As you may know, 2020 was supposed to be a Maasai Olympics year, but we postponed the historic games in an effort to keep our community safe. We’ve continued to monitor the impacts of COVID-19 across Kenya, holding out hope that we could safely resume plans in 2021. Unfortunately, as numbers continue to spike, we’re left with the no-choice decision that the only course now is to officially cancel the 2020 games and pick up where we left off next year. The Maasai Olympics will resume in 2022 on our traditional timetable.

The Maasai Olympics were born out of conversations and collaboration with the Menye Layiok, or Maasai “cultural fathers,” and warrior chiefs to devise an alternative to the long-held tradition of hunting lions as a mark of manhood, bravery, and prestige. Instead, local warriors compete for medals by participating in events that mimic their hunting skills: rungu and javelin throwing, high jump, and 200m, 800m, and 5000m races. The inaugural games were held in 2012 and have happened biennially until 2020.

The Maasai Olympics is more than just a single day. Events run through most of the year, starting with conservation education meetings. In May, the first level competitions to select the warrior athletes for each of the 4 participating teams normally occur, and regional competitions then run from July through September, culminating with the finals in December, now planned for December 2022.

We know that this is disappointing to the local communities, especially the warriors already training for team selection and excited to compete. We look forward to resuming next year when it is hopefully safe to do so once again and gather as a greater regional community to celebrate the incredible athleticism of the Maasai and the recovery of the local lion population.

To kill a rhino, they would have to kill the rangers first.

This was the only thought that ran through my mind at 2 am, as I lay hidden behind a rock in the densely forested Chyulu Hills. 

We had gathered intelligence that indicated a gang of poachers was planning to breach the rhino territory using a local guide. Knowing roughly where the guide lived, and which direction he would likely go, we organized three teams of Big Life and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers to set up ambushes along these paths.

We worked under the cover of darkness, moving rocks to form a wall so that each ranger, his firearm, and GPS, were hidden.

And we were right.

It didn’t take long to hear people coming down one of the paths. I alerted the five other rangers near me, and as the poachers rounded the corner, one of the KWS rangers shouted for them to surrender.

But the poachers were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, and as they prepared to fire, my thought came to life: the poachers would stop at nothing to kill a rhino for its horn.

Open fire ensued, and all I could hear was the bullets striking our only protection, the rock wall. I was forced to shoot – to protect the rhinos, to protect my fellow rangers, and to save my own life. In the end, one poacher was shot and killed and one escaped, but the rhinos and my friends were alive.

My name is Nderu Loormunyei.

I am a veteran in Big Life’s ranger force, commanding a platoon of over 50 rangers. I am also one of the original six Big Life rangers who were hired at the start.

In the early 90s, we believed the Eastern black rhino was extinct in our part of Kenya. That is, until one day while on patrol, I found rhino tracks and droppings. It took five long years to get photographic evidence of one of these rhinos. But a small population had been there all along, hiding and waiting.

Since Big Life started protecting the rhinos in the Chyulu Hills, we’ve tragically lost six rhinos because of poaching attempts, including a one-year-old calf, Bahati, who had previously survived a poacher’s bullet wound but later died while vets were removing a snare from around his neck.

Over the years, we’ve intensified our patrols, increased our manpower, and improved our operations. Things have changed since I first started, and we now have 61 rhino rangers in 10 units, with 39 camera traps across the rhino territory. We have an intelligence network, monitoring team, aerial surveillance, and new roads and fences.

As a result, the critically endangered Eastern black rhinos in our area have experienced ZERO rhino poaching incidents in the past 5+ years, and we are almost ready for the inbound translocation of new rhinos. This is imperative, as there are only 745 Eastern black rhinos left in all of Kenya.

A lot has changed since I first joined Big Life, but sadly, the demand for rhino horn has not.

If you can, please make a donation today to support Big Life’s rhino protection program. I can truly say that your support means the difference between life and death – for our rangers, and for the wildlife they protect.

Thank you,

NDERU LOORMUNYEI
Big Life Platoon Commander

It costs $455,465 a year to protect the eight critically endangered rhinos in our area of operation.

This population is of incredible value to international rhino conservation efforts, as it is one of the very few genetically independent populations of Eastern black rhino left in East Africa today. The habitat itself is also vital, as it is suitable and has been approved by KWS for the reintroduction of additional rhinos, which is key for the growth and survival of the species.

2021 has been a challenging year for Big Life and our conservation programs. Support is down, and the threats are high. If you can, please consider making a donation to support Big Life’s rhino conservation efforts. Only together can we protect wildlife and wild lands, now and far into the future.

Watch Big Life’s new 2-minute film to see the threats facing rhinos today and the work Big Life is undertaking to prevent their extinction.

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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