An emotional journey into the heart of darkness

As a journalist, I always try to keep an emotional distance with my sources and interviewees. During my recent trip to Kenya with members of the International Fund for Animal Welfare's China-Africa Wildlife Ambassadors initiative, I found maintaining that distance was difficult at times, especially because my focus was not on humans, but an amazing animal - the African elephant.

Early one morning, we spoke with some of the officials responsible for wildlife protection, who presented us with dry facts and figures about the plight of the world's largest land animal as a result of the illegal trade in ivory.

By noon, we were at an "orphanage" for elephant calves in Nairobi, watching dozens of them chase their human nurses for milk and interact with the visitors, unaware that that their situation was the work of human poachers who killed their parents for their tusks. Faced with these adorable animals, it's easy to become emotional.