that drive conflict and human suffering. Indigenous communities have always understood how important the natural world is for their existence. I believe they hold the keys to saving what’s left of wildlife and nature.

I need to tell these stories, because we’re going through a sixth mass extinction. My stories focus on the challenges but I try to find solutions and amplify important voices that haven’t traditionally been given a platform.

Photography is a powerful way to inspire people to care for the planet. We need more storytellers and photographers focused on environmental issues, which is why I established the non-profit Vital Impacts that raises funds for grassroots conservation projects through the sale of fine art prints. We’ve also built a mentoring programme for 50 applicants and two $20,000 grants for photographers to work on long-term environmental storytelling. I want to create a whole generation of activists.

Ami Vitale’s CV

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Born: Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 1971
Trained: “Mainly self-taught, but with some photography classes from a professor who changed my life.”
Influences: “Lynn Johnson, Maggie Steber, Eve Arnold.”
High point: “Realising photography can make concrete changes in people’s lives.”
Low point: “In Palestine, a building was blown up as I was running towards it. The only reason I wasn’t in it was because my batteries fell out of my camera. The moment I stopped to put them back in, a missile from a helicopter hit the building and it vaporised in front of me.”
Top tip: “Find a story to work on over a long period, to see the changes and to understand the complexities. You don’t need to travel the world to tell powerful stories. Go deep on a story in your backyard.”