Would you expect that Cannon "should work at" somehow recovering photos you have deleted from the camera? You deleted them. You told the system to delete the photos from your phone before checking to see if they all imported correctly.
Your memories of South Africa aren't gone....your photos are. Your memories are still in your head.
Take some personal responsibility here. If these photos were as important as you have indicated, then you should have made absolutely certain that they were backed up correctly and completely before deleting them, essentially, from your camera!
For all the wonderful things that Apple is, they are not magic. Sorry they can't pull photos out of thin air. But again, they are in good company with every other camera manufacturer in the world....
Sorry you lost your pictures, but you need to need to man up on this one....you and you alone are the one responsible for deleting them.
GB