Letaba Elephant Hall - Home of the Magnificent Seven
Emerging tuskers
The legend of the Magnificent Seven lives on in Kruger National Park through a number of animals carrying impressive ivory. Read about the old bulls, the youngsters, and our only female tusker below.
Scientists are studying these impressive animals and you can help by providing information on any tusker you see in the park. See our Emerging Tuskers Project for more details.
When a new tusker is identified we currently name it after a Ranger or other member of staff who has given many years of service to the Kruger National Park. It is traditional for rangers to be given an ethnic title by their colleagues and staff, and it is these 'nicknames' that are used for the tuskers.
Old Bulls
Duke
Duke is currently the largest of the Kruger tuskers, and therefore perhaps the biggest in the world. His home range is in the Lower Sabie/Crocodile Bridge/Tshokwane area though he has been known to travel as far north as Satara. He is seen regularly by the windmill that shares his name and is probably the most photographed of the big tuskers. He has a very relaxed disposition and can be identified by a square-shaped notch in his left ear.
He is named after the early Ranger Tom Duke who was based at Lower Sabie between 1903 and 1923.
Tsendze
This huge bull, probably 3.8m high, shares his name with the Tsedze river. The name is derived from the Tsonga word Tsendzeleka meaning to 'wander about like someone lost in the bush'. He ranges from Mopani Camp, south down the Tsende loop and east across Nshawu Dam.
Bidzane
Named afrer Gus Adendorff in recognition of his service and dedication to this world famous National Park, the KNP, which he loved dearly. We know that he would have been extremely proud and honoured to have one of "his beloved elephants" named after him.
Gus was a keen conservationist and commenced duty as a junior ranger in the 1st of May 1950. He was known among his staff as "Bidzane", a Swahili word referring to the zebra skin band around his hat. This hat he wore constantly. Gus was a "naturalist" ranger who had a great empathy with the animals he was appointed to protect, preferring to allow nature to run its course rather than interfere with the rifle. It was well recognised that he had an intense love of nature, and he avidly recorded his observations through photography and sound recordings in an era when this technology was not well developed. Through his keen interest in all forms of wildlife, he gradually became a formidable amateur botanist, ornithologist and zoologist. He had a particular interest in lions and made many recordings of their calls and came to understand them as few had before him. He also had an intense interest in the history of the KNP and in 1959 he accompanied an expedition, led by Dr.Punt, to search for relics of the van Rensburg Trek who had been massacred along the Limpopo River in Mozambique in 1836.
Growing up on a farm in the Soutpansberg district, Gus became fluent in both Tshivenda and Tsonga (Shangaan) which also proved to be very useful in later years. He was the interpreter during the above-mentioned expedition due to his proficiency in these indigenous languages.
As a junior ranger, Gus commenced his duties under Ranger Harry Kirkman ("Muliluane") in Skukuza in 1950 but after one month was trasferred to Shingwedzi. He was fortunate enough to meet and serve with many of the pioneer rangers of the Park, amongst others, Col.Stevenson-Hamilton, Lt.Col.Rowland-Jones and Henry Wolhuter. At the latter end of 1951 he was transferred to Shangoni. He was promoted to District Ranger at Punda Maria towards the end of 1954. At the end of 1958 he was transferred to Satara. After five years there he was transferred to Pretoriuskop. In 1966 he was then transferred to Letaba. In 1973 he made his last career move in the KNP when he was transferred to Punda Maria where he had been stationed 15 years earlier.
As a keen amateur ornithologist and botanist, this, the Northern section was to be Gus' favourite section. He retired as a District Ranger on the 31st of March 1977.
Gus retired to a property outside Louis Trichardt where he wrote a book on his experiences as a ranger of the KNP. This book is entitled "Wild Company" and includes a record, "The African Night" recorded by Gus. He was also a very enthusiastic photographer and the photographs in this book are from his personal collection. The book was published in 1984. Sadly, Gus passed away on the 3rd of November 1982, and therefore never got to see his book published.
He married Patricia Futter in 1956 in Bloemfontein and to them were born five children, Susan, Michael, Irene John and Eugenie. All their children inherited their father's love for nature. John is currently employed as a conservation manager in the Addo Elephant National Park where he has been for the past 16 years.
This information was derived from the book of memoirs, written by Gus, and also from his family.
