Wild animals photographer Will Burrard-Lucas had an amazing experience meeting the ‘Queen of Elephants,’ AKA F_MU1 in Tsavo, Kenya in the final years of her life.

Burrard-Lucas was already starting a job with the Tsavo trust photographing elephants in the area of Tsavo.

While he was researching the location, he learned about F_MU1 AKA the Queen of Elephants. He was told she has a gentle temperament and is an extremely magnificent creature.

After a search lasting several days, they finally found her, here is how he recalls it:.

” Over the bushes, I caught a glimpse of an elephant’s back and secs later she stepped out into the open.”.

” I was speechless. F_MU1 was slim and old but she strode ahead with majestic grace. Her tusks were so long that they scraped the ground in front of her. She was like a relic from a bygone era.”.

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They spent the whole day with her, she led them to her local watering hole where she patiently waited her turn to shower.

Every photo captured the queen’s true majesty, every wrinkle representing a success of time versus the dangers of poaching, droughts and also other natural threats, she made it this far.

Unfortunately, she died simply weeks after Burrard-Lucas caught these pictures, most likely due to natural causes. Fortunately, these photos immortalize her.

She has made the cover for Burrard Lucas’s book, Land of Giants, which covers a number of years of elephant living in the region of Tvaso.

Her lengthy and thriving life is certainly a testament to the hard work that the Tsavo Trust and the Kenyan Wildlife Services placed in to protect these glorious animals.

Burrard Lucas recalls the experience, “as a wildlife photographer, a subject like F_MU1 is extremely rare.”.

” A creature that is special– possibly the most remarkable of her kind– and yet an animal that couple of have photographed before. The time I invested with her was a real privilege.”.