Super Tuskers and Gorillas : Kenya/Uganda Feb/March 24

[Caracal]

Great photos but I'm envious of your Shoebill sighting!

Back in 2007 I spent hours searching the waters of Lake Bangweulu for the Shoebill all to no avail !

[Kitsafari]

Finally had time to get caught up.

 

Your post on the singing wells and the Samburu wedding was beautiful and atmospheric. No need for photos there. 

 

Sarara lodge looks beautiful. I think we should head to Samburu/Meru for a change next time we are in Kenya. 

[gatoratlarge]

So af this point our group safari concluded and I bid everyone adieu but this is when an unexpected layoff comes in handy (not to worry 😁 I have a new job which is actually my old one but that’s another story) I realized that I had paid leave and therefore an opportunity to extend my stay. How many chances like that do you get in life?  So with only a couple weeks before departure I began brainstorming with @Sangeetaand Chalo on what to do if I had an extra week in Africa. 
 

I thought about the wild dogs in Laikipia or seeking out the black leopard — but going solo it might have been cost prohibitive —I had also been watching many a YouTube video on the last remaining super tuskers and became intrigued. I decided on Amboseli and Tsavo, two parks I’d never visited (the train to Mombasa doesn’t count 😁)  I set aside three days to find Craig, a super tusker that inhabits the Amboseli ecosystem.  Also I  hoped to spend the night on the Ngulia platform to spot rhinos 🦏 in Tsavo West. 
 

It would turn out Ngulia wasn’t open to the public at this time— rumors of a poaching incident.  Whatever the reason, the reserve inside the park was laying low and was off limits even for a day drive. 
 

Chalo Africa was able to get one of their favorite Game Watchers guides  to pick me up at the Nairobi airport for the drive south to Amboseli. The park is rightfully known for its elephants and occasional views of the snow capped peak of Kilimanjaro when it emerges from the clouds. 
 

I was lucky we saw Kili each day I was there and even while in Tsavo West, something I didn’t think possible. But as thrilled as I was about seeing nice views of Kili, I got that sinking feeling about Craig.
 

There’s no off track driving in Amboseli and roads are few with swamps all around. I could easily imagine a scenario where Craig tucks in a remote spot for several days and we miss him entirely!  Plus he traverses 100 square miles of terrain and the unseasonably early rain had scattered the wildlife, much of it outside the park and in denser bush in neighboring conservancies. 
 

So my guide talked with other guides at the lodge (Serena inside the park) and called his contacts in the area for leads on Craig’s whereabouts. Everyone was quick to emphasize we’d be lucky to see Craig and to enjoy the park and the search. 😬

My guide got a call back from a Masai tracker late the next morning —-Craig had been located and we headed post haste to a conservancy adjacent to Amboseli tingling with excitement!

 
What transpired was one of the most moving wildlife experiences I’ve ever had:

Clearly played around with black and white, but I liked the effect 😊

 

 

 

 

 

The Masai tracker said “come, come” and in a flash I was a few meters away from this majestic creature on foot!

We were the only ones around with Craig and a young bull Askari — when Craig began to move, I was instructed to move slowly in reverse.
 

He reached the shade of an acacia tree and began to nap.

 

We kept the doors open, and listened quietly to the birds, the gentle breathing as Craig napped, leaning at times on one of his massive tusks to prop up his head!  His Askari laid down beside him and also took a nap!  We had our morning tea and watched on in awe for nearly two hours!

 

Edited May 8 by gatoratlarge

[offshorebirder]

Wonderful video of a snoozing Tusker!     Thanks for this TR @gatoratlarge

[gatoratlarge]

As has been reported, at least two super tuskers were legally shot when they crossed over the border into Tanzania in January, a month before our group arrived in Kenya. a few more large or emerging tuskers have been shot since then. 
 

It’s unconscionable that this takes place in 2024 when there are only 25 super tuskers on the African continent. It’s completely heartbreaking, and you can see from my video, Craig is the most gentlemanly, regal and serene of beasts.  There would be absolutely no sport involved in it. He’s a gentle soul. They are easy targets. The only challenge is that there are so few left!

 

A few things I learned or relearned—-elephants can be left tusked or right tusked or even ambidextrous—favoring one tusk or the other or both. 
 

The Tsavo Trust does amazing work trying to protect this genetically gifted strain of super tuskers in this part of Africa. Most of the super tuskers are related. They break them down into Super Tuskers, Emerging Tuskers (not quite yet in the club but expected to grow into it in their prime) and iconic cows which are female eles that have long tusks but perhaps not the girth weight of the males’ tusks. 
 

In Amboseli I believe we saw two more super tuskers including Tee Jay. He was following and chasing a female that appeared to be playing hard to get or was reluctant 😂

 

 

 

 

Edited May 8 by gatoratlarge

[Kitsafari]

6 hours ago, gatoratlarge said:

As has been reported, at least two super tuskers were legally shot when they crossed over the border into Tanzania in January, a month before our group arrived in Kenya. a few more large or emerging tuskers have been shot since then. 
 

It’s unconscionable that this takes place in 2024 when there are only 25 super tuskers on the African continent. It’s completely heartbreaking, and you can see from my video, Craig is the most gentlemanly, regal and serene of beasts.  There would be absolutely no sport involved in it. He’s a gentle soul. They are easy targets. The only challenge is that there are so few left!

 

 

@gatoratlarge

Totally agree with you. Unfortunately, as long as the Tanzanian government favours instant and rich money from trophy hunters, it will never care about the continuing existence of endangered wildlife. Wildlife has little economical value to them unless they are dead in this instance. 

 

In total, five large male elephants were hunted and killed in northern Tanzania over the last seven months, with a quota of another five more licenses for elephants expected to be granted in that Amboseli-Tanzania cross border area. This is according to Amboseli Trust for Elephants, which added: 

 

"If five more are killed later this year, there will be no males older than 35 left in this part of the population and only a few left in the whole population. This is a crisis. Please write to the Tanzanian Embassy in your country and please write to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to these addresses: scientificauthority@fws.gov and managementauthority@fws.gov."

 

 

[Caracal]

I may have missed it but do you know how old Craig is @gatoratlarge?

 

[gatoratlarge]

17 minutes ago, Caracal said:

I may have missed it but do you know how old Craig is @gatoratlarge?

 

He's 52 I believe. It seemed that 55 was the number where a few super tuskers had passed in recent years so I felt a certain urgency — one I know had been treated for a poison spear wound so I’m sure that was a contributing factor. I suspect at some point those massive heavy tusks become a bit of a liability in terms of longevity but I’m no scientist…

Edited May 9 by gatoratlarge

[gatoratlarge]

1 hour ago, Kitsafari said:

 

@gatoratlarge

Totally agree with you. Unfortunately, as long as the Tanzanian government favours instant and rich money from trophy hunters, it will never care about the continuing existence of endangered wildlife. Wildlife has little economical value to them unless they are dead in this instance. 

 

In total, five large male elephants were hunted and killed in northern Tanzania over the last seven months, with a quota of another five more licenses for elephants expected to be granted in that Amboseli-Tanzania cross border area. This is according to Amboseli Trust for Elephants, which added: 

 

"If five more are killed later this year, there will be no males older than 35 left in this part of the population and only a few left in the whole population. This is a crisis. Please write to the Tanzanian Embassy in your country and please write to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to these addresses: scientificauthority@fws.gov and managementauthority@fws.gov."

 

 

Thank you Kit!  I will do this asap. I’ve signed a petition but seems like more urgent action is necessary!

[douglaswise]

"As long as the Tanzanian government favours instant and rich money from trophy hunters, it will never care about the continuing existence of endangered wildlife."

 

I consider that the above is an illogical statement because it is too much of a generalisation.  "Rich" money is presumably used to describe that obtained from trophy hunters to differentiate it from "poor" money derived from photo-tourists.  The real debate should relate to the "instant" versus the sustainable.  In the case of super tuskers, it may well be that long term income might best be obtained by protection of known individuals to the extent that genetics may play a role in tusk size along with good plain of nutrition, lack of wear and advanced age.  However, it is a distorting generalisation to jump from a discussion of super tuskers (and, possibly more importantly, emerging super tuskers) to a conclusion that trophy hunting is a threat to the "continuing existence of endangered wildlife".  The scientific consensus - to the extent that there is one - would suggest the opposite.

