There is nothing subtle about a message delivered by an elephant.

More so when you put something in their way, as is being discovered by KiliAvo, a company going ahead with the development of a commercial agricultural project located in the Kimana Wildlife Corridor despite widespread opposition and concerns about negative environmental impacts.

The company has erected an electric fence around the planned 180-acre farm, and this fence has already been reported as having been damaged by elephants on three occasions in the last two weeks. It’s a strong warning of things to come, and the inevitable human-wildlife conflict that results from farming in a known wildlife corridor.

The damage to the fence demonstrates how it is already interfering with elephant movements. Further evidence is satellite tracking data from one collared elephant that shows it approaching the fence, only to divert suddenly in a completely different direction, showing signs of distress, such as increased pace whilst moving away from the fence. Other animals are being affected too, becoming trapped between the fence and a road alongside, putting the lives of animals and human drivers at risk.

Opposition to the farm is currently being heard in court in two different sessions of the National Environmental Tribunal, but KiliAvo is continuing regardless, having dug boreholes, constructed water tanks and a shade net nursery, and taken delivery of a consignment of avocado tree seedlings, still waiting to be planted.

The survival of Amboseli’s wildlife and livestock populations depends on their ability to move and find water and grazing in different seasons. Blocking wildlife corridors will not only lead to increased human-wildlife conflict, but it will also slowly erode the very fabric of this ecosystem. While everyone awaits the outcome of the current tribunal court cases, elephants are taking action of their own.

In the wake of Valentine’s Day, we wanted to share some sweet news. Big Life Foundation has partnered with Saving the Wild and Comvita on an exciting new project to help preserve the Kimana wildlife corridor with help from the world’s smallest superhero: the honeybee.

The Kimana wildlife corridor runs through the heart of the Greater Amboseli ecosystem and Big Life’s area of operation. It is a critical wildlife dispersal area, connecting Amboseli National Park to the Chyulu and Tsavo ecosystems beyond. One of the greatest threats to the corridor is a vanishing landscape – habitat loss.

Working in harmony with nature and the existing honeybee density in the ecosystem, 200 beehives are currently being rolled out across the Kimana corridor. Proceeds from the sale of the honey will go into an education scholarship fund, with 70% designated for girls. The growing importance of education in Maasai communities is quickly outpacing many parents’ financial resources to fund it. The need-based scholarships will be available to local students in high school and tertiary education. The beneficial ripple effect of one education is long lasting and can benefit an entire community.

Training will also provide a chance to learn about modern beekeeping techