While the past month has been extremely difficult for both the people and wildlife here in Amboseli, there have been brief interludes of fun. Over the past four Saturdays, several locations across Big Life’s area of operation have provided a stage for some serious competition between group ranch teams as they jump, run, and throw for potential glory in the upcoming Maasai Olympics Finals, scheduled for December.

Each event has been hotly contested, perhaps even more so than previously as the prize money for a placed finish can make an enormous difference to those whose livelihoods are stretched to the limit because of this drought. It has also meant that attendance, although still good, has been impacted, as many spectators have not been able to attend, instead needing to tend to their livestock or unable to afford the journey.

While men are traditionally the only competitors in the regionals, the greatest excitement in last weekend’s event on Eselengei occurred when women insisted on also having a go at throwing the rungu. Clucking and shimmering in their brightly colored shawls, they had some success at hitting the target, causing considerable entertainment for everyone.

We are desperately hoping the rains will offer some relief for the entire ecosystem soon so that the Finals can be properly attended and celebrated by everyone.

The Maasai Olympics would not be possible without our generous partners and sponsors including: National Geographic Society’s Big Cats Initiative, the Disney Conservation Fund, Chester Zoo, and Play for Nature  / Parc Animalier d'Auvergne. 

Photo: Josh Clay

Where human development spreads along roads and other lines of infrastructure, it chokes ancient wildlife movements. But in Amboseli there are still gateways connecting the various sides of the ecosystem - these are the keys to wildlife movement.

Nowhere is this starker than in the Kimana Wildlife Corridor, which connects Amboseli National Park to Kimana Sanctuary and beyond to the Chyulu Hills and Tsavo. At one point this corridor funnels through a tiny pinch point that is only 85m wide and 800m long. If that small gap closes, it’s the end of this important corridor. It’s that simple, and that fragile.

So we are beyond excited to announce that Big Life has agreed on conservation easements with the owners of the two pieces of land in this pinch point of the Kimana corridor, and with two other landowners at the point where it narrows on the western side. Three of these agreements will be for 50 years, while the fourth is for 25.

Easements are written into the title deeds and have stronger legal backing than land leases, and we can be absolutely sure that this land will stay wild for this extended period. Easements cannot be lifted prior to expiry without mutual agreement of both parties, providing the highest level of protection.

While Big Life continues to react to immediate threats, the current drought and its impact being foremost on our minds, the future of this ecosystem depends on our ability to protect the land and habitat. We believe that this is best done through partnerships with its traditional owners.

Everyone wins with these deals. The landowners still own their land and have willingly signed the agreements for financial benefit, and everyone can sleep easier at night, knowing that this set of important keys is now safe for the next 50 years.

Photo: Jeremy Goss

It is difficult to witness the loss of so many of the animals we have worked so hard to protect. While the death of any wild animal is sad, seeing elephant calves succumb to these drought conditions is especially tragic and always hurts more. Many elephant calves have found themselves abandoned, weak, or unable to stand as their families make the ultimate decision: stay and starve with their offspring or trudge on in search of food and leave them behind.

But thanks to YOUR donations the past few weeks, extra funding has already enabled us to send out more rapid response units, cover more ground, and crucially, contribute to getting some little elephants back on their feet.

Last week, Big Life rangers received three separate calls to attend to three elephants abandoned by their families, and three times a combination of KWS, Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and Big Life rangers were able to rescue them.

The first, a male was found in a dense patch of bush in Rombo group ranch, where he was quickly located, soothed, put in the back of a Big Life ranger vehicle, and then flown to the other side of the Chyulu Hills by the Sheldricks to their orphanage at Umani. After only a week of recovery, Kapei as he has been named, is doing very well. We hear he has been ‘fully adopted and is now the happiest little guy’.

Then came two separate cases reported to Big Life of elephant calves found alone and very weak in Amboseli National Park. They were administered first aid by KWS and the Sheldrick vet and airlifted to the orphanage in Nairobi where they are also reported to be doing well.

Even now, more reports are coming in, and we are doing what we can to provide additional support for both people and animals alike. The more donations we receive, the more we can do to save lives. Conservation is a team effort, and we would not have been able to rescue these calves without the excellent work of the Sheldrick and KWS teams, as well as our donors from around the world.

We respect every rhino’s right to a bit of privacy, but this is just too exciting not to share.

The Eastern black rhinoceros is in dire straits. Poachers have decimated the population, which plummeted from about 100,000 animals in 1960 to just over 6,000 in 2021.

The population of black rhino in the Chyulu Hills has suffered a similar fate, currently with only seven individuals. Big Life’s rhino protection teams work closely with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to provide these special rhinos with round-the-clock protection, but we can’t force them to breed. So imagine our excitement when checking a camera trap to find these two doing their bit for the preservation of their own species.

As a result of the thick bush and small number of individuals, Chyulu rhinos are almost never seen. In 2021, Big Life’s rhino teams patrolled nearly 17,000 kilometers (that’s more than the distance from the northern tip of North America to the southern tip of South America), and saw rhinos in the flesh only eight times. In the first half of this year, they have only seen one.

So just catching one on camera is exciting. But given that females only reproduce every two-and-a-half to five years, to document a mating event is almost unbelievable. Even more exciting is that this is the first decent photo captured of an enigma that we named Lari, a rhino that we suspected existed, but never had good enough pictures to prove it.

Seven rhinos is not a lot, but what we do have is the potential to support a lot more in the 75,000 acre ‘rhino area’ that we partner with KWS to protect. Future translocations to the area will provide a boost, but in the meantime these seven will be the spark that kickstarts a much bigger population. We’re excited about that, and these two clearly are too. Now we have to wait and see if it worked out in about 15 months.

We are grateful for our supporters around the world for supporting the critical conservation work of our rhino protection teams, including our partners at Chester Zoo and US Fish and Wildlife Service.   

Happy World Rhino Day!