Amid Transgender Rumors, Shiloh Jolie Pitt Pictured With Angelina On Namibia Vacation

“Maleficent” actress Angelina Jolie took daughter Shiloh Jolie Pitt to Namibia to celebrate the opening of an animal reservation in early July, People Magazine reported Wednesday. What made the trip to Africa so special was that Jolie named the nature preserve Shiloh Wildlife Sanctuary after her daughter.

People Magazine obtained exclusive photos from the trip. Click here to see them.

The sanctuary is now the home for rhinos and elephants that were abused or had fallen victim to poaching.

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“Her face lit up when she saw the sanctuary for the first time,” an insider told the magazine. “The name was a surprise to her and she was beaming. She and her brothers and sisters moved around very quietly as the newly rescued elephants were still settling in.”

What makes the sanctuary even more sentimental for the 11-year-old is that it’s located in the country where she was born 11 years ago.

Shiloh and her mother stayed in Namibia for five days. They met with Rudie and Marlice van Vurren, the founder of of the conservation N/a’an ku sê where the sanctuary is located. Jolie has reportedly been friends with the couple for 16 years. Jolie and Shiloh were had a “hands-on experience working with the wild animals,” People Magazine wrote.

“It is a privilege to work with N/a’an ku sê and be able to contribute to conservation in Namibia,” Jolie said.

In the pictures, Shiloh sported a short haircut, oversized T-shirt and cargo shorts. Her appearance prompted comments about longtime rumors that she is transgender.

Her father Brad Pitt once said Shiloh preferred to be called John and Jolie said Shiloh “wants to be a boy.”

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“[Shiloh] only wants to be called John. John or Peter. So it’s a Peter Pan thing,” Pitt told Oprah Winfrey in 2008 when Shiloh was 2 years old. “So we’ve got to call her John. ‘Shi, do you want...’ - ‘John. I’m John.’ And then I’ll say, ‘John, would you like some orange juice?’ And she goes, ‘No!’ So, you know, it’s just that kind of stuff that’s cute to parents and it’s probably really obnoxious to other people.”

“Shiloh, we feel, has Montenegro style,” Jolie, 41, told Vanity Fair in 2010 about Shiloh’s choice of clothing. “It’s how people dress there. She likes tracksuits, she likes [regular] suits. So it’s a suit with a tie and a jacket and slacks, or a tracksuit. She likes to dress like a boy. She wants to be a boy. So we had to cut her hair. She likes to wear boys’ everything. She thinks she’s one of the brothers.”

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