Ezekiel Ntete Mohammed

Age: 33

Home area: Rombo

When did you join Big Life: 2019

Rank/Position: Driver

Team: Kimana Sanctuary

Where did you work previously before joining Big Life? Before joining Big Life, I worked in the public transport sector, driving a public service vehicle along the Rombo-Loitoktok route. This paid well, but it didn’t satisfy my urge to offer support to my community.  I was aware of the challenges the community was facing and as a driver in public transport there was little I could do to elevate their situation. So I quit my previous job and joined Big Life, because I had seen the vital role rangers have played in mitigating human-elephant conflict and preserving the natural heritage of Rombo.

What does your current work entail? I hold one of the most important roles and get to handle a myriad of responsibilities. As a driver, I ensure rangers get to incidences safely and swiftly; in some instances, this can be a matter between life and death. I also offer logistical support to the other ranger outposts in the Sanctuary with a supply of water for the most remote ones and emergency medical assistance whenever it is needed.  Moreover, I offer emergency assistance to the community in medical crises.

What is the most challenging part of your job? I am not an ordinary driver, because my work is not ordinary, and is impossible to plan ahead or anticipate. The most challenging part is night operations / patrols, which mostly are in response to human-elephant conflict or anti-poaching operations.

The Kimana Sanctuary is surrounded by farms on all sides, and so elephant raids on farmer’s land are frequent, and we are called to drive them off back into protected areas. In such situations, my team relies on me to offer logistical support and sometimes use the vehicle as cover when an elephant retaliates and charges at them. It’s very dangerous and we are dependent on one another to keep the team safe. After driving them off, we also check to ensure all elephants are safe before heading back to our stations.

In anti-poaching operations, I also offer logistical support and in a high speed chase, my vehicle gives my team an advantage since it’s tailored to handle such tough terrain. It easily gets them ahead of poachers, who mostly use motorbikes.

What benefit have you gained from working with Big Life? Before joining Big Life, I was a normal driver putting his life at risk to earn a few shillings, but today I have a bigger purpose. I am more skilled because of the many trainings I have received from Big Life, and also I am more informed about the Amboseli Ecosystem.

My family has also largely benefitted, because through my pay their standard of living has improved. I have acquired livestock and my future is clearer since I have a stable income.

Photo: Bobby Neptune

Big Life rangers face extremely difficult challenges on a daily basis, which have only increased amidst a global pandemic. Keeping our rangers properly funded to continue their vital work in the field is more important than ever for the future of the wildlife, wild lands, and people of East Africa. Please consider a monthly contribution to our Ranger Club to support these dedicated rangers. Any amount helps! And for those that sign up in July, or increase your existing Ranger Club membership amount, you will be entered to win a gift featuring Big Life-branded merchandise.

JOIN THE RANGER CLUB

Amos Saab

Age: 33 years

Home: Kimana

Rank/Position: Constable, Monitoring and Evaluation Ranger

When did you start working for Big Life? 2018

Team: Kimana Sanctuary

What drove you to become a ranger? I come from a very humble background, and my dreams of higher education were cut short when my family wasn’t able to raise my secondary school fees. After that, I worked in casual jobs until I heard of the recruitment of rangers to work at the Kimana Sanctuary. Since then, this job has changed my life.

What role do you play in your team? In every ranger team there is a ranger designated with the collection and recording of data using both digital and paper-based monitoring and evaluation tools. This data is used in our operational reports and is vital in making informed security decisions.

What challenges do you face in your line of work? Every day we conduct foot patrols and come across diverse species of wildlife with only our bush-craft skills to protect us, this puts us at risk but our resolve keeps us going each morning.

Being able to balance family and work is also a challenge. Over the years, I have learned that this job requires a lot of sacrifice. It’s always difficult to leave your family.

What benefit have you gained from working for Big Life? When I joined Big Life I didn’t have much to my name, but I have a stable income to support my family of three kids and one wife. 

Photo: Bobby Neptune

Big Life rangers face extremely difficult challenges on a daily basis, which have only increased amidst a global pandemic. Keeping our rangers properly funded to continue their vital work in the field is more important than ever for the future of the wildlife, wild lands, and people of East Africa. Please consider a monthly contribution to our Ranger Club to support these dedicated rangers. Any amount helps! And for those that sign up in July, or increase your existing Ranger Club membership amount, you will be entered to win a gift featuring Big Life-branded merchandise.

JOIN THE RANGER CLUB

A new and sobering report out of Africa shows that across the continent, elephant poaching has either improved little or worsened since 2011. Previous reports had showed elephant poaching was generally on the decline. But when scientists dove into the statistics and models used, they found that when different regions were analyzed separately, one region was solely responsible for driving down the elephant poaching statistics as a whole: East Africa is the only place in all of Africa where a clear decrease in poaching has occurred.

Big Life is by no means solely responsible for this, but we are very proud of the work that our rangers and other East African conservation organizations have done to help buck the continent-wide trend on poaching.  And it clearly validates the conservation model that Big Life, along with our many partners, supporters, and community members, have worked so hard over the past decade and more to create meaningful change for the future of wildlife, wild lands, and people of East Africa.

We will continue our vital work in Kenya and Tanzania, global pandemic or not. It’s clear that our work now is more important than ever.

We can’t stress enough how much we appreciate everyone who has donated to Big Life and how each and every one of our caring supporters makes a meaningful impact in the special place that is the Greater Amboseli ecosystem.

Full scientific report: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-66906-w

Photo: Jeremy Goss

Amboseli is no place to lose a three-year-old. Away from urban areas, pastoralist homesteads are often human islands in a sea of wilderness, a wilderness that is unforgiving in its capacity to swallow up anyone who takes too many steps in the wrong direction.

A toddler on Eselengei Group Ranch recently did just that, and at the worst time of day. It was evening when his family discovered that he was gone, but there was no immediate alarm. After all, how far is a three-year-old really going to venture? As day turned to night however, the search became more frantic, and to no avail.

The search parties eventually had to give up for the night, and notified the Big Life mobile ranger unit that works in the area. Big Life sent two mobile units to join the search at first light, and the rangers soon found the child’s tiny footprints. Unlike a poacher, the child was doing nothing to hide his tracks and a few hours later the teams found the boy, 4 km from his home. The community expressed their thanks by calling in a local religious leader to bless the rangers.

Most people think of rangers as armed men-in-green, engaged in a daily battle against poachers. And yes, that is big part of it, but the true job description of a community ranger goes much further. These men and women spend their days protecting wildlife AND their communities. In 2019, Big Life rangers assisted in the search and recovery of 24 people lost in the wild, many of them children.

Big Life’s conservation model recognizes human community needs as central to the long-term future of wildlife, and our response to a missing person is no different to an injured elephant. All species share this landscape, and all are equally important.