Big Tuskers in Kenya 2024

For our second visit to Kenya, we were focused on finding elephants, specifically “big tuskers”.  We traveled again with our friends from WildPhotos Safaris, Daryl & Sharna Balfour, professional wildlife photographers and safari guides since 1986, and Pierre Burton, Kenyan Professional Safari guide.  We been in Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Brazil with Daryl and just love traveling with him for his stories and his photographic expertise.  We met Pierre on our first trip to Kenya and he is an amazing storyteller and his love for Kenya and its wildlife shine through all his tales. 

We traveled June 10-19, 2024.  The visit comes at the end of Kenya’s ‘long rains’(April -May), when the rains are long gone but there is plenty of water and fresh fodder.  It is at this time of year that many of the female elephants will come into estrus, attracting large numbers of big bulls to the area. 

At this time of year Amboseli National Park & Tsavo East National Park, the oldest national park in Kenya, abound with elephants in huge numbers, and you can watch the antics of the female herds and their youngsters as they make their way across the plains to enjoy their days feeding and wading in the wetlands & swamps.  These beautiful creatures have so much personality and show a wide range of emotions.  I just fell completely in love with elephants on this trip.  

In addition to elephants and other lovely wildlife, June should find Mt. Kilimanjaro with a bit of a snow cap on it’s highest peaks, Kibo and Mawenzi.  Kilimanjaro lies in Tanzania (if you want to get me riled up, ask about the game hunting that they are started allowing in Tanzania again - yes, big powerful (stupid evil) hunters will shoot a gentle big tusker in the head.  Auggghhhh!) and is the highest mountain in Africa and the tallest free-standing mountain in the world.  The mountain is typically cloud covered during the day.  But we were very lucky and had 4 of 5 days where we got the mountain clear in the morning and early evening.  One of the most iconic images of Africa is a herd of elephants or a big tusker in the foreground with Kilimanjaro in the background.  We got many of those shots and I have to say, the sunrise making the mountain glow is a sight I will never forget.   

Now on to the stars of the show, the elephants.  While wild African elephants can live up to 70 years, the typical lifespan for the big tusker is slightly shorter as the weight of the tusks causes health and feeding issues as they age.  These bulls reach their prime reproductive age and height of their power around 40 and 50 years old.   

Tusks are basically enlarged incisor teeth that show up around the age of two and continue to grow throughout the elephant’s life. Elephants not only use their tusks as their primary defense system, but also to gather food and protect their trunks.  Wildlife experts have observed that just like left or right-handed humans, elephants are also left-tusked or right-tusked, with the dominant tusk becoming worn down from more frequent use.  

Tusk size is genetic in elephants and in certain families, of the forest elephant, exceptionally large tusk occur.  Large tusks can happen in both males and females.  The large tusks on a female will be about 55 pounds.  However, it is the bulls that are referred to as “big tuskers” and these big tusks can go all the way to the ground and weigh in at 100 pounds each.  Because of the weight of their tusks, elephants will sleep with their heads against a tree or their tusks propped up on something.  Currently, the big tuskers are found in Kenya’s Amboseli and Tsavo national parks.   

It is thought there are less than 50 big tuskers left in the wild.  Craig is probably the most famous Big Tusker alive right now.  And we spent a beautiful morning with Craig.  But we also met big tuskers Per, Pascal, and Wikstrom in Ambroseli.   

The Ambroseli Elephant Research Project is the research group that studies the wild elephants in this park and since 1972, they have documented the lives of more than 3,500 elephants.  This is the group that names the elephants, and they are named by family group with the first letter of the name being the family line.  So, Per and Pascal and members of the same family.  One afternoon, we visited a few of the researchers at their permanent camp. (Thank you for the use of the long drop toilet.) 

While in Amboseli our base for five nights was the lovely Tawi Lodge, located in a private conservancy just outside the National Park. The lodge has a large waterhole right in front of the common area (lounge, dining area, bar) and we had a smaller waterhole right in front of our room. We were able to sit on the porch, lounge in the tub and even sit on the toilet (yes it is fancy “camping”) and watch the elephants, giraffe, baboons, zebras, etc come by to drink morning and afternoon. 

After our time in Amboseli, we made our way by plane (a 12 seater, big compared to the 4 seaters of our last trip) to Tsavo East National Park.  The  landscape and temperature changed, getting dryer and warmer.  We stayed at the amazingly luxurious Galdessa Camp on the Galana River.    This camp is owned by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.  This may have been my favorite camp.  The “tents” (permanent with porches, toilets and king sized beds) face the river and get such relaxing sounds…the water, the hippos, the birds/bugs. 

Because the camp is a Sheldrick camp, that allowed us to spend time at the elephant reintegration unit at Voi.  This unit is one that houses the orphaned elephant, from 3 to 9/10 which  reintroduces the youngsters back into the wild.  Of course, the younger orphans still get their twice a day milk feedings and spend all of their time in the company of their human caretakers. 

We each adopted an orphan from the Voi camp and got to meet them in the  stockade as they as they came in for  the evening after spending the day in the wild.  Seeing these babies rush to get their bottles was pure joy.  They come running with their mouths open.  Just like me to an ice cream truck. 

