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I made a nice peace of film of mister Mashagadzi in januari 2005 just near Shingwedzi in the riverbed. He is big but Duke from Lower Sabie is the biggest one.I was in august in Shingwedzi but i didn't see Mashagadzi. Maybe he is gone because of the dryness to find a better place for food. The nature arround Shingwedzi is a disaster area. Lots of trees are compleet destroyed. Verry sad to see.

Wow, took this picture in January 2002 near Shingwedzi. Didn't even know he had a name, just thought it was a nice, big ellie (I pressume it is the same one)

Here they are, they're overexposed and not yet cropped from the slide scanning, but here they are (hope this works):

Thanks for clarifying, Jose. I'm just excited, even almost 21 years later, that I might have seen a famous big tusker. Funny how that can still be thrilling, even in retrospect. It was only my 2nd day in KNP - talk about beginner's luck!

Hi everyone!
Thanks for all the news and the great pix and of course, now I will have to spell his name correctly
I will be in Shingwidzi next year in August, so I hope I get to see him again.

I was lucky enought to see Duke. It was a really special sighting. Where about did you see him cj100?

It was on the S28 on my way from croc bridge to Lower Sabie about 5km on the gravel road

That is where I saw him in May

Dinky.....

There was acctualy two eliie him and another one but the other one was a very young bull... but they where very calm.

There was also a young bull with him in May. Wonder if it was the same one you saw? He has tusks about 70cm long - hope I have guessed that right. Both were feeding on the left side of the road.

Not only looks like da Duke, tis him and one of his Askaris.

I'm glad to see Duke is showing himself again.
He was seen frequently in that area in May/June this year and we managed to miss seeing him a frustrating twice just by turning the wrong way at the right time!!

Is it "normal" for him to be seen in the company of another ellie, unless it was a female!!

Old bull will be accompanied by younger ones, named askari's. They will learn from this old bull and in return be his eyes and ears. Duke is way to old to mate and he has somewhat of an problem with those two white pillars that protrudes from his face.

I was wondering if he could still produce semen?? Won't it make sense to artificially fertilise cows with his genes? Surely then the big tuskers would make a return?

I know what I said about elephant overpopulation, but I am curious about this particular bull.

You believe me, his genes are present in many bulls in that south eastern section of Kruger. He has done his job, let him be.