Bonnie and Clyde are more than just members of our team; they are true heroes in our fight to protect wildlife. Not only have their incredible tracking skills been instrumental in countless anti-poaching operations and wildlife crime incidents, but they have also been true friends to the Maasai community, always willing to step in to help find a lost child in the bush or assist in solving a community crime.

So it is with a mix of emotions that we share that after nine years of dedicated services, our remarkable canines are shifting into retirement.

Bonnie is already enjoying her well-earned R&R, now off duty at Enasoit, a conservancy and lodge in Laikipia. Clyde will continue to support our rangers until new tracker dogs can be trained.

We are deeply grateful to our donors for providing the resources needed for our tracker dog program over the years.

Thank you for your support today on International Dog Day, and every day!

 Images from: Jeremy Goss, Joshua Clay, Black Bean Productions, and Jane Michaelides-Smith

Ask anyone living in the Greater Amboseli Ecosystem what the most significant conservation-related benefit that they receive from Big Life is, and the answer is nearly unanimous: education.

Recognizing its importance, we have provided more than 1,977 scholarships to children living within our area of operation since 2000.

In 2023 alone, we awarded $369,157 in scholarships, including supporting 14 tertiary-level graduates.

Supporting education doesn’t just mean paying for school fees; Big Life also supports teacher salaries, conducts conservation curriculum in schools, funds school infrastructure projects like dormitories, and implemented a school lunch program during the 2022’s severe drought.

Many of Amboseli’s schools are situated in remote areas. Being able to access these areas in order to implement these programs presented a unique challenge.

To ensure we can reach all the students and schools we sponsor, The Capricorn Foundation generously funded the purchase of a vehicle for Big Life’s education department. In its first year, it has already covered 38,000 km.

Together with our donors and partner organizations like The Capricorn Foundation, we are laying the groundwork for positive transformation throughout the Greater Amboseli Ecosystem, where the future is looking even brighter for its humans and wildlife.

Photo: Joshua Clay

There is a special kind of joy in checking a camera trap and finding something wonderful and unexpected amongst thousands of images.

And recently we were treated to a thrilling sight: two lionesses trailed by six cubs at one of the waterholes in the Chyulu Hills.

As the dry season takes hold, wildlife increasingly relies on waterholes to survive, and camera traps help us to unobtrusively monitor these populations as they navigate tough periods.

The status of lions in the Greater Amboseli Ecosystem is of special importance given its history. Twenty years ago lions were on the brink of extinction here, their numbers diminished by traditional hunting and retaliation for livestock losses. Today, the population is approximately 250, a seven-fold increase that has been monitored by our partners at Lion Guardians.

Big Life’s predator protection programs have played a central role in this success, including our Predator Compensation Fund, which reduces retaliatory killing, as well as the Maasai Oympics, which is helping to shift culture from lion killing to conservation.

It’s also thanks to our partners in the field, who are working just as hard to protect Amboseli’s lions as we are.

And most importantly, it’s thanks to you, our donors. You make our work possible, and by doing that you are creating a safer world for these little lions to grow up in.

BY RICHARD BONHAM

It is with great personal sorrow that I write of the loss of one of Big Life’s longest standing team members, our co-founder and treasurer: Tom Hill.

Not many can claim they left this world a better place than they found it; Tom can do so in no uncertain terms.

Tom first came to Amboseli in the mid-nineties, joining me on a walking safari across the Chyulu Hills. It was the beginning of a love affair for him with all the land where Kilimanjaro casts its shadow.

During this safari, Tom, always with his sharp and inquiring mind, probed with questions that pierced the shroud of pristine, unthreatened beauty. He began to understand that the places we walked were on the brink of potentially irreversible change and that interventions were needed, fast.

Tom’s first contribution was a donation to what was then a fledgling community ranger operation; just 30 rangers tackling the poaching that was widespread at the time. Today, this team has grown to 390 dedicated men and women who have all but eradicated poaching in Big Life’s area of operation.

Together, we watched the lion population plummet in the late 90’s. Maasai pastoralists were no long tolerating the losses of their livestock to lions, and retaliatory killing was driving the lion population to local extinction. I remember Tom’s words as we considered solutions: “There is no better incentive to man than an economic incentive…”

The idea was reflected in our discussions with community leaders and the Predator Compensation Fund was born. Started in 2002, this program has been fundamental in stopping retaliatory predator killing and led to one of the most remarkable lion recoveries in Africa, to an impressive population of approximately 250 today.

Tom’s passion for lions took him one step further. He worked with the Menye Layiok, or ‘fathers of the warriors,’ to create the Maasai Olympics, an athletics competition designed to engage warriors, who are the age group most likely to spear lions. Since 2012, Tom’s passion has made the Maasai Olympics a cultural phenomenon.

For 25 years, Tom has quietly been one of Big Life’s most dependable engines. I could go on and on about his contributions to making this world a better place. Tom had a huge impact on so many lives, both human and animal, including my own.

Thank you, Tom. I will hear your voice every time I hear a lion roar.

RB