[gatoratlarge]

It's high time I begin to wrap up this Trip Report I'd say---only a couple more posts at least about the safari itself...Amboseli was a bit of a surprise to me.  I think one of the reasons I hadn't prioritized it was that I expected it to be overcrowded with tourists and that I could see elephants elsewhere which I understood to be the main attraction of the park.  But as usual when I try to convince myself that I don't have to go to a particular place in Africa, I end up loving it too and wonder why I didn't get there sooner.  The mountain as a backdrop is iconic and special, it is definitely a place of elephants including the possibility of super tuskers, and we lucked out and saw great views of two male lions on the move as well as some fantastic flamingo action, so I'm a fan 

 

 

Last views of Amboseli before I move on to my last stop in Tsavo West:

 

 

Lion Kings:

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amboseli is definitely a place to get your elephant fix on including super tuskers:

 

Craig and Kili:

 

 

An Iconic Cow:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swamps and springs from Kili:

 

 

 

 

 

Lone giraffe:

Zebra were scattered and many were grazing in conservancies adjacent to the park as rain had been plentiful and predators apparently fewer outside the park boundaries...

 

It was the green season and the time for wildies to drop their calves...

Amorous kori bustard--such a prehistoric bird! 

 

Birdlife was plentiful with all of the swamps and water catchment areas:

Tawny eagle:

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Flamboyance of Flamingo:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goliath Heron:

Crowned cranes:

 

Kili:

Setting Sun in Amboseli...

 

[Kitsafari]

Great shots of the eles! that lone iconic cow has such beautiful tusks - almost pearly white and look in pristine condition.

Lovely photos of the flamingoes too. 

 

[Treepol]

Wonderful photos and video of the flamingos.

 

Kilimanjaro showed well for you and makes a dramatic backdrop to the eles, a classic and timeless Amboseli image. Thanks for sharing.

[marg]

Wow!  Love your films of the big tuskers.  How fortunate you are to have spent all of the time with them.  Thank you!

[ricmiles]

@Kitsafari@gatoratlargeThe issue at hand is in this case the owner of this specific hunting operator is among the most powerful people in east africa. He has been among the major financial backers of both the current Tanzanian and Kenyan governments, he owns one of the biggest gas companies in East Africa, he owns one of the biggest mining operations in Tanzania and also owns many of the bush planes flying over the Serengeti. Unfortunately, I suspect signing petitions will do very little. 

Edited May 13 by ricmiles

[John M.]

@gatoratlargePic 16 gets my thumbs-up for a wildlife landscape to die for. Image quality allowing, it'd be a candidate to cover a wall.

[gatoratlarge]

6 hours ago, John M. said:

@gatoratlargePic 16 gets my thumbs-up for a wildlife landscape to die for. Image quality allowing, it'd be a candidate to cover a wall.

Thank you so much @John M.!  High compliment coming from you!  This site has so many amazing photographers— I take a bunch of pics hoping a few stand out 😊👍🏻

[gatoratlarge]

My last stop was at Tsavo West for two nights at another Serena property Kilaguni Safari Lodge.  The view off the back terrace was stunning.  You could see Kilimanjaro (a surprise to me) the Chyulu Hills and it overlooked a very active waterhole.  In fact, due to all of the rain and thickness of the bush, the best place to spot wildlife would have been to hang out on the terrace with a pair of binocs and call it a day!

 

On the road to Tsavo:

 

Lava fields on the way to the lodge...

 

As I said before, the goal was to spend a night on the platform at Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary, a large, fenced sanctuary within Tsavo West, but it was inexplicably closed to the public with rumors of a poaching incident...but the scenery is stunningly beautiful even if wildlife spotting was a bit of a challenge due to the early rains.  The lodge's waterhole produced the best wildlife sightings, fringe eared oryx, buffalo and waterbuck, elephants caked in red dirt, marabou storks, giraffe and the usual suspects like baboons and impala.  We whiffed on gerenuks and managed one lesser kudu —-usually much easier to see both species but the early rains dispersed the wildlife you’d typically see this time of year. 

 

Serena Kilaguni Lodge:

 

Buffs visit the waterhole

Kilamanjaro was surprisingly visible from Tsavo:  Uhuru Peak, the highest summit on Kibo’s crater rim (the peak on the right is 19,341'), and Shira Peak (the peak on the left is 13,000') visible in this photo:

The Chyulu Hills in the distance...

Zebra and a territorial waterbuck at the waterhole:

 

 

 

 

The waterhole is lit which gave this lone bull elephant an especially red hue...

 

 

We visited Mzima Springs twice.  Pro tip, first thing in the morning the hippos are near the walking path and soon make their way downriver and almost out of view entirely so if you want a good view of the hippos, visit in the a.m.  We also spotted a croc, some Sykes monkeys and tree hyraxes at Mzima.

 

The spring percolates from the Chyulu Hills bubbling up at this point...

