No other place in the world has captivated me so much that I return at least once a year. The Amboseli ecosystem is located in southern Kenya on the Tanzanian border and is a predominantly dry savanna area of about 8,000 square kilometers, fed by meltwater from Mount Kilimanjaro. Large herds of elephants have lived here for thousands of years because they thrive on a mosaic of swamps and the resulting evergreen grazing areas.



The major rainy season in Kenya usually begins in April and can last until the end of June. Our plan was to find parched savannas in late February or early March and thereby encounter large herds of elephants migrating through the dried-up Lake Amboseli outside the national park.



This year was to be different, and it seemed as though the weather wouldn’t exactly be on our side this time. While rain isn’t in itself a reason to pack up the camera when photographing wildlife, the lake bed was completely submerged, so the elephants were avoiding it. Mother Nature did, however, delight us with dramatic cloudscapes that formed between the sometimes prolonged downpours, and — once they cleared — we could briefly see the snow-capped peaks of mighty Kilimanjaro, offering a breathtaking backdrop.



NGOs such as the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, the Tsavo Trust, and the Amboseli Trust for Elephants have been studying and cataloging the behavior of these gentle giants for several decades. Their daily work includes tracking family relationships as well as mating and migration patterns.



Elephants have the most developed and stable social network of all land mammals. The family always stays together. It is led by the matriarch, the oldest and most experienced female. Sisters, cousins, aunts, and all related young follow her with one exception: bulls leave the herd at around 15 years of age and move on alone. A day consists largely of feeding, up to 16 hours. In doing so, the family often covers long distances, up to 40 kilometers daily.



Elephant families roam the open savannas. Physical barriers such as fences, ditches, or walls do not exist in East Africa. As a result, herds sometimes migrate across national borders for weeks, months, and even years. Together they experience dry and rainy seasons, mating with bulls they encounter, pregnancies, and births. Even if it takes years, the matriarch always leads her family back to the place where she has her roots — home.



In February 2018, I had my very first “encounter” with this magical place, Amboseli. Every time I come back here, it feels a little bit like »coming home« to me, too.