The Komatipoort Golf course "Kambaku" is named after the great tusker from the adjacent Kruger National Park. The word Kambaku translated from Shangaan means "Exceptionally Big Elephant Bull" and is the Tsonga word for ‘Great Tusker’ or ‘Old Elephant Bull’.
Kambaku was one of the magnificent seven great tuskers of the Kruger National Park. Kambaku was an imposing animal fully deserving of the title bestowed upon him. The length the curve and the weight of his ivory were impressive. Left tusk 259,5cm weighing 63 kg his Right tusk 265,0cm weighting 64kg. Kambaku had unique features his tusks where almost identical, he had no "paint –brush" on the tip of his tail, he had three horizontal creases or folds at the base of his trunk and a perfectly round hole in his left ear. These features made Kambaku recognisable from a distance away. During the dry season Kambaku spent most of his time along the banks of the Crocodile River which today forms part of Kambaku golf course border.
He was more than 55-years-old when he was shot in late 1985 by Regional Ranger Lynn van Rooyen from the Lower Sabie Ranger Section. The bull was in obvious pain from a bullet wound suffered during a foray across the Crocodile River into a neighboring sugar cane fields. The bullet penetrated his left shoulder, leaving a large wound which eventually became septic. When he could not longer walk and it was clear that death was imminent, he was mercifully shot.
Kambaku’s tusks are on display in the Letaba Elephant Hall
There was also a great book, Kambaku!, written by Harry Manners.
