Mark Deeble
Tsavo
Bio: A wildlife filmmaker in Kenya. My home is in Cornwall. My heart is in Africa. I have a tent in Tsavo. I share it all with Vicky. We are working with an amazing team, making a wildlife feature film - http://www.facebook.com/theelephantmovie
Mark Deeble 
Love your bio. And happy to meet a like-hearted person. I write about wildlife and wild places in hopes of inspiring others to care. You can find me at africainside.org and I look forward to staying in touch. I subscribed (love to support other bloggers), and hope you will too to my blog.
All the best, Lori
I have been told a good book must have a great first line…
Your bio is one of the best headlines I have ever read….
I will stay here for a while, if you do not mind….
I want to say thank you for all you do to spread the word about conservation and saving the elephants, we share a common passion for the elephants and being a voice for them its priceless
Dear Mark,
I’ve just read your article “The Last of the Great Tuskers”. For your long hours of blood sweat and tears I am most truly grateful. To think of that great beast living in fear for so long is horrifying. He must be so lonely. Could you please tell me, is he still alive? Will you keep us informed of his well being? Bless you for your compassionate mission. Peace and love to you all, Elizabeth
Hello Elizabeth – we are not sure whether he is still alive but will post as soon as we know. We flew this afternoon and found the carcass of another large bull who’d has his tusks removed, but we were unable to get to him on the ground. We don’t know whether it was Satao – hopefully we’ll find out very soon.
Tragically, we heard today that he is dead – and saw his body from the air – in a remote corner of the park very close to the boundary. He had gone there as a recent thunderstorm had produced a flush of growth and filled the waterholes. He was killed by a poison arrow and his tusks hacked out. It’s a tragedy. He was one of the last of the few – beautiful and gentle, and an iconic Tsavo bull.
Hi. This is Javier Armesto from “La Voz de Galicia”, a newspaper from A Corunna (Northwest Spain). I ask permission to publish the picture of Satao elephant posted in your blog whithin an information about Satao dead by hunters in Tsavo.
Regards,
Javier
Javier – you are welcome.
Hi Mark, Satao gone, lost. 😦 A mighty legend to walk this earth. Very sad and depressing moment. I ask permission to paint Satao on a large wall by using one of your images as a reference.
Regards, WiseTwo
Hi Mark,
I’m the photographic editor for The Times newspaper. Do you have any colour photographs of Satao which we could use in tomorrow’s newspaper?
Many Thanks,
Daniel Born
pictures@thetimes.co.za
Hi Mark, Isn’t it possible to have more than one Ranger post around there? I think the Kenyan government must have more interest in protecting those marvelous creatures than to have only one. What about getting funding from worldwide support to have a protected area with guards and electric fencing? Isn’t there something that can be done? It is so awesomely scary and sad, and I understand that 34,000 elephants a year are being killed. Ridiculous! Take care, & thanks< Mary
This caught my attention “poachers’ use of mass-produced Chinese goods; GPS smart-phones, cheap motorcycles and night vision goggles.” Do you think enough is being done to “follow the money” or are the NGO’s and Government agencies just too frightened to investigate Chinese organised crime???
Hi Mark,
I am Alan from Housenews in Hong Kong. I would like to ask your permission to use the photos of yours on a coverage of Satao. It’s quite a sad news, and we hope to raise the awareness of people towards the wild animals. Thanks.
Best regards,
Alan
Dear Mark,
Last week I read about the death of Satao in my local newspaper. I ended up on your website and was touched by how you described your encounters with this great animal. After donating and signing the petition, I felt I needed to do more. So I’m creating a website in his memory, collecting various information on the organisations working to protect our wildlife. I would like to kindly ask your permission to add a few of your pictures and blog entries (with mentioning the source of course) on this site.
Kind regards,
Flogiston
Hello Mark, I was inspired to do something to let others know more about Satao.
I have created a portrait of him for an art event today and some of the proceeds is going to a worthy charity. Here is a link to my blog post about what I have created in his honor. http://differentartworks.blogspot.com/2014/06/in-right-mind-art-exhibition-june-28.html#links
Hello Mark, love your work and passion. Artists Against Ivory would like to post your picture Elephant and moon (or sunset as it may be) on our Facebookpage https://www.facebook.com/artistsagainstivory with acknowledgement © Mark Deeble and A Wildlife Filmmaker in Africa, 2014, and a link and recommendation to your site. Thank you, Richard
That’s fine Richard. Please put copyright to Mark Deeble & Victoria Stone.
Hi MarkMany thanks.Posted up today.https://www.facebook.com/artistsagainstivory All the Best Richard HornerManaging DirectorArtists Against IvorySwansea, Wales, UKLove elephants? Like us onFacebook Follow Artists Against Ivory Twitter +44.7804 77 67 99This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are private and confidential and are solely for the information of the addressee. It may contain material which is legally privileged. If you are not the addressee or the person responsible for delivering to the addressee, be advised that you have received this e-mail in error and that any use of it is strictly prohibited.
Have just finished reading Daphne Sheldrick’s book “An African Love Story” and interested in the work you are doing in continuing to document the story of Tsavo. The ongoing massacre of elephants is a tragedy.
Hi Mark
Firstly, compliments on your blog. It’s a really thorough, heartfelt take on life in Tsavo.
I’ve come to your blog through this article on Satao’s death in The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/africa-wild/2014/jun/13/kenyas-biggest-elephant-killed-by-poachers the link they have used doesn’t seem to work, but nevertheless I got here.
I’m currently reasearching for a Research and Development workshop at HOME Theatre in Manchester (http://homemcr.org/), with a view to creating material for a show. To give you some idea of what I’m interested in, I started thinking about my session after the recent fire at Manchester Dogs’ Home which killed 60 animals, and I began to think about the power of humanity to destroy. Following on from this was the news from WWF that the world has lost 50% of its wildlife in the past 40 years…I’d like to tell you in more detail about it, but perhaps via email! But you get an idea of my interest in your blog, because of the reporting on the threats and actual assaults upon the elephants of Tsavo for their ivory.
The specific reason for commenting here is to find out whether you have any more information on Satao, Mountain Bull (not from Tsavo I know) or indeed any other great tuskers. Even more specifically, whether there are any timelines that exist for them, including their births, deaths, and any significant events. I can certainly supply more information as to why I’d like to know this and what I’ll use the information for, but if you can give me any pointers to websites or other chroniclers that would be fantastic. I won’t put my email address here (!) and I’m not sure how I’d get yours, but if you could comment with anything useful I’d really appreciate it.
Thanks
Hi George. I don’t have any more information on Satao as he only came to prominence very recently. Barbara McKnight of Tsavo Elephant Project has information on a lot of Tsavo bulls, but not Satao. I am not sure re MB, but I would try Save The Elephants. Igor, a bull poached from Amboseli a few years back ( the bull was the subject of a beautiful photo by Nick Brandt of Big Life) has probably the best know history as Cynthia Moss, director of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants (ATE) knew him from the time he was born until he died – 43 years. I hope this helps.
Hi, would it be possible to make your beautiful documentary “queen of trees” embed-able from youtube? i would like to embed it in my blog. thanks for your great work.
how does one subscribe to this blog?
Steve, there should be a ‘follow’ button either top left menu bar or bottom right at the end.
Hope this helps!
I enjoyed reading about the elephant.
Hi Mark, Greetings in the beautiful Tsavo, I was there not long ago. I am looking into another project in Tsavo which I would love to run by you. I have put the word out and interest has been generated. I also have some wonderful contacts in Tsavo whom I stayed with, they if needed would be wonderful contacts for you. Please send me an email : etyrrell@hotmail.com
Your bio says it all. I am glad I stumbled upon your blog. Cheers!
–> Wow! Very inspiring articles about wildlife! The story about Satao, in particular, was touching apart from being real!
I am so happy to have arrived here at your website. Looking forward to following your work.
My very best regards to you and respect for your important work.
Hi Mark, thoroughly enjoyed reading your work and well done on the documentaries. I am Kenyan Taita who hails from the Tsavo area (very near Voi) and currently based in the UK but I go back and forth frequently. My wife and I are both passionate about wildlife and conservation and for me personally, I would like to get into making wildlife films.
I was wondering if it would be possible to get in touch and get your thoughts on how I could further my passion.
Thank you.
Thank you Shalom – I will email you.
Mr. Deeble,
I have absolutely fallen in love with your two documentaries online – The Tides of Kirawira and The Queen of Trees. You are truly an astonishing storyteller; you tell stories of such beauty and life and richness.
How can I find the other documentaries you’ve done?
Thank you for the appreciation Kyle – we’ll be adding documentaries to our Youtube channel as the rights in them revert to us, although we can get dvds made if you’d prefer (vicky(at)deeblestone.com). Our current film, which we have been working on for the past 6 years, has a FB page http://www.facebook.com/theelephantmovie – it will be finished next year.
Such a huge fan of your work. Would love to meet you or even spend a day with you, which highly impossible. Ever in England, please let us know. Would love to get to know more about your amazing experiences.
Love from Leeds xxx
Oh P.S: I am a student at University of Leeds doing law. But wish I had done more with wildlife tbh.
Thank you Deekshitha – you could always use your law degree to benefit wildlife – perhaps environmental law, or non-human rights, or perhaps, even if in a different field, offering your law experience, pro bono, to NGOs working for the environment and wildlife. Kind regards
Omg omg. You replied!!! This means so much to me.. thank you 🙂 May I dare to ask what you are working on currently??
We are working on an elephant film ( a wildlife feature)- we’ve been filming for 4 years and editing for 1+… 🙂
http://www.facebook.com/theelephantmovie . Kind regards
Dear Mr. Deeble,
my name is Ludek Certik and I am a senior film student, environmentalist and amateur naturalist from Prague, Czech Republic. I’m currently working on a comprehensive diploma thesis about nature in Terrence Malick’s movies (based on his deep relationship with nature) and I’m looking for every available piece of information regarding this fascinating subject, especially from those who participated on his visionary natural history movie Voyage of Time. I was told that you had a privilege to shoot some wildlife sequences in Africa for this movie, so if possible, I would like to aks you few (mainly technical) questions about this shooting. Do you think it would be possible?
Thanks Ludek – most certainly. I’ll email you directly. Kind regards, Mark
I celebrate what you’ve done in the making of wildlife documentaries. I know it’s your life’s work and you’ve inspired me over the years. I have also followed the works of Alan Root and loved the piece you wrote about him when you were paying tribute to the exceptional individual that he was. I also have a passion for film and nature and would love the opportunity to work for you for free and in return I would cherish the opportunity to learn from a master such as yourself. Do you think it would be possible?Thank you and I hope to hear from you soon.
Hello Leteipan – thank you! Please keep in contact and we’ll let you know if there is an opportunity. We are a very small team however and currently editing so we won’t be filming for a while.
Hi Mark, about a year ago I spoke with Victoria after an IDA screening of The Elephant Queen. During our discussion, I expressed my sincere interest in having the opportunity to work with you both. I am working in documentary production with a background in Journalism. I am interested in getting into wildlife/environmental documentaries. I’m sorry it has taken me so long to reach out. Once COVID 19 spread to the USA I’ve been in a bit of survival mode and now finding my way back to my passions. I would love to connect. Hoping to hear from you.
Hi Molly -have emailed.