Tsotsi
Meet Tsotsi. He has been known to us for some time, but got named as part of the tuskers judging process this year as we received quiet a few entries for him and given he is so visible people wanted a name. He is a wonderfully cheeky bull who is happy to pose for photo’s but has been know to take out a fence or two at Letaba every now and then. He is named after one of our past rangers – Ampie Espag. (note the small hole in the left ear, one of the tell tale signs)
Abraham Jacobus (Ampie) Espag spent most of his adult life conserving nature in the Kruger National Park. He knew the Park like the palm of his hand and was a gifted story teller, spending many hours around camp fires, sharing his experiences and what with privileged listeners, whoever they were.
He started his career on 1 February 1954 as Section Ranger at Malelane. Poaching in that part of the Park was rampant at the time and Ampie’s relentless, often clandestine and highly successful efforts to curb the problem soon earned him the nickname of Tsotsi. He was still part of that generation of Section Rangers who patrolled the veld not per 4X4 vehicles, but on horseback, per donkey convoy, bicycle and on foot.
After ten years at Malelane, Ampie was transferred to Nwanedzi, a Ranger Section east of Satara rest camp, bordering Mozambique. Here, for the first time, he had to curb elephant poaching, escalating from out the neighbouring country.
Six years later he was transferred to Tshokwane where, apart from his normal Section Ranger duties, he became very involved in the capture and translocation of game to other Parks.
He then became Section Ranger at Mooiplaas, next to Mopani rest camp at a time when elephant poaching from out Mozambique was a huge problem in the north of the KNP. His experience and knowledge of old, which he gladly shared with the younger generation, came in very handy during the multiple anti poaching operations during that time, resulting in a number of poachers being apprehended.
From there he went to Kingfisherspruit at Orpen Gate where he met with Phelwane, one of the biggest ivory carriers in the history of the KNP. Ampie and this legendary elephant shared various management incidents, some of which can be described as rather hilarious and of course quite breathtaking.
After retiring as Section Ranger, Ampie assisted at Punda Maria in the Tourism Department until he eventually retired in Pretoria where he passed away on 18 July 2006 at the ripe old age of 82.
Alexander
Alexander can be seen in the Mopani area and is relatively young. He would seem to have potential for considerable tusk growth in the years to come.
His name honours Prof Stuart Saunders who was the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, and who has since contributed significantly to the research programs in Kruger through the Mellon Foundation. The Saunders name is said to be traceable back to Alexander the Great whose emblem was the elephant.
Hlanganini
Hlanganini (pronounced thlan-ga-nini) is based in the Letaba area. He is one of the younger bulls with considerable promise for the future. His most recognizable characteristic is that the bottom of his left earlobe is missing. It appears to have been torn off in a straight line parallel to the ground.
He gets his name from the Hlanganini River which has its confluence with the Letaba River at Letaba Rest camp.
Masthulele
Masthulele (pronounced Mas-thu-le-le). This bull has only been photographed during the 2003 and 2004 elephant censuses. Both sightings were in the Tihongonyene Windmill area between Shingwedzi and Mopani. He has a notch in his left ear.
Masthulele was given the ethnic name of Kruger's elephant researcher, Dr Ian Whyte, after motivation by other staff. It means the 'quiet one' in Tsonga. Read more about Dr Ian Whyte.
Muliluane
Muliluane (pronounced Mu-li-lu-ane) moves between Kruger and the Sabi Sand Private Nature Reserve. He is named after Ranger Harry Kirkman who served in Kruger between 1933 and 1958. He started his career in the Sabi Sand, moved to Kruger as a Ranger and returned to Sabi Sand as Warden. The name Muliluane means 'small fire'.
Timaka
Timaka (pronounced Ti-ma-ka) was identified from photographs taken during the 2004 elephant census. He was seen in the area around the Dzombo windmills south of Shingwedzi. He is young and has potential as a future big tusker.
He is named after Lance Corporal Wilson Ndlovu who was killed by an elephant in the Malelane area after 30 years of loyal service to the KNP. Ndlovu actually means elephant in Tsonga.
Tshilonde
(Pronounced Tshi-lon-de) When last seen this elephant had broken one of his tusks. Like Mashagadzi he lives in the area around Shingwedzi rest camp, and has often been seen by tourists.
He is named after the permanent waterhole in the Shingwedzi River at the mouth of the Gadzingwe Spruit. Tshilonde is a Venda word meaning 'a wound or sore'. The elephant is named after the place, and there is no connection between the meaning of the word and the elephant.
The only female tusker
MaMerle
This beautiful elephant cow is thought to be the biggest female tusker in Kruger. She was first seen and photographed near the Sabie River high-water bridge in August 2004. She appears to have twins of about 3-4 years old.
She is named after another matriarch of Kruger, Merle Whyte, who also has an extended family living in Kruger and the associated private nature reserves.