Lupita N’yongo Goes Home To Kenya To Save Elephants

Lupita N’yongo is in her native Kenya this week visiting her homeland in order to protect elephants from the ivory trade.

N’yongo announced early on Tuesday, that she will now be a global advocate of elephants through the WildAid organization. The Oscar-winning actress was born in Kenya and feels a strong connection to her heritage. The actress visited the Amboseli National Park and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’s elephant orphanage in an effort to bring international awareness to the elephant-poaching crisis due to the illegal ivory market.

@lupitanyongo and @wildaid with a smile that only @dswt can give:). Copyright@ Kristian Schmidt for Wildaid

A photo posted by Kristian Schmidt (@kristianschmidt_) on Jun 30, 2015 at 9:26am PDT

N’yongo even took some time to visit some of her alma maters, giving a mentorship talk to students from the Loreto Convent Msongari, Rusinga School and the St. Mary’s School in the capital city of Nairobi.

A moment with the Alma Maters. At the mentorship talk at KICC #LoretoConventMsongari #RusingaSchoolNairobi #StMarysSchoolNairobi #LupitaShares @SafaricomLTD A photo posted by Lupita Nyong’o (@lupitanyongo) on Jun 30, 2015 at 7:42am PDT

The actress is staying busy since her breakthrough role last year, voicing the character of Raksha in the live-action remake of The Jungle Book. As well as starring in the highly anticipated seventh installment of the Star Wars series, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, in which she will play Maz Katana, a pirate.

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Article by Kelly Mena

Kelly Mena hails from Boston but grew up in sunny Tampa, Florida. She attended the University of Florida where she studied Broadcast Journalism . She most recently moved to Brooklyn where she is happy she made it through winter so now she can enjoy the beach and a hot summer day.