On the way to Voi, we passed a section of the water pipeline, that was leaking and watching the elephants drink from a bubbling fountain or sneak their way into getting to the water in a cement holding tank was amazing.  They are so clever!  In addition to the wonderful elephants, Tsavo is also home to some of the East African “specials” such as lesser kudu, gerenuk (think giraffe gazelle), desert warthog, reticulated giraffe, Jackson’s hartebeest and fringe-eared oryx. 

Overall, this was another amazing trip.  We are so fortunate to be able to see more parts of this amazing world.  Can’t wait to go back (January 2025…here we come.) 

HIGHLIGHTS OF WHAT DID/SAW PER DAY

June 9                  Arrived in Nairobi - flew British Airways through London. We spent 2 nights at the at Tamarind Tree Hotel, which is located beside the small Wilson Airport

June 10               Pierre arranged the day for us and Simple was our driver.  We visited the National Museum of Kenya with the Snake Park.  Then had lunch at Red Ginger, which was so delicious.  Finally went to the Fairview Estate Coffee Plantation for a tour and tasting. 

June 11                Private charter flight on to Amboseli - Tawi Lodge Room 1 (last room lots of privacy for us and animals at watering hole) - Saw Pascal from plane - Afternoon Game Drive (Guides - Moses and ?) - Pascal and his guards (younger bulls who stay with older big tuskers) -         Lesser Kudu; Masai Ostrich; Lilac-breasted Rollers

June 12                Clear Kilimanjaro - Morning Drive: went to Maasai land outside of park and picked up David, our Maasi guide, to find tusker Craig, 52 y; mud bath with younger bulls (30ish, 20ish); group 6 female giraffe, gnu (wildebeest), Thomspon gazelle, ostrich, White headed buffalo weaver Afternoon Drive - tusker Pascal + 4 younger bulls; tusker Tonsin (30 yr); Cattle egrets with elephants feeding ticks/bugs

June 13                Morning Drive - into Amboseli National Park- LBR (lilac breasted roller), Yellow Necked SpurFowl (on post); 40 + female nursery herd with Per, the tusker and another bull in musth (stinky!); Per false charging cars..feeling frisky; kory bustard; tawney eagle; Daryl chasing Wikstrom (only in distance in heat haze); African jacana (Jesus bird - walks on water); Egyptian Ducks (beautiful but common so Africans with us ignore them); Flamingos - greater & lesser (pinker); pelicans; pied avocet; water thick-knees (yellow eye); hippos - Afternoon Drive - White headed (orange) weaver, Chestnut weaver (female is grey); bachelor herd of Grants’s Gazelle; Pascal the big tusker

June 14                Morning Drive - giraffes with Kilimanjaro; into the park but missed the road crossing.  Per was with a female that was is estrus, with the small cheek marks; Griffin, large bull beginning musth (lovely with heat shimmer and plains then hills behind him); Crowned Crains pair with 3 chicks, hunting bugs; visit to Amboseli Elephant Research Project - Afternoon Drive - Pygmy Falcons mating; Wikstrom (in mid 40s) crossing through lake; unknown bull with broken tusk (not big tusker)

June 15                Cloudy mountain morning; Morning Drive (with Pierre) - woodland kingfisher; white browed coucal in palm; fish eagle in tree; Per leaking in musth; slow drive with Pierre so time with hippos, buffalo and elephants in mud;   island of pelicans with goliath heron behind hippos; long toed lapwing;  *(a favorite) small stream with fishing hammercock, great white pelicans, sacred ibis, long toed plover, pied kingfisher; fish eagles in tree and on rocks in stream; cape teal duck (red bill); grey headed kingfisher with small bull elephant near old flooded camp; mom & baby vervet monkey on road at old camp

June 16                Morning trip to Tsavo East famous for red (dusted) elephants - small female herd crossing river at camp on our arrival.                Afternoon drive - elephant family at mud bath; dik diks scampering away; dwarf mongoose; bateleur eagle in dead tree; the Yatta Plateau in the sunset

June 17                Morning Drive - breakfast in the bush - gerenuk family; hundreds of hornbills; vulturine guineafowl (beautiful call); buff-crested bustard (much smaller than kory); flock of sandgrouse in the road; “crossover” giraffe (genes of reticulated show up in maasai subspecies in Tsavo)   Afternoon Drive - VOI Reintegration Unit visit - leaks in water pipeline bring elephants to drink from “water fountains”; Visit with 3-10 yr old orphans, Ashanti, my orphan, Kulilu, James’ orphan; Lemeke head massage.

June 18                Morning Drive - trip to Voi babies out in the wilds for milk and water bath; cape buffalo; GoAway Birds; bull elephant in musth at “buffalo willows pool”; lesser kudu; very rare White Headed vulture

June 19               Charter flight back to Nairobi where we again met up with Simple who took us shopping at House of Treasure which has small shops with independent artist.  We had lunch at Cultiva, a farm/restaurant and then went on the hunt for a new large suitcase case we bought so many treasures.