Lake Amboseli is a shallow, brackish stretch of water at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. Most of the "lake" consists of flat, dry salt pans but at the end closest to the mountain is an extensive swamp fed from the glacier and the many streams which flow from its' summit. Surrounding the swamp are forests of acacia trees whose shape is so typically Africa. It is a timeless, ancient land dominated by the towering might of Kilimanjaro and throughout the swamp and lake and grasslands and forests roam herds of those other ancient African giants - the elephants.

“Mwaluganje was set up primarily as an elephant sanctuary to help with the devastating poaching in and around Tsavo National Park,” says artist Guy Combes. “It has been so successful that now the sanctuary has an overpopulation problem. This river is a popular refreshment stop for substantial family groups, but this large bull came down one morning and stepped out into the sunlight, complimented perfectly by the outline of the Shimba Hills behind. At the moment I am drawn more to images of Africa that don’t necessarily conform to people’s preconceived ideas of it. Most people visit when it’s dry, but my favorite time is during and after the rains, when the greens are more vivid, the animals have more food and seem much happier as a result.”

"I like to paint for the story," says artist Joshua Spies. "'With Raging Bulls,' you can feel the power and the passion of these enormous animals. It's an intense scene." The locked tusks and tree-trunk legs of the massive bull elephants have raised a cloud of dust that adds to the drama of the battle.
Joshua Spies graduated from South Dakota State University in 1996 with a degree in Fine Arts. His list of awards and recognitions is extensive, including the 2007 Dallas Safari Club Artist of the Year award and the appearance of his paintings in two major motion pictures. His travels take him across the globe in search of subjects great and small.
"The best thing about doing what I do," he says, "is raising awareness. I like to show people something they might not see otherwise, to get them thinking about the larger world. My hope is that when they see these magnificent animals, the variety of wildlife out there, that they'll be more interested in preserving their habitats."

At just over 13,000 square miles, Tsavo National Park is the largest park in Kenya and one of the largest in the world. With its impressive size comes enormous diversity — the park boasts 1,000 plant species and over 60 major species of mammals, including the African elephant. During his visits to Tsavo, Simon Combes was fortunate to encounter several majestic bull elephants in the bush. You can relive Simon’s face-to-face experiences with your very own "Tsavo Sentinel."

The Aberdare National Park in Kenya, which ranges from 9 to 15,000 feet in elevation, is an enchanted island of montane forest on the edge of the Rift Valley. The elephants that inhabit this Eden are accustomed to their privacy since there is so much cover to protect them from the few people that visit the park. "My inspiration for 'The Creche,'says artist Guy Combes, came from a recent visit. As I approached the herd, these three females immediately huddled around their young to protect them. The Aberdare National Park is a very special place for my own family, too. It is where we regularly gather to pay our respects to my grandparents, my uncle and my father, so the family theme seemed particularly appropriate to me."

Years ago, Simon Combes wrote in his diary: “‘Africa’s Elephants in Danger of Extinction!’ I was stunned by the cataclysmic headlines in 1989. With the elephants’ plight uppermost in my mind, I decided to paint as large a canvas as my small studio would accommodate. Visually, the painting would ask the question,‘Where are the elephants going?’ There must be uncertainty and bleakness to symbolize the imminent tragedy. “The line of elephants winds its way over the ridge, perhaps traveling from a lush valley into a dry, inhospitable environment epitomized by a tree’s skeleton and sparse tufts of sun-bleached grass struggling for survival in the infertile ground. Perhaps only in such a stark wilderness can the last of the elephants survive the predations of man."
Twenty years later, elephants are still at risk for extinction, but there have been some steps in the right direction: shortly after Simon Combes read those alarming headlines, the United States government imposed a ban on commercial import of elephant ivory and many other countries followed suit. Unfortunately, the elephants are not safe as yet and it is up to us to protect them and their habitat.