Meru National Park and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the Lioness made famous in the best selling book and award winning movie "Born Free". Elsa the Lioness is buried in this park and part of Joy's ashes were scattered on her gravesite. Between the years 2000 and 2005, the Kenya Wildlife Service, helped by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), restored Meru National Park from near ruin to one of the most promising tourist destinations in Eastern Africa, solving the parks poaching problem. IFAW donated $1.25 million to this major restoration project, and with this money aided in improving the basic infrastructure and
Joy Adamson book of her paintings, "Joy Adamson's Africa", was published in 1972. She rehabilitated a cheetah and an African leopard. Pippa the cheetah was raised as a pet and given to Adamson at the age of seven months in hopes that she could also be released. Pippa had four litters before her death. Adamson wrote "The Spotted Sphinx" and "Pippa's Challenge" about Pippa and her cheetah family. Later, Adamson reached her goal of many years, when she obtained an African leopard cub. Penny was eight weeks old when a ranger acquaintance of George Adamson found her in 1976. Penny had a