As the peak of the dry season grips the Greater Amboseli ecosystem, it’s not just the heat that’s intensifying—so too are the threats to wildlife.

As often happens at this time of year, we’ve seen a surge in bushmeat poaching, putting our rangers on heightened alert. In the first six months of the year, Big Life’s teams arrested 8 suspects in 5 incidents, for killing 13 large mammals for bushmeat. But in just the last 2 months the rates have increased significantly: 12 arrests in 6 cases, and 14 animals poached.

Giraffes, with their immense size, are a favored target. Poachers set snares, or use powerful torches to stun them at night, while a second individual slashes the tendons in their legs with a machete—a brutally painful way for any animal to die.

Rangers are doing everything they can to control the situation, leveraging their community informer networks, and setting night-time ambushes in poaching hotspot areas. Every arrest sends a clear message: poaching in Amboseli is a risky business.

Despite this seasonal increase, bushmeat poaching in Amboseli is still relatively low, thanks in large part to the vigilance and hard work of Big Life’s rangers. We hate to think how many animals would be dying without them.

📸: Joshua Clay

They know the best routes across a landscape, and their repeated journeys carve well-worn paths through any terrain. These ‘elephant highways’ are used by all animals, humans included, and it is said that many of the original roads constructed in Africa followed these ancient paths.

Thanks to the USAID-funded ‘Sustainable Management of Amboseli and Tsavo Landscapes Project’, a new road will soon allow visitors to follow in the footsteps of elephants, through the ALOCA community conservancies that protect the Kimana Corridor.

The road connects to Kimana Sanctuary and will provide a much more direct (and scenic) route to Amboseli National Park for guests staying at Angama Amboseli, one of Big Life’s tourism partners located there.

Conservancy access fees paid by users of the route will support conservation projects in ALOCA and provide income for landowners. This also incentivizes people to keep land natural and open for wildlife. There are almost too many wins to count.

It’s an exciting time as Big Life and others support the development of community conservancies in Amboseli, including through construction of roads and other foundational infrastructure. This is being done in a controlled way, to avoid the ‘over-tourism’ plaguing some of Kenya’s other famous destinations, to ensure that tourism continues to provide the maximum benefit for wildlife conservation AND local communities.

It’s just one way we can make sure that hundreds of years from now, there will still be elephants to follow through the bush.

Images: Jeremy Goss & Joshua Clay

An untrained eye would easily overlook them. At the height of the dry season these fawn-colored lion cubs blend in perfectly, helping to keep them safe from predators.

The White Rock Pride has seen an explosion of cubs recently, a prolific rebound following some difficult years, and the loss of a number of individuals to human-wildlife conflicts. The core of this pride, on Mbirikani Group Ranch, now boasts 5 lionesses and 10 cubs – 6 older and 4 still very small.

Twenty years ago, this lion population was on the verge of local extinction. Thanks to the concerted efforts of our conservation partners and funders, and the participation of local communities, lions across Greater Amboseli are once again at healthy population levels. Our Predator Compensation Fund prevent retaliations against them for depredation of livestock; programs like our upcoming Maasai Olympics have helped to shift Maasai culture from killing to conservation.

This is an explosion of kittens worth celebrating. Thank you all for making it possible.

Image: Jeremy Goss

A wall of vegetation looms, brandishing thorny branches that reach out to shred your clothing. Winding elephant paths offer some way through the maze, but the ground is ancient lava, sharply cutting into the soles of your shoes. Fix your eyes on the ground to avoid twisting an ankle, and by the time you look up again, the dense bush has swallowed you whole, eroding all sense of time or direction.

It is no surprise then, that the lava forests of the Chyulu Hills are the hideout of a remarkable population of critically endangered Eastern black rhinos. From a historic population of thousands in the region, today only 8 remain.

The King of this Labyrinth is Dickson. Pictured here, he is estimated to be between 30 and 35 years old, older than many of the Big Life rangers that are protecting him. He is named after one of the four rangers that were the start of Big Life’s anti-poaching program more than three decades ago.

Dickson has been doing his own bit to protect his fellow rhinos. He is very likely the father of the rhino calf that we reported was born a year ago. Thanks to recent sightings of tracks, and blurry camera trap evidence, we know that calf is still alive and well, hidden away in the labyrinth with his mother.

Today on World Rhino Day, we want to thank all those who support our rhino program, particularly the Kenya Wildlife Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Chester Zoo, as well as Royal African Safaris.