These prehistoric pachyderms have a genetic variation meaning their tusks resemble those of woolly mammoths more than they do the 2,000 or so African elephants who also call this area home.
Fearsome-looking though they are, this distinctive accessory is also what makes Super Tuskers so vulnerable—ivory fetches approximately USD $3,300 per pound on the black market.
Prolonged protection by the Kenyan government and from the Amboseli rangers has allowed Craig to reach the grand old age of 54. Since his elder brother, Tim, died of natural causes, most of his days are spent alone in the south of the park and in the Kitenden Conservancy where Discover Collection Amboselli is situated, although he can sometimes be found teaching elephant etiquette to a group of young males known as askaris.
The Masaai have coexisted with the Super Tuskers in the borderlands between Kenya and Tanzania for thousands of years; indeed, some clans are named after them.
“Sometimes Craig gets bored and decides to walk to Tanzania,” he says. “I’m always so relieved when I see him come home because the Tanzanian government recently awarded new hunting licences after a 30-year amnesty.”
In Amboseli and the Kitenden Conservancy, Craig and his peers are protected around the clock both by armed rangers and unofficially by the thousands of Maasai families who depend on ecotourism for their livelihoods.
