Ole Kirimbai is a Maasai and was born in Tanzania on the slopes of Mt. Meru. He grew up as a child looking after his father’s cattle in and around the forests that is now occupied the sprawling town of Arusha. This fostered a child that has an affinity with nature and for the rest of his career until today; Kirimbai has been a conservationist and worked with nature in some way or another.

He went to Mweka Wildlife College, graduating in 1973, then immediately set of on his life as a conservationist. He joined the Tanzania Wildlife Department and was seconded to the Anti-poaching Unit, Northern Zone. After 12 years as an anti-poaching officer, Kirimbai became a camp manager and during those times hosted a number of prominent people including the Ex US President Jimmy Carter and Prince Charles. In 1992 he joined Sokwe, a high-end safari company and became a professional safari guide. He became known as one of the best professional guides in Tanzania. However a passion is a passion, and his memories of his anti-poaching days constituted the majority of his campfire tales.

In 2007 the Honeyguide Foundation was formed and Kirimbai offered to join. He is now the Chairman of the Foundation. When BIG LIFE contacted Honeyguide and asked if we would partner with them on the protection of wildlife in the Amboseli Kilimanjaro Ecosystem, Kirimbai’s dreams returned. He is now in charge of overseeing all operations of the BIG LIFE protection project, and with his background and contacts from all his years, is a respected and trusted leader.

John grew up in a small village adjacent to the Serengeti National Park. He only got the chance to go primary school and when he left school at 16, he had to find a life for himself. John got a job as a driver for an anti-poaching team in his home area. This experience sparked a passion in John to protect wildlife and the nature. He worked his way up from driver to anti-poaching scout then a community development officer in southern Serengeti, and also in western Tanzania, where poaching was particularly dangerous due to many of the poachers being armed with AK47's, and the masses of refugees from Rwanda creating a demand for bush meat. In 2005, John was sponsored to go to Pasiansi Wildlife Management College, where he became a qualified anti-poaching officer. After that, he returned to Serengeti as a field officer again and back into wildlife protection.

John has the key attributes to being a platoon leader - extremely dedicated to his role, a caring and considerate leader, and a passion for protecting wildlife.

Damian formed a safari company in Tanzania over 20 years ago called Sokwe. It became a leading ecotourism company that with others pioneered partnership tourism agreements with local communities to enable these communities to benefit from tourism, value wildlife and look after these resources.

With this experience, Damian realized that the future of the ecosystems requires a harmonious balance with human livelihoods and conservation of natural resources, and that tourism could play a big role. He established the Honeyguide Foundation that exists to create mutually-beneficial partnerships among Tanzanian communities and tourism, in order to conserve wildlife and natural habitat by using a holistic approach to business enterprise. Honeyguide believes in the continued co-existence among local communities and wildlife though the utilization of innovative approaches to conservation using social business and conservation initiatives, thereby creating an economic environment favorable to wildlife conservation and economic development.

Current projects include one in the western Serengeti, where a densely populated community living alongside the Park that depend largely on bush meat. Honeyguide has developed a project that enables these communities to make an income by growing and selling food for the tourism camps in the park through the establishment of a community business center. Another current project is in the eastern Serengeti ecosystem, where Honeyguide has developed Tourism Management Plans for the Maasai communities that live in Loliondo and Lake Natron using a holistic approach. With a broader focus, the Foundation in partnership with others is creating an association that will provide guidelines and accreditation for responsible tourism businesses in Tanzania.

Positioned just south of Amboseli is Longido where due to the proximity to Arusha and the Kenya border, the poaching has become extensive. The game scouts that are in place are underfunded and have insufficient coordination strategies with all the other scout patrols and with the teams in Kenya. Honeyguide in partnership with BIG LIFE will support the Maasai communities’ game scouts and the various organizations and administrations involved in conservation the same objectives. The Honeyguide Foundation will develop a unifying structure of collaboration and effective community conservation and improve the communication, coordination, resources and training of these game scout teams.

Damian lives in Arusha with his wife and two children, and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..