LAIKIPIA, Kenya — A Spanish man is at the center of several investigations after he posted videos of himself pouring beer down an elephant’s trunk in a Kenyan wildlife conservancy, sparking outrage on social media.
In one video, filmed in a wildlife reserve, the man is seen drinking from a can of Tusker, a popular local beer, before giving the rest to an elephant. He captioned one of the clips, “Just a tusker with a tusked friend,” before later deleting the post from his Instagram account after a backlash from Kenyan users.
Vivid Voice News analyzed the footage and confirmed its authenticity. The landscape and a distinctive bull elephant point to the video being filmed at the Ol Jogi Conservancy in Laikipia County.
A staff member at the privately owned sanctuary, identified as Frank, expressed shock at the behavior. “This should never have happened. We’re a conservation and we can’t allow that to happen,” he said, adding, “We don’t even allow people to go near the elephants.”
Frank confirmed the videos would be passed on to “the relevant authorities.”
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is also investigating the incident, according to the agency’s spokesperson, Paul Udoto. The man, who uses a variation of the handle Skydive_Kenya on his social media accounts, posted another clip on Tuesday showing him feeding two elephants carrots and saying, “We are on beer time.”
These Instagram videos attracted hundreds of critical comments, with some users calling for his deportation, before the posts were removed.
The elephant given the beer is a large bull with long tusks, one of which is distinctively damaged. Based on other images and videos posted online, the elephant matches the description of Bupa, a friendly male at Ol Jogi whose photo is frequently shared by visitors.
Bupa was rescued from a mass elephant cull in Zimbabwe in 1989 and brought to the conservancy when he was eight years old. Ol Jogi, which is home to about 500 elephants, prides itself on rehabilitating orphaned animals and releasing them back into the wild.
The man, who describes himself as an “adrenaline junkie” on TikTok, had also posted a video on Monday showing him at the nearby Ol Pejeta Conservancy, feeding a rhino with carrots. “He has also broken our rules because he was not supposed to touch the rhinos because they are not pets,” Thige Njuguna from Ol Pejeta told Vivid Voice News.
Njuguna confirmed that the rhino in the footage was from their nature reserve and added that Ol Pejeta does not have elephants.
Dr. Winnie Kiiru, a Kenyan biologist and elephant conservationist, called the tourist’s behavior “unfortunate” as it endangered both his life and the elephant’s.
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“About 95% of elephants in Kenya are wild and it is wrong to have social media posts that give the impression that you can get close to the elephants and feed them,” she told Vivid Voice News.
The incident comes just a week after a separate video went viral, showing tourists blocking migrating wildebeest at Kenya’s Maasai Mara. The footage, which sparked outrage, showed visitors jumping out of safari vehicles, crowding riverbanks, and forcing wildebeests into crocodile-infested waters.
Following that incident, the tourism and wildlife ministry announced stricter rules, directing tour operators to ensure visitors remain inside vehicles except in designated areas.
The ministry also pledged to improve signage and intensify visitor education on safety rules in wildlife parks.
The Maasai Mara wildebeest migration is a prized natural heritage asset that draws thousands of visitors annually.
