A Tribute to Craig

After hearing of the recent passing of Craig, the Super-tusker of Amboseli in Kenya, I have been trying to think of a way to pay tribute to this amazing animal who meant so much to so many. I would even say that many people around the world and a vast majority of Kenyans mourned the death of this beloved elephant whose long life in the wild came to symbolize the country’s increasingly successful efforts to protect these animals from ivory poachers.
Craig, who died on January 3 of 2026, lived in Amboseli National Park and surrounding protected conservancies in southern Kenya. On his passing the Kenya Wildlife Service said, “Craig, the legendary super-tusker famed for its immense, ground-sweeping tusks and calm, dignified presence, passed on at the age of 54.”

One thing that is very special to me right now is that I have experienced that “calm, dignified presence” personally. In October of 2025, I was able to spend some time with Craig and it will remain one of the highlights of my life. It was just two months before he passed away and I was staying in the nearby Selenkay Conservancy. When I arrived at the camp, my guides Edison Sakimba and Thomson Ntimama asked me what I wanted to see the most and I quickly answered, “Tuskers!”  This was my third trip to Kenya in five years and I had not been fortunate enough to photograph any of the tuskers.

When we entered Amboseli National Park, it was a cloudy almost stormy day. We saw many large elephant families and several elephant bulls walking across the marshes. Amboseli is famous for its many documented elephant families that have called this land home for a millennium. But as we drove around, we couldn’t see or find any of the tuskers that are known to reside in this park. The main one I wanted to find and capture with my camera was Craig, one of the last remaining elephants identified as super-tuskers in Africa. The term describes a bull elephant with tusks that weigh over 100 pounds (45kg) each. Tusks that size are so long that they can drag the ground as the elephant walks. Craig has been famous world-wide for years and since his cousin Tim died several years ago, his legend had only grown larger.

After looking all around the park, my guides told me that Craig was located in the nearby Tawi Conservancy. So off we went to meet one of the Maasai community members that could lead us to him. We found him munching on some bushes and although I knew he was large, I was still amazed at his overall size. His tusks were like a natural work of art. One tusk was longer than the other, but both stretched to the red ground below him. He looked at us but then kept on feeding. Right away I tried capturing every image that I had in my head before I got to this moment. And then I just watched him. I couldn’t take my eyes off of this beautiful animal. His size was immense, but he moved with that dignified grace he had become known for. Despite his size he was gentle and unassuming. I realized that before me was something special, something I had never experienced before in all of my travels. This was what it was like to be in the presence of a true legend. After seeing that Craig was not bothered in the least bit by our presence, I was asked if I wanted to step out of the truck. Well, of course I wanted to jump immediately to the ground, but I had to maintain my calm. Once out of the truck Craig just looked at us with those beautiful eyes but just kept on with his meal. To a wildlife photographer, catching low angle shots of our subject is a must. So, I slowly went down to my knees and then lay down on the ground. A guide mentioned that I was lying in a briar bush, but I didn’t care. Still, he reached into the truck and grabbed a cushion to keep me off the briars. I laid back down on the ground and started to capture the moments I was hoping for. Then Craig stopped what he was doing and turned to face me, looking down at this small human lying on the ground in front of him. He looked right at me, or he looked right into my lens and this image is what I captured. After capturing this moment, I stood up finding myself breathless with an ever-increasing smile across my face. I realized I had just experienced something in my life that I had been working towards for a long time. This was truly a once in a lifetime moment and I captured it exactly like I saw it in my mind.

Craig had allowed me this honor and believe me, he allowed me. This animal at any moment could have decided he did not want me there and it would have been easy for him to get that point across. But he remained the calm, gentle giant that had helped to make him a legend. He saw no threat in me, he trusted me. Consider that, this gentle soul trusted me enough to let me lie down on the ground nearly at his feet and he made no move to harm me, only looking down at me with those big brown eyes. That is an honor that no one can comprehend unless experiencing it firsthand, those that have, know what I am talking about.

Then on that morning in early January I opened my tablet and almost immediately I read a story of his passing. I could not believe it, so I searched around hoping to find that it was a mistake or bad joke, but of course I only found more stories to verify his passing. I was heartbroken, but proud at the same time. Craig was 54 years old and had recently had some gastronomical problems, so there was a feeling that his end may be near. But you still do not want to believe it.

Craig had lived a near perfect life for a bull elephant living in today’s world of poachers and trophy hunters. He was a world-wide legend and a symbol of what conservation can accomplish with enough support and determination. I can say that he passed with that same calm dignity. He rested on the ground of the Kenyan savannah and held his head high for a while, but then gently laid his head down on the ground and he was gone. It was a fitting ending for an animal that survived against all odds, he died wild and free and on his own terms.

As I mentioned previously, I had told my guides that I was in this part of Kenya to capture moments with tuskers. Although I spent only one afternoon with Craig, I was fortunate enough to spend each game drive in this camp with another up-and-coming tusker known as Umoja, which means Unity. Although he has not reached the stature of Craig, he is about fifteen years younger so there is plenty of time to develop his own story. As I was on my last game drive before moving on to continue my journey, my guides told me they had decided to give me a Maasai name, which of course I felt was a great honor. They said they had chosen the name of Olomnunyak, which means lucky. They said that most guests do not get so many sightings of tuskers in such a short time and that I was lucky enough to see them every time we went out. I was so proud of that new name and made sure to carry it with me as I continued on to the Maasai Mara. But now it even has a different meaning. Now that I know that Craig is gone and he had allowed me to capture a special moment with him, I absolutely feel lucky…I am Olomnunyak.