 

 

 

 

There's an underwater observation hut:

 

 

Sykes Monkeys

Saw some of my first baobabs of the trip in Tsavo---this one had a hole likely from eles:

Colorful Agama lizard on the rock wall of the lodge:

 

 

The more jagged peaks of Ngulia Hills---Sheldricks is constructing a lodge at the base of the hills.  Would be a great spot to stay in the future to visit the Ngulia Rhino Reserve---note to self:

 

Fringe eared oryx:

This one with a salad "to go"

 

Dik diks were common

Muddy buffalo:

 

Birds of Tsavo: 

 

A Bateluer Eagle in the morning light:

A European Roller I believe...migrates from Europe?

Hornbill---Von der Deckens??

 

Long tailed widow bird?

The road back to Nairobi had many a baobab tree:

 

So that's a wrap for this safari---it had a ton of highlights and I'm so grateful I was able to go.  I'll answer any questions, otherwise, Happy Safari'ing!

 

PS if you're looking for some eating spots in Nairobi, I really enjoyed The Talisman in the Karen suburb:

 

 

 

 

 

And Hero Bar and Restaurant was good as well:

 

 

 

Kwaheri!

Edited May 16 by gatoratlarge

[ricmiles]

@gatoratlargeTsavo West is so underrated, good to see you enjoyed it. Sorry to hear you did not spend a night on the platform in the rhino sanctuary. I also didn't get to stay the night when I was there some years ago but have been told multiple times the aggregation of rhinos is insane. 

 

Ps. Hero Nairobi is such a great restaurant and has now been placed in the top 50 bars worldwide!

[Alexander33]

Stunning report. What a safari!  
 

There’s nothing quite like trekking for mountain gorillas — an unforgettable experience.  I’m so glad you got to see Craig.  He truly is, as you said, a gentle giant. It’s a genuine pleasure to be able to spend time with such a magnificent creature. May he persevere!  Your shots of wildlife in front of Kilimanjaro were evocative. Tsavo West has been on my radar for some time, for its big tuskers in particular, but I’ve put it off, as they seem so much more accessible at Amboseli. Some day......

 

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. 

[gatoratlarge]

14 hours ago, Alexander33 said:

Stunning report. What a safari!  
 

There’s nothing quite like trekking for mountain gorillas — an unforgettable experience.  I’m so glad you got to see Craig.  He truly is, as you said, a gentle giant. It’s a genuine pleasure to be able to spend time with such a magnificent creature. May he persevere!  Your shots of wildlife in front of Kilimanjaro were evocative. Tsavo West has been on my radar for some time, for its big tuskers in particular, but I’ve put it off, as they seem so much more accessible at Amboseli. Some day......

 

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. 

@Alexander33i know what you mean, Tsavo East is so vast, I’d love to go there and search but I have the same impression that the easiest place to spot a super tusker is Amboseli. I agree re: mountain gorillas 🦍!  Never gets old—I’ve been fortunate to track them in Zaire (now DRC) in ‘92 and in Rwanda in 2016 and now Uganda in 2024. I’m reading a book called Impenetrable Forest about a Peace Corps worker assisting in the habituation of the gorillas in Bwindi. He asserts they are slightly different than the mountain gorillas in Rwanda and DRC and I can sort of see that a bit. Thanks for reading my TR — it took a while to complete! 😆

[michael-ibk]

Wonderful photos of Amboseli and Tsavo Joe. What a privilege spending time with such a magnificent Tusker. As for you, Amboseli and Tsavo have never called out to me as strongly as other African parks. This report has changed that. An all around excellent trip report, thanks so much for sharing!

[KaliCA]

@gatoratlargeJust fantastic photos of your sightings in Amboseli and Tsavo West. Well done! I'm a fan of both parks and have been only once in August 21 and we were camping...oh the dust... but I loved both parks. In Amboseli, the flamingoes were a bonus and in Tsavo west, the landscape and Mzima Springs were great!

Thanks for sharing!

Greetings from the west coast of Fla, where the gators are currently making mating calls...

[gatoratlarge]

2 hours ago, KaliCA said:

@gatoratlargeJust fantastic photos of your sightings in Amboseli and Tsavo West. Well done! I'm a fan of both parks and have been only once in August 21 and we were camping...oh the dust... but I loved both parks. In Amboseli, the flamingoes were a bonus and in Tsavo west, the landscape and Mzima Springs were great!

Thanks for sharing!

Greetings from the west coast of Fla, where the gators are currently making mating calls...

 

 

Thank you @KaliCAI agree---underestimated parks --- I hope to be back!