It all started a few days ago, outside of Big Life’s area of operation, within Motikanju Conservancy on Kuku Group Ranch, where a herd of elephants were near a crop of ripe tomatoes, looking interested. The farmer was rightly very nervous of his crop getting destroyed and attempted to push 7 elephants away from his farm with not much more than a shovel and a flashlight. What resulted was a tusk through the farmer’s gut and a life-threatening rush to the nearest hospital in a Big Life ranger vehicle.

The next day the local community then proceeded to track the herd of elephants from Kuku into Kimana. Calming the growing mob of warriors hellbent on retaliation for the farmer’s severe injury took a long time and significant support from Kenya Wildlife Service, but eventually the warriors were convinced to abandon their efforts. But in the skirmish, a spear was thrown, and one elephant was later seen with a wound near her tail.

Once the community agreed to give up the chase and returned home, Big Life rangers rushed to call the KWS/SWT vet to check the elephant’s wound and confirm whether treatment was needed. Since she had a calf with her, it was decided to err on the side of caution and dart and treat the wound quickly, to give her and her calf the best chance of survival.
The farmer is recovering, and very lucky to be alive. And the elephants are equally lucky, and will hopefully stay away from farms.

This kind of human-wildlife conflict is becoming more and more common. We’re working with the local community to make sure that critical habitat areas are kept clear for wildlife to use safely in the wake of land-use changes and increasing human development.

In the meantime, our rangers will be there to help keep both people and wildlife safe.

Last year, Big Life’s beekeeping project with Saving the Wild made its first harvest, producing an impressive 110kg of honey. Everything was on course for a second harvest in July 2022 following anticipated rains, but the drought only intensified. With water in short supply, and desperately needed for honey production, the decision was made to wait until the arrival of the rains, so the bees could retain their strength throughout the difficult dry months.

And wait we did. It took almost a year for the conditions to recover, but on a series of clear and starry nights earlier this month, our beekeeping team managed to harvest double the amount of honey as we did last year.

While we feel justified in our decision to delay harvesting, we still have a way to go to make this project profitable, so we are trialing several new techniques we hope will help us achieve that goal.       Following some very busy weeks, the fruits of Amboseli’s bees and our labor will soon be available at safari lodges around Amboseli and on Nairobi’s online supermarket retailer, Greenspoon.

Once the project becomes profitable, honey sales will help pay for scholarships for children that grow up along the Kimana corridor, a narrow stretch between Amboseli National Park and Kimana Sanctuary where the apiaries are located. Photo: Josh Clay

Amboseli’s rangelands are hurting. High numbers of livestock, and the breakdown of traditional rotational grazing practices, have resulted in unsustainable pressure on savannah grasses. Without a protective covering, soils are eroding, and gullies scar the landscape. This degradation has become more severe in the face of a changing climate and extreme droughts like we saw this past year. When the rains do fall, all of that life-giving goodness runs straight off the hard surfaces as there is no vegetation to slow it down. Enter the humble bund: a half-moon shaped trench which catches water, allowing it to seep into the ground slowly, recharging the groundwater and increasing the ability of vegetation to regrow.

Thanks to critical support from Apple Inc. and Conservational International, Big Life embarked on an ambitious project in 2021 to restore land that had become practically desert-ified. Two pilot sites of around 10,000 acres were chosen by the community, and a small army of Maasai women and men were employed to dig thousands of bunds – 77,898 bunds and counting - to be precise. 193 jobs were created at a time when the drought left many without an income, and 52 ‘restoration scholarships’ have been awarded primarily to kids from around the sites. Each bund was reseeded with palatable grass species and crucially, the community agreed to restrict livestock grazing to allow the sites to recover. It hasn’t been easy and the drought definitely impacted recovery, but we have been encouraged by the results. Our partners at Justdiggit and MWCT are doing similar pilots in neighboring areas, and collaborative and ambitious initiatives like these are crucial to large-scale recovery of rangelands.

All life in Amboseli - both wild and human – depends on healthy rangelands, and we hope to expand this work significantly in the years to come.

This week Big Life is joining fellow conservation organizations in celebrating the brilliant work done by female rangers - past, present, and future - who have been proving to the world that conservation is everyone’s business. In Maasai culture, like so many things, conservation and anti-poaching work has been dominated by men, while women are raised to become dutiful wives and caring mothers. And while many of Big Life’s 12 female rangers are wonderful wives and mothers, they are also bucking the trend. With their determination and fearlessness, these women are not only becoming part of the solution to protect Amboseli’s wildlife, but they are also blazing a trail for future female leaders. One such trailblazer is Constable Susan Lemomo, who was honored as a Disney Conservation Hero last November – an award provided by the Disney Conservation Fund that recognizes the heroic efforts and dedication of people around the world working to conserve wildlife and protect wild places.  In addition to her work as a ranger, she is one of the core instructors at Big Life’s Amboseli Ranger Training Academy and has helped to train more than 100 rangers. When Susan started, there were hardly any female rangers, let alone female ranger instructors, and she was one of the first Big Life instructors to train other female ranger recruits - something she is rightly very proud of. She adds, “In my recent position as a ranger instructor, I am seeing more and more women learn how to become rangers which is exciting for me. From my community, not many women receive a salary like I do, and I am happy to be an example to other women and girls to prove that we can support our families just as well as men can. I use my salary to support my three children and my mother.”

Well done, Susan - and the rest of our female rangers! You are an inspiration to us all. Photo: Josh Clay