Some memories fade with time, but those linked to tragedy are indelible. One such memory was brought back to me as if it happened yesterday, by the following words from a letter I recently received:

Hello Mr. Richard,

I am Mary, a graduate student in medical laboratory sciences at Mount Kenya University, sponsored by Big Life and Madam Tara after my dad had an accident with an elephant at his maize farm, and met his death in May 2017.

The “accident with an elephant” Mary refers to happens all too often. Her father’s two-acre tomato farm bordered Kimana swamp; it was a dry year and driven by hunger a group of elephants arrived late one night to help themselves to tomatoes. Mary’s father had invested everything in his crop, so taking his little 3-cell torch, he went into the night to try to scare them away. We don’t know exactly what happened, but he never returned, and his body was found the next morning.

We could only try to help, covering funeral costs and supporting the family where we could. Mary’s mother told me her husband had dreamed of educating his daughter and somehow managed to get her as far as secondary school. Now, with no breadwinner in the family, Mary would have to marry. We promised to help, and the rest of the letter tells the story:

On Friday 6th August 2021, I was awarded a Diploma in Medical Laboratory Sciences and am now registered as a medical technician. This is only thanks to your efforts. I thank Big Life and Madam Tara for the support, and I would like to humbly invite you to my graduation ceremony at my home.

Despite the sad incident at the center of this story, this message made my day. Thanks to a generous sponsor, Mary now has a future, and some good has come from a tragic case of human-wildlife conflict.

In order to prevent these terrible incidents Big Life has now built 100 kms of electric fence to separate farmers and elephants, and this is definitely saving both elephant and human lives. No doubt we will need to expand this effort as competition for space intensifies in the ecosystem, to help wildlife AND people.

For now, we wish Mary all the best in her future!

- Richard Bonham

Of all the ways to defend yourself against a poacher, rolling tightly into a ball isn’t recommended. While it may protect against immediate harm, it makes it for a neat little animal package that can be picked up, put in a bag, and sold into one of the biggest illegal wildlife trades in the world. For pangolins, evolution is backfiring.

That’s where we step in, along with all those working to protect these amazing creatures across the world. Big Life rangers protect pangolins from poachers, and work with Kenya Wildlife Service to monitor the illegal trade and arrest traffickers operating in our area of operation.

Sometimes we are able to confiscate live pangolins, as poachers like to keep them alive whenever possible because live animals have a higher value on the black market. But this presents a challenge, because pangolins are a very sensitive species and don’t do well in captivity or in stressful situations. Saving live pangolins can be tricky.

Enter our friends at the Pangolin Project, who recently ran an intensive training for selected Big Life rangers to teach them to identify pangolin signs and tracks (so that areas with pangolins can be better protected), as well as how to safely handle live animals when confiscated from traffickers.

We are grateful to the Pangolin Project for this collaboration, which helps us help this critically endangered species.

Photo: Pangolin Project - Anthony Ochieng

The Greater Amboseli ecosystem where Big Life operates is a diverse ecosystem, and the challenges vary with the seasons. Noosidan Preschool is located in a particularly arid part of the ecosystem that is not conducive to farming, so the residents in that area are primarily pastoralists, depending on their livestock for most of their food needs.

During the dry season, like the one happening now, livestock moves to areas where there is grazing available. The children that remain behind with their mothers to attend school are suddenly without their staple foods – milk and meat. Food becomes scarce, and kids are lucky if there is black tea or a cup of maize or flour porridge for breakfast.

These kids also walk long distances to attend school, and hunger is a real issue for many of them.

Thanks to emergency funding from our partners at LUSH, Big Life was able to procure a year’s worth of nutritional supplement to pass out for school lunches at Noosidan Preschool. As one teacher commented, the meals have been a game changer. The students are able to focus better in class and they are having fun learning again.

This critical investment in these kid’s future is a necessary one that we are so happy to provide.

Amboseli will never be the same. Events these last few months have fundamentally changed the course of this precious ecosystem.

Land subdivision plans have been completed for most of the large community ranches in the ecosystem. The maps are scary - four large ranches covering a total of 1 million acres, soon to be divided into tens of thousands of privately-owned plots ranging in size from 2 to 45 acres.

Whether this is for better, or for worse, will depend on how we all act next. We see it as an opportunity, and Big Life has invested significant time and resources into helping communities develop land-use plans that take into account the needs of both humans and wildlife. Hopefully, it sets the foundation for a win-win scenario where individuals get the private titles they want for some areas, and large spaces are kept open for wildlife conservation and livestock grazing in others.

Those who have followed the case of the commercial avocado farm in the Kimana Wildlife Corridor will understand the implications when land subdivision goes wrong. For now, the company has been told to cease operations, but the legal appeals continue, with the next round of hearings in September. This is proving to be a very expensive battle, but it’s one we can’t stop fighting. We know that there are other developers watching and waiting to see how this pans out.

We believe that there is space for both humans and wildlife in this ecosystem, and that the conflict between the two can be managed. The 100 km of crop-protection fencing that we have constructed continues to be effective at keeping (most) elephants out of farmlands, saving farmers money and saving elephants’ lives. This fence needs continual maintenance, but the expense is worth it.

Sadly, we cannot completely eliminate conflict everywhere. One person and two elephants tragically died this past quarter. Six elephants were also treated for spear wounds. Things will get harder as we head deeper into the dry season, and we are grateful for the hard work that our rangers do to handle this complex issue.

On the subject of rangers, we have just celebrated World Ranger Day, and we want to take a moment to personally thank each and every ranger that makes the stats in these reports a reality. Without our rangers and their dedication, there is no question that Amboseli would be a very different place.

Thank you too to all of our supporters who make it possible.

Richard Bonham and Craig Millar

Executive Chairman and COO - Big Life Kenya

SEE THE FULL 2nd QUARTERLY REPORT