Pamela Glintenkamp: from a Fulbright in London to an Elephant Orphanage in Botswana

Article written by Fulbrighter Pamela Glintenkamp

Put yourself in an unfamiliar place. Add an unusual situation. Result: An enriching, and often life-changing experience. One of the important lessons I learned during my Fulbright year in London was to follow my instincts: Put yourself in an unfamiliar place, which you instinctively find compelling, and the result will be both unexpected and deeply gratifying. In London, I was enrolled in the History of Design course, which is run by the Victoria & Albert Museum. I never would have guessed that when I returned to the U.S., the Fulbright experience would lead to my producing a film for the V&A on Frank Lloyd Wright…and that this film would start my career as a creator of video and audio content for cultural institutions and charities.

But this article is about my experience with elephants…

In the years following the Fulbright, I became fascinated by the remarkable intelligence, emotional sensitivity, and complex behaviors of elephants.

An elephant orphan drinking his milk. A still from one of the videos I’ve produced for Elephant Havens.

In 2024 I traveled on a wildlife expedition to Botswana, a location that has the largest population of elephants on the African continent. The expedition leader suggested I make contact with a local elephant orphanage called Elephant Havens. The fact that I’ve been studying African Elephants for over a decade, and didn’t know about this organization, was surprising. This sparked the idea that the charity might benefit from a campaign to increase awareness of its good work. I proposed to Elephant Havens that I produce a series of videos for the organization’s YouTube channel. (Up to this point, videos were only posted to the channel occasionally.) The films would showcase different aspects of Elephant Havens’ impactful programs. The mission of Elephant Havens is to protect and preserve the African Elephant. The charity’s approach involves multiple strategies: rescue and hand rearing of young elephant orphans that will ultimately return to the wild, community outreach and habitat protection.

At Elephant Havens in Botswana, feeding one of the resident orphans her milk

This year, I spent a week at Elephant Havens, shooting video content. I documented the extraordinary work that’s undertaken to care for rescued baby elephants at the orphanage. This included milk preparation and feeding, interviews with elephant handlers, and exploring the close relationship handlers have with the baby elephants.

Senior Elephant Handler “AK” with Elephant Havens’ youngest orphan, “Joy”

The film series includes video profiles for each elephant orphan. The profiles are now shared with donors who sponsor individual elephants.

Still from a video profile of “Succeed”, one of the orphans at Elephant Havens

I also had the rewarding experience of documenting the creative process of a group of women from the local community, who create art paper using elephant dung. This is one of several vital community programs run by Elephant Havens.  It was a fascinating morning, capturing every step of the artisanal paper making process. The resultant short film shares the amazing skill of the women.

The local community artisans who create beautiful craft items with paper made from elephant dung.

To show respect for cultural traditions, I wore what is known as a “wrapper” over my trousers, when I visited the paper-making ladies at their workshop.

The collection of new short films (all around 2 minutes) can be seen on Elephant Havens’ YouTube channel. A new film is released every week. We’ve seen a steady growth in subscribers, and views per film, ever since there has been a regular flow of content released to the channel. 

As with the Fulbright experience, the initial expedition in Botswana, an unfamiliar place, in a magically unusual situation, has led to the most rewarding and gratifying work of my career so far...the creation of a series of videos that increase global awareness of the outstanding work Elephant Havens does to protect and preserve the African Elephant. The Fulbright mindset inspires each of us to make something happen that is both unconventional and unexpected.

Engaging with baby elephant “Joy” at Elephant Havens