In the golden light of dusk, the silhouette of a lone elephant moves across the dusty plains of Amboseli. His tusks sweep the earth like scythes—heavy, gleaming arcs of ivory forged by decades of growth and survival. He is a tusker, one of the last of his kind. And he may soon be gone.
East Africa’s elephants are in crisis—but it’s not just about numbers. It’s about legacy. In Amboseli National Park, a sanctuary in southern Kenya famed for its elephants, a silent extinction is unfolding. The tuskers—those rare bulls with enormous tusks that scrape the ground—are disappearing. Their vanishing marks not only a loss of biodiversity, but the fading of a natural wonder.
Tuskers are the stuff of African lore and legend. With tusks weighing over 45 kilograms (100 pounds) each, these bulls are the largest ivory-bearing elephants in existence.
Fewer than 30 tuskers are left in all of Africa. These elephants, whose tusks often drag the ground, are true genetic marvels.
Amboseli’s population includes several of these iconic giants, thanks to decades of conservation work and protective policies. But despite these efforts, they’re vanishing fast.
Even in a protected landscape like Amboseli, threats continue to mount—some visible, others quietly devastating.
1. Poaching and a Shrinking Gene Pool
Though Kenya has largely curbed widespread poaching, the scars of the ivory trade remain etched into the gene pool. Older bulls, the most likely to grow large tusks, were heavily targeted in the 1970s and 80s. Their absence altered the evolutionary future of elephants in the region.
Some elephants are now evolving to be tuskless. This is nature’s response to generations of selective poaching of big-tusked individuals.
The result? A new generation of elephants with smaller tusks—or none at all. The ancient tusker lineage is thinning.
2. Trophy Hunting Across the Border
A lesser-known danger emerges beyond Amboseli’s southern boundary. Unlike Kenya, which banned trophy hunting in 1977, Tanzania permits it under a licensing system. Amboseli’s elephants, unaware of human-imposed borders, often cross into Tanzania’s hunting blocks.
Kenya banned trophy hunting nearly 50 years ago, but elephants can still be legally hunted once they cross into Tanzania.
There have been confirmed instances where tuskers—carefully tracked and revered in Kenya—have been hunted across the border. For conservationists, it’s a devastating loophole in protection.
A single tusker can generate over $1 million in tourism revenue over its lifetime. In contrast, a trophy hunter pays as little as $40,000 to kill one.
This stark economic reality underscores a fundamental question: why sacrifice a living legacy for a one-time fee?
3. Human-Wildlife Conflict and Climate Pressure
Amboseli’s elephants don’t just face human threats—they also battle nature. As droughts intensify due to climate change, food and water become scarce. Elephants are forced to roam farther, putting them in conflict with expanding human settlements.
In some communities, elephants are seen less as symbols of majesty and more as crop-raiding threats. Retaliatory killings, while rare, still occur.
Why Tuskers Matter
These bulls are more than charismatic megafauna. They are ecosystem engineers, shaping their world as they move. Their tusks are used to dig for water, clear brush, and open pathways other species depend on.
Elephants use their tusks to dig waterholes, break trees, and shape habitats for other animals—making them vital to ecosystem health.
And they are ambassadors for conservation. Tourists, filmmakers, and researchers flock to Amboseli to see elephants like Craig and Tolstoy—names that now echo across the world.
Amboseli’s elephants are among the most studied in the world. The Amboseli Elephant Research Project has tracked some individuals for over 50 years. One of the most beloved tuskers, Tim, died in 2020 of natural causes at the age of 50. His legacy now lives on as a symbol of what can be achieved when elephants are allowed to grow old and wild.
Tim, one of Amboseli’s most famous tuskers, died peacefully in 2020 after decades of being monitored and admired.
The Battle to Save Them
Amboseli is far from defenceless. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Big Life Foundation, and the Amboseli Trust for Elephants are just some of the organizations working tirelessly to protect these animals through research, anti-poaching patrols, and community-based conservation.
Trophy hunting revenues rarely reach local communities. Eco-tourism, on the other hand, creates jobs, funds schools, and incentivizes wildlife protection.
The key, however, lies in unity—especially across borders.
A Call for Cross-Border Conservation
Elephants don’t see fences. And conservation shouldn’t either. To truly protect tuskers, Kenya and Tanzania must collaborate on:
• Creating no-hunting buffer zones along elephant migration corridors
• Establishing shared elephant databases, so identified tuskers are known and protected across borders
• Synchronizing anti-poaching efforts and wildlife patrols
• Promoting eco-tourism over extractive hunting-based models
Only with regional cooperation can we ensure these animals aren’t lost just because they stepped into the wrong territory.
A Legacy at Risk
As a wildlife photographer, I’ve stood in silent awe as Craig ambled past me, dust clouds rising around his colossal feet. I’ve waited for hours to watch Tim emerge from the swamps, his tusks dripping with water and light.
These are not just images—they are memories. And they are under threat.
The decline of tuskers in Amboseli is not only an ecological emergency—it’s a cultural one. These elephants are part of Africa’s soul. To lose them is to lose a piece of who we are, and who we could be.
We have the science. We have the stories. We have the tools.
Now, we must summon the will.
Let’s ensure that these gentle giants continue to roam—not as myths or museum specimens, but as the beating heart of a wild and thriving Africa.
