The Big Tuskers of East Africa CONTACT US NOW FOR JUNE 2025
Join acclaimed rhino and elephant authors and photographers Daryl & Sharna Balfour (African Elephants – A Celebration of Majesty and RHINO - The Story of the Rhinoceros & a Plea for its Conservation) and well-known Kenyan guide Pierre Burton on a safari taking in the very best elephant and rhino viewing areas in Kenya in June or July 2025 (dates to be finalised according to preferences & availability).
This special Daryl Balfour Wildphotos safari, which will specifically be about elephants, photographing elephants, seeing elephants, tracking elephants and everything you ever wanted to know about elephants, visits some of the continent’s best areas for seeing and experiencing truly wild elephants - Amboseli and Tsavo East National Parks - up really close & personal! (Of course, we will see other wildlife, including some fantastic birds, on this safari too, even though our main focus is these huge grey giants!) We will also spend quality time with scientists active in the field of elephant rehabilitation & research while optimising our opportunities to see and photograph elephants in the remote and scenic Tsavo East National Park. Our safari begins in Nairobi, from where a private charter flight shuttles us to a private lodge in a concession adjoining the Amboseli NP, where many of the area's biggest tuskers like to hang out. From here after 5 days we will shuttle by air to Tsavo where we will stay 3 nights in a luxury lodge owned by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust overlooking the Galdessa River, in an area often frequented by some of the biggest tuskers in the area.
In our previous years we have seen and photographed some of the biggest and most magnificent Big Tuskers alive on earth today, and that will be our mission again on this safari.
We will also enjoy two private visits to meet the young orphan elephants at the reintegration unit where they are being slowly introduced to a life back in the wild!
This special Daryl Balfour Wildphotos safari, which will specifically be about elephants, photographing elephants, seeing elephants, tracking elephants and everything you ever wanted to know about elephants, visits some of the continent’s best areas for seeing and experiencing truly wild elephants - Amboseli and Tsavo East National Parks - up really close & personal! (Of course, we will see other wildlife, including some fantastic birds, on this safari too, even though our main focus is these huge grey giants!) We will also spend quality time with scientists active in the field of elephant rehabilitation & research while optimising our opportunities to see and photograph elephants in the remote and scenic Tsavo East National Park. Our safari begins in Nairobi, from where a private charter flight shuttles us to a private lodge in a concession adjoining the Amboseli NP, where many of the area's biggest tuskers like to hang out. From here after 5 days we will shuttle by air to Tsavo where we will stay 3 nights in a luxury lodge owned by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust overlooking the Galdessa River, in an area often frequented by some of the biggest tuskers in the area.
In our previous years we have seen and photographed some of the biggest and most magnificent Big Tuskers alive on earth today, and that will be our mission again on this safari.
We will also enjoy two private visits to meet the young orphan elephants at the reintegration unit where they are being slowly introduced to a life back in the wild!
Tawi Safari Lodge, Amboseli
Low down view of passing elephants.
Our first stop, after a morning flight from Nairobi, will be the stunning Tawi Safari Lodge (which past guests here with me have described as "the perfect" safari camp combining authenticity with comfort & class) in a private concession adjoining Amboseli on the eastern side, an area known to be home to many of the big tuskers of the area. Our time at Tawi will be spent visiting the elephants both outside the park as well as inside, spending long, quality hours in their company, and perhaps even chatting to some of the scientists currently doing research here.
Amboseli National Park offers shelter to dozens of known elephant family units numbering hundreds of elephants in total. These families, which typically consist of a matriarch and her offspring, are comprise of three groups: the “Residents,” the “Migrants,” and the “Sporadics.” As the names suggest, the Residents remain in the Reserve for most of the year, the Migrants move between Amboseli and other areas, and Sporadics only pass through from time to time.
Each elephant family is named, and each elephant within that family is named accordingly, and we will endeavour to identify the animals we photograph.
In addition to all these families, are the “bulls,” the adult males who live in solitude and wander far and wide in search of food and females, a high risk and gain strategy, and these bulls often get shot by poachers for ivory or because of crop raiding. The big bulls of the Amboseli-Tsavo region are known to be the largest tuskers left alive in Africa!
During our 5-night stay at Tawi we will endeavour to make the acquaintance of at least some of these special animals. Amboseli’s elephants are generally very approachable, and close-up encounters for intimate photography should be assured. And, Amboseli is where those iconic images of elephants (and others) with the snow-capped peaks of Kilimanjaro in the background come from.
