Big Life Foundation is excited to announce a new partnership with Mazarin, a fine jewelry house based in Paris. Mazarin’s brand transcends the typical fine jewelry model, as each piece is crafted in accordance with ethical and sustainability practices.

Mazarin will contribute 10% of the sale price of each Memory Charm bracelet to Big Life, directly supporting our mobile foot ranger unit in the Chyulu Hills, Kenya. Big Life is grateful for the Mazarin brand which creates beautiful pieces that help protect the natural beauty of East Africa.

Dust devils dance on the horizon. The landscape is parched, but in Amboseli National Park water continues to pump from underground, emerging crystal-clear from springs that are fed by rain and snowmelt on Mt Kilimanjaro.

This harsh yet beautiful place is a paradox. While the springs provide unlimited drinking water, when the rains fail the surrounding grasses cannot grow, meaning little to eat. As the current drought goes on, desperate animals are grazing right into the water, trying to scrounge the last scraps of nutrition.

There is still grass in some parts of the Greater Amboseli ecosystem, far away from water sources.  Big Life already provides water for wildlife in some of these areas by supplying community boreholes with fuel, so that they can pump enough water for livestock AND for wildlife.

We are assessing how to provide water elsewhere, and grateful to all partners doing similar. As the drought gets worse, we are going to have to expand these efforts, to help key wildlife populations through these difficult times.

Thank you to all sending their support during this difficult time.

Photo: Jeremy Goss

Things are getting harder by the day here in Amboseli, and we are seeing the impact of the drought on more and more animals. Some have laid down and are too weak to stand again.

Such was the case with this young zebra, found by Big Life rangers on patrol in the Kimana Sanctuary. The zebra’s family watched from a distance as a ranger helped it back to its feet, after which it slowly walked to rejoin its mother.

With two months to go until the next anticipated rains, animals across the Amboseli ecosystem remain at risk of dying from starvation or thirst. Although incredibly hard to witness, this is part of the natural boom and bust dynamics that are characteristic of semi-arid savanna ecosystems.

Zebras, wildebeests, and others are succumbing to the worsening conditions. As the situation becomes more severe, our rangers are working overtime to help struggling animals when possible, while also tackling a notable increase in bushmeat poaching attempts. As resources become scarce, everyone struggles, human and wildlife alike.

We’ve implemented some emergency programs for the local Maasai people – including a school feeding program and a community work program – and are actively assessing what we can do for wildlife in terms of food and water.

As always, the Big Life rangers will do everything that they can to help.

It is an extremely difficult time for all, and we truly appreciate your messages of support.

A lot of students around the world are returning to school this week after summer break, but there’s one who won’t be, and that’s a good thing. And it’s because we recently celebrated the graduation of one of Big Life Foundation’s scholarship recipients from Mount Kenya University: Keen Munyei.

Rewind 12 years ago to the summer of 2010. The pupils of Class 8 at Shilishili Primary School on Mbirikani Group Ranch were the first in the area to take the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), and one of them was a bright young kid named Keen who finished top of his class.

Big Life funds scholarships for the best and brightest girls and boys in the region and so Keen was granted one to study at Oloitokitok Boy’s Secondary School. He continued to excel, earning a place at Mount Kenya University to take a Diploma in Business Information Technology in 2015 and then a started a degree there in 2018. Big Life helped to fund each stage of Keen’s education, and after a year’s delay because of Covid, he was finally able to attend his graduation ceremony.

Outside of the classroom, Keen’s interest was piqued by the organization that had helped him so much and he applied for an internship at Big Life in 2021. Because of his abilities, Keen was formally taken on in Big Life’s IT department at the beginning of 2022.

Says Keen, “Right now, Big Life is everything to me. Through all the paths of life that I have taken, I have been supported every step of the way by them, so I am very happy to be a part of this excellent organisation.”

We are delighted to have him as part of the team and proud of all he has achieved so far. Hongera Keen!