This is the story of Tim, the
most famous African elephant in recent memory. He was the most impressive
elephant I have ever encountered in the years of travels in the wilds, and will
always be my favorite and most memorable.
Tim’s life began in the savannah’s
and swamps of Amboseli National Park in Kenya, East Africa. He was estimated to
be born in 1969, to the famous “T” family, which was this named and categorized
by the iconic Dr Cynthia Moss and her elephant research team in Amboseli
National Park. Hence the letter is given to this family, all members females
and calves born to this family were given names with the letter “T”. This when
Trista gave birth to a healthy male elephant in 1969 he was named Tim. His
grandmother Teresia also had long straight tusks, and she bore another two big
tuskers a male and female named Tolstoy and Theodora.
Over the years the genes of the T
Family which results in large tusks showed clearly as he grew to become a fine
young bull, and as he matured his ivory grew to its distinctive shape. One tusk
almost touching the ground and the other curved inwards.
Thankfully poaching in Amboseli
was quite low and hence he managed to survive until full maturity, and became
one of the most dominant bulls in the eco system.
Despite this, he was well known
as a crop raider and used to rain many of the plantations and farms outside the
protected park boundary. In 2014 he was treated to a bad injury in the rump by
a spear.
In 2016 he was seen with a spear sticking out of his head, and knowing there was relative safety in the park he was seen walking around with this injury until he was subsequently treated.
Tim being treated for a spear wound
In
September of the same year, the park decided to radio collar him in order to
help keep track of him and his movements and hopefully avoid further issues.
But this did not stop him, and
around 2018 he broke his collar. He continues to get into mis-haps and near
death experiences it seems as once again in December 2018 he got stuck in deep
mud in the Kimana swamp. The rangers of the Big Life Foundation were alerted
and a herculean operation ensued where he was pulled by a tractor with multiple
breakages of the straps, to gradually pull him over 25m over muddy terrain to
finally enable him to gain a firm footing at the last light of day, and avert a
disaster.
He was often found outside the
park itself mostly in nearby surrounding conservancies and forest patches
during the day, usually accompanied by a large group of young males who follow
him. Sometimes his relative and “uncle” Tolstoy was also seen with him and when
I visited in 2019 his lookalike Craig who had similar tusk shapes albeit
slightly smaller was with him. The rangers have a daily task of chasing him and
the others back to safety as they end up raiding many of the crops in the local
farms, eating the fresh product like tomatoes. This would en-rage the villagers
and the fear was always there for retaliatory action against Tim.
Sadly and shockingly, Tim died in
February 2020, apparently due to natural causes which were said to be a twisted
gut. But the question remains if the multiple tranquilizers used to sedate him
for different purposes over the years took a toll on his health. Nevertheless
he was gone to us, and it came as an absolute shock to many around the world.
Tim had managed to capture the minds and hearts of thousands of people the
world over.
His tusks were massive and once extracted and weighed were a an astounding 71 KG and 68KG each. If he had survived a few years longer, his tusks might have even reached 80KG.
My memories with him will remain
forever engraved in my heart. From my first quest to see him in 2016, and how I
finally saw him on the final day of our tour. I still remember my adrenaline
pumping hours after our encounter. It was like nothing I could have imagined.
My life’s dream of photographing a big tusker of Africa became a reality.
Then three years later, I once
again met him face to face outside the park, this time much closer and on foot.
Spending over 3 hours with him and his companion Craig, it was truly an
unforgettable experience. Sadly I never realized that this would be the last
time we see each other again as he died the next year a week before we were to
leave for Kenya to try and see him again.
The memory and legacy of Tim will last forever and he will always be the gentle giant of my heart.