After our memorable time in Amboseli we will bid these herds farewell, and fly to the land of giants - Tsavo East National Park!
Amboseli National Park offers shelter to dozens of known elephant family units numbering hundreds of elephants in total. These families, which typically consist of a matriarch and her offspring, are comprise of three groups: the “Residents,” the “Migrants,” and the “Sporadics.” As the names suggest, the Residents remain in the Reserve for most of the year, the Migrants move between Amboseli and other areas, and Sporadics only pass through from time to time.
Each elephant family is named, and each elephant within that family is named accordingly, and we will endeavour to identify the animals we photograph.
In addition to all these families, are the “bulls,” the adult males who live in solitude and wander far and wide in search of food and females, a high risk and gain strategy, and these bulls often get shot by poachers for ivory or because of crop raiding. The big bulls of the Amboseli-Tsavo region are known to be the largest tuskers left alive in Africa!
During our 5-night stay at Tawi we will endeavour to make the acquaintance of at least some of these special animals. Amboseli’s elephants are generally very approachable, and close-up encounters for intimate photography should be assured. And, Amboseli is where those iconic images of elephants (and others) with the snow-capped peaks of Kilimanjaro in the background come from.
After our memorable time in Amboseli we will bid these herds farewell, and fly to the land of giants - Tsavo East National Park!
TSAVO EAST NATIONAL PARK
Elephants & Mt Kilimanjaro.
Tsavo, made up of two conjoined parks - Tsavo East & Tsavo West - is one of the great game parks of Africa and along with Amboseli one of the finest places for great, up-close elephant viewing and photography. We will spend 3 nights in the private Galdessa Safari Camp, overlooking the Galdessa River and spend or days seeking out the herds and that classic image of the red-dusted elephants of Tsavo in all their glory! We will also enjoy two private visits to the Sheldrick Trust's orphan re-integration unit from where orphan elephants are reintroduced to the wild.
DATES AND COST OF THE SAFARI
The safari runs over 9 days in June/July 2025 and begins and starts & ends in Nairobi, Kenya. We suggest that safari participants arrive in Nairobi the night before the safari and overnight there, (we include airport transfers and your first night in Nairobi in the safari package) as our flight to Amboseli departs early on the first morning. We can assist with hotel or guest house reservations for the final evening after returning from Tsavo at the end of the safari should you require them, as well as city transfers etc and will add this to the cost of your safari if required.
Our return to Nairobi on the last day will be about midday, early enough for most outgoing international flights departing that afternoon or evening.
The cost of the safari is TO BE QUOTED per person sharing (June 2024 rates were $9960 but there are new park & conservancy fees in the offing) from Nairobi. All park and conservation fees, full board accommodation, internal flights & charters, house wines with meals, spirits, soft drinks and bottled water and the services of Daryl & Sharna Balfour & Pierre Burton of Wildphotos Safaris are included in your safari fare.
For those guests who would like to visit the other great pachydern parks of East Africa we can easily arrange an add-on to any or all of Lake Nakuru (black & white rhinos) or Samburu National Reserve (big tuskers), or the Maasai Mara.
DATES AND COST OF THE SAFARI
The safari runs over 9 days in June/July 2025 and begins and starts & ends in Nairobi, Kenya. We suggest that safari participants arrive in Nairobi the night before the safari and overnight there, (we include airport transfers and your first night in Nairobi in the safari package) as our flight to Amboseli departs early on the first morning. We can assist with hotel or guest house reservations for the final evening after returning from Tsavo at the end of the safari should you require them, as well as city transfers etc and will add this to the cost of your safari if required.
Our return to Nairobi on the last day will be about midday, early enough for most outgoing international flights departing that afternoon or evening.
The cost of the safari is TO BE QUOTED per person sharing (June 2024 rates were $9960 but there are new park & conservancy fees in the offing) from Nairobi. All park and conservation fees, full board accommodation, internal flights & charters, house wines with meals, spirits, soft drinks and bottled water and the services of Daryl & Sharna Balfour & Pierre Burton of Wildphotos Safaris are included in your safari fare.
For those guests who would like to visit the other great pachydern parks of East Africa we can easily arrange an add-on to any or all of Lake Nakuru (black & white rhinos) or Samburu National Reserve (big tuskers), or the Maasai Mara.
