The Elephant Safari Park owner and operator is an incredible Australian, Nigel Mason.  Nigel has lived in Bali for more than 20 years and apart from the Elephant Safari Park, owns and operates the islands largest and longest serving tour operations company called Bali Adventure Tours.

Nigel Mason is the brainchild behind the safari park elephant sanctuary which has been described by many to be the best of its’ kind in the world.  Numerous environmental groups and zoo personnel have visited from overseas, all praising the company for it’s eco-friendly design and happy healthy animals.

Amongst others, Australia’s own Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin declared it as the “best Elephant Park he’s ever seen”.

Born and educated in England, Nigel Mason spent his early years in Egypt. Bitten early by the adventure bug, the 15-year-old left England in 1959 with the “Big Brother Boys Movement” to work on a farm in Victoria, Australia.

For the next four years, he travelled Australia, cutting timber and sugar cane, picking fruit, hunting kangaroos, and helping construct the Sydney-Melbourne standard gauge railway line.  He learned to enjoy scuba diving and snow skiing in his spare time, as well as playing classical guitar.

Nigel moved into the recording music industry for a few exciting years, rubbing shoulders with world famous EMI Label artists - including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Chubby Checker and Roy Orbison.  He launched his own ‘bottled garden terrarium’ business and later a landscaping operation but returned to music - this time in retail with the large Brashs chain of music stores.  In 1980 he gave up the ‘rat race’ and flew off to Bali with a couple of old hippie mates and was captivated by the island.  He survived by doing small exports to Australia before meeting his future Balinese wife, Yanie in 1983.

Since arriving in Bali, Nigel has established numerous business enterprises, his first being the famous Yanie's Restaurant.  He later built the first White Water Rafting operation and added other adventure activities as he went along, including his own transport company.  The Elephant Safari Park and Helicopter Sky Tours are more recent additions to his stable of companies both being firsts for Bali.

Outside business operations, Nigel is well known for his outspokenness, a ‘fight for right’ attitude, and his Harley Davidson. He spends leisure hours with his wife and two sons, often working together in his ‘Mangrove Project’, planting saplings to conserve eroding wetlands. Over the past four years, the Masons have planted over 100,000 mangrove trees behind their Pesanggaran Head Office and re-established the area to its former state and ecosystem.

Nigel’s work with elephants has led to his appointment as an advisor and consultant to ‘Flora and Fauna International’. He is a long-time, active member of Skal International tourism industry organization and is a well renowned member of the Bali community.