844 people is a big guest list for a party, but this was a party worth throwing.

It was the official opening of Angama Amboseli, Big Life’s tourism partner in the Kimana Sanctuary. All 844 community landowners of the Sanctuary were invited, as were partners and stakeholders from the ecosystem and beyond.

The launch of this unique 10-suite lodge is just the start of something, but to us it feels like the happy end of a long road. After initial tourism businesses went bust in the early 2000s the Sanctuary scraped along, and when Big Life took over management in 2018 tourist visitors were rare.

With funding from the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and DN Batten Foundation we paid the annual land lease, and invested in conservation programs and tourism infrastructure. We built campsites and a self-catering guesthouse and started to market to local travellers, all of whom we greatly appreciate for their support over the years.

Word of the Sanctuary spread and one day our new friends from Angama came down for a drive. The three-way partnership that has evolved since then is a model of what we are trying to achieve through our habitat protection initiatives across the Amboseli ecosystem.

A community provides the land, a tourism partner runs a world-class tourism business that generates revenue to fund conservation, and Big Life manages those conservation initiatives. Everyone does what they do best.

Angama Amboseli is showing the world what a responsible tourism company looks like, and their financial support is already covering the entire land lease as well as a contribution to conservation programs. As guest numbers increase, at some point in the not too distant future we will achieve full financial sustainability of conservation in Kimana Sanctuary, a very exciting prospect!

Welcome Angama Amboseli and congratulations on your opening, we look forward to what comes next.

Photos: Jeremy Goss

We know it’s a busy time of year, but we’re here to help!

Big Life is proud to present our 2023 wildlife-approved Holiday Gift Guide.

The following sustainable gift ideas are a wonderful way to share your love of wildlife with your friends and family. Each item purchased directly supports Big Life’s mission, including helping our rangers to protect wildlife and wild lands throughout the entire year. 

From all of us – thank you for your partnership and Happy Holidays!

NICK BRANDT SIGNED BOOKS

Big Life also offers signed books by our co-founder, Nick Brandt, with a portion of proceeds benefiting Big Life. This includes the final 20 copies of Brandt’s renowned On This Earth, A Shadow Falls, featuring Igor, the elephant included in our logo and origin story, as well as his newer work, The Day May Break. Personalized inscriptions, adding a unique and meaningful touch, are available.

We are sad to report that Theodora, one of Amboseli’s oldest and most loved matriarchs has died of natural causes at the age at 57.

She had not been seen for months following the recent drought and everyone feared the worst. We were therefore surprised and delighted when she resurfaced in Kimana Sanctuary last week,  however looking very frail. Big Life’s rangers monitored her closely, but she died peacefully on Thursday.

If there was ever an elephant worthy of being one of Amboseli’s queens, it would be Theodora. And her brother Tolstoy and nephew Tim, would have been two of its kings.

Over the course of her long reign she gave birth to 10 calves, endured 5 droughts, and withstood waves of ivory poaching and human development, yet time and again, she helped her family overcome these threats.

She was a member of the illustrious ‘T’ family, first recorded by Cynthia Moss, Director of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants and Harvey Croze back in 1973 – 50 years ago! They were led by a matriarch called Teresia who also had long, elegant tusks. It would be long tusks, but also long lives and resilience in the face of enormous challenges that would define the ‘T’s.

Theodora inherited her mother’s wisdom when she became matriarch of the family in 2003 and her biggest test came in 2009, during the worst drought in living memory. By the time the rains had returned, a quarter of Amboseli’s elephants had perished, yet remarkably Theodora had kept her entire family alive.

While it is always sad to lose a great matriarch, we should be reminded of Cynthia Moss’ words that: “Other than Amboseli, there truly aren’t many places in Africa where it’s possible for elephants to live out their full lifespan.” This is something that should be celebrated, and Big Life is proud to play a significant role in ensuring that this is the case.

Photo: Josh Clay

The third quarter was a blur of activity that has quickly turned into a full sprint towards the end of the year.

Our rangers are tackling a myriad of challenges as the current dry season puts pressure on wildlife and resources and conflicts increase. We always see an increase in bushmeat poaching and crop raiding this time of year, but luckily it pales in comparison to what we experienced with last year’s drought. It’s dry now, but recent scattered showers promise the coming rains, and some relief.

We’ve also been full steam ahead securing habitat and signing conservation leases with local Maasai landowners to secure important wildlife corridors. The challenges are many, but with your support, we are optimistic that when the land subdivision dusts settles, there will still be open rangelands and habitat for both wild and domestic animals to mutually benefit from.

The biggest bit of news from Q3 is one that has the potential to dramatically change the state of play in our area of operation, which is: Kenya’s President Ruto issued a directive to transfer management of Amboseli National Park from the Kenya Wildlife Service to the local Kajiado County government. The directive still needs to go through an approval process, so the timing and specifics of how this will all work is very much up in the air. But we work closely with both KWS and the county officials and are prepared to help in whatever way is appropriate and help ensure that conservation in Amboseli is maintained. We’ll keep our supporters looped in as things develop.

In the meantime, thank you all for your support.

SEE THE FULL 3RD QUARTERLY REPORT

Richard Bonham
Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Big Life Kenya

Photo:Jeremy Goss