Five years ago, Big Life took over management of Kimana Sanctuary at the behest of the local community. The area acts as a critical connection between Amboseli National Park and Tsavo further east, especially for migrating elephants. It is a true wildlife sanctuary and under the watchful eye of our rangers, more wildlife species are returning to the area, like leopard, but also excitingly: lions.

So when a lion was spotted in Kimana Sanctuary with a nasty looking wound, Big Life’s rangers leapt into action. It didn’t take long for the KWS vet from Amboseli and our partners at Lion Guardians to join us to assess the situation. Luckily, the wound on his left foreleg was relatively shallow and easy to treat. Lion Guardians also identified the lion as Osunash, one of Loonkito’s offspring. While he was sedated for treatment, they were able to replace his monitoring collar, which had gone dead.

The other good news: the wound was most likely something Osunash received naturally while on the hunt, from the horn of something that was not interested in becoming dinner. He will live another day to try again, and rangers will keep a close eye on him in the meantime.

We are thrilled to announce that we have earned a Four-Star rating from Charity Navigator for the 5th consecutive year.

Charity Navigator is America's leading independent charity evaluator, a trusted source that helps millions of donors turn their values and beliefs into action. This prestigious rating underscores our commitment to financial health, accountability, and transparency. Our 100% score, coupled with the fact that 87 cents of every dollar donated goes directly to our mission protecting African wildlife, means you can give with confidence.

Your ongoing support empowers our community rangers to continue their vigilant work on the ground protecting the Greater Amboseli ecosystem, fostering an environment where both people and wildlife can thrive.

This accolade is a milestone we are very proud of, but the real heroes are you, our supporters, and our rangers and field staff who turn intent into meaningful change every day. Here's to another year of partnering with local communities to protect nature for the benefit of all.

Photo: Jeremy Goss

Done right, tourism can be the beating heart of a local wildlife economy. It creates jobs and generates revenue for local communities who keep their land natural and open for wildlife.

Done wrong, it is an ugly beast. Local people are overlooked for employment opportunities, profits are extracted and sent to Nairobi or elsewhere, and the communities that live alongside wild animals hardly benefit.

Amboseli National Park is impressive for its biodiversity and robust wildlife populations, but it is very small. The park attracts a huge number of tourists, among the highest in Kenya.

The survival of the wildlife using the park depends entirely on animals being able to move in and out of the surrounding Maasai-owned lands, and those are the areas Big Life works to protect.

Amboseli has some truly excellent tourism operators, many of which we are grateful to have strong partnerships with. The good ones employ from the local communities, support local businesses, support conservation efforts, and pay fair access fees to local community-owned conservancies.

Going on a safari can be powerful force for good, but make sure your money is supporting the businesses that work with local communities and conservancies, like our partners listed below. Amboseli is not immune to the other kind.  

To all the good wildlife tourism operators out there, thank you. The conservation world appreciates you, and we hope that more and more travelers will too.

Big Life's Tourism Partners

Great Plains Conservation
Amboseli Bush Camp
Angama
Elephant Gorge Camp
Kilimanjaro Balloon Safaris
Gamewatchers Safaris
Tawi Lodge
Tulia Amboseli Safari Camp
Satao Elerai

Photo: Jeremy Goss

Ranger training is a critical piece of Big Life’s conservation success. To achieve and maintain our wildlife protection goals, Big Life’s rangers (and rangers across the African continent) must be regularly trained to ensure they have the most up-to-date education and skills in wildlife protection, wildlife crime prosecution, first-aid, and bush tracking skills.

To that end, Big Life conducts a comprehensive training program through the Amboseli Conservation Academy (ACA), which we launched in 2018. The training program is an intensive 21-day course, in which 300 rangers participate annually. The key activities of this course include non-commissioned officer courses for our officers, first aid training to ensure each unit can handle hazardous duties, training on crime scene investigation techniques and prosecution follow-up to bolster prosecution success rates, and instruction on monitoring and reporting techniques. Specialized operational courses are also included to prepare rangers for rapid responses to varying situations, including dangerous poaching scenarios and crop protection from elephants.We are grateful to our partners at Part Time Rangers for directly supporting a recent ranger training course, which resulted in 31 rangers getting critical training.

Keeping our ranger skills current and fresh will ensure we maintain our success for wildlife and wild lands in East Africa.
Photos: Josh Clay