Kenyan authorities and two private conservancies have launched investigations after a Spanish tourist posted Instagram videos showing himself pouring beer down an elephant’s trunk, triggering a wave of anger online.
Clips shared under variants of the handle “Skydive_Kenya” showed the man drinking Tusker beer before tipping the remainder into a bull elephant’s trunk. “Just a tusker with a tusked friend,” he captioned one post. The videos were later deleted following hundreds of critical comments, some urging his deportation.
BBC analysis of the footage indicates it was filmed at Ol Jogi Conservancy in Laikipia; the landscape and a distinctive long-tusked bull suggest the elephant could be “Bupa,” a well-known resident rescued from a Zimbabwe cull in 1989. A staff member at the privately owned sanctuary, identifying himself as Frank, called the conduct unacceptable and said the material had been forwarded to the authorities. “We don’t even allow people to go near the elephants,” he said.
Kenya Wildlife Service spokesperson Paul Udoto confirmed the agency is probing the incident. In a separate video posted Monday, the same man is seen hand-feeding a rhino at nearby Ol Pejeta Conservancy. “He has also broken our rules because he was not supposed to touch the rhinos; they are not pets,” Ol Pejeta’s Thige Njuguna told the BBC, noting the reserve does not keep elephants.
Kenyan biologist and elephant conservationist Dr. Winnie Kiiru called the behavior “unfortunate,” saying it endangered both the animal and the tourist and risked normalizing dangerous proximity to largely wild elephants. The uproar comes a week after tourists at the Maasai Mara were filmed blocking migrating wildebeest, prompting the tourism and wildlife ministry to direct operators to enforce park rules more strictly, keep visitors inside vehicles except in designated areas, improve signage, and step up safety education.