A bronze giraffe and calf sculpture created by a Stevenage artist during lockdown has been sold to a game reserve in South Africa.
Georgean Lochhead, aged 76, was inspired to create the giraffe, which stands 5 foot 6 inches tall at the shoulder, as a result of an emotional experience she shared with her husband and her father while pregnant with her first child.
On a walking safari in Zambia, her group came upon a small herd of giraffes quietly grazing.
A single giraffe, evidently pregnant, walked straight up to Georgean - known as Georgi - and nuzzled her on her neck and chest, before rejoining the herd.
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Georgi’s father was particularly moved by the incident and it became a popular subject of discussion during the later years of his life.
When he died, Georgi's father left her a small bequest, which Georgi used to buy the clay and wire to construct the giraffe as a fitting memorial to her father.
The bronze sculpture was sold to the owners of the White Lion Lodge within the Sanbona Wildlife Reserve near Montagu, Western Cape, where it stands on a viewing platform overlooking a river and mountains.
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