''An Elephant Called Slowly'' is a 1969 British film from the team that made ''Born Free''. It starred the elephant Pole Pole. The film was shot on location in Kenya.

Premise

The film showcased the adventures of the couple,

Bill Travers William Inglis Lindon Travers (3 January 1922 – 29 March 1994) was a British actor, screenwriter, director and animal rights activist. Before his show business career, he served in the British Army with Gurkha and special forces units. Earl ...

and

Virginia McKenna Dame Virginia Anne McKenna (born 7 June 1931) is a British stage and screen actress, author, animal rights activist, and wildlife campaigner. She is best known for the films '' A Town Like Alice'' (1956), ''Carve Her Name with Pride'' (1958), ' ...

, with three African elephants at Tsavo National Park.

Pole Pole, The Elephant

Pole Pole was a young elephant that had been captured as an orphan, from the wild and was being temporarily held in Nairobi before a relocation to UK. It was one of the three elephants used in the film, ''An Elephant Called Slowly''. Once production of the film ended, Pole Pole, the two year old elephant, was donated by the Government of Kenya as a gift to the Queen. This was despite efforts by the couple to save it from the relocation to a zoo in London. In UK it was to be held in an enclosed environment, unlike in Kenya, where it roamed freely in the wild. The elephant later on died, years later, at Regent Zoo in London, while in the process of being transferred to a different facility,

Whipsnade Zoo Whipsnade Zoo, formerly known as ZSL Whipsnade Zoo and Whipsnade Wild Animal Park, is a zoo located in Whipsnade, near Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England. It is one of two zoos (the other being London Zoo in Regent's Park, London) that is owned b ...

. Its death led to the foundation, Born Free, being created by the Late

and

to look after the welfare of animals, including elephants.

Cast

George Adamson George Alexander Graham Adamson MBE (3 February 1906 – 20 August 1989), also known as the ''Baba ya Simba'' ("Father of Lions" in Swahili), was a British wildlife conservationist and author based in Kenya. His wife Joy Adamson related in h ...

References

External links

An Elephant Called Slowly
at Park Circus
An Elephant Called Slowly
at

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

An Elephant Called Slowly
at BFI {{DEFAULTSORT:Elephant Called Slowly 1969 films Films shot in Kenya Films directed by James Hill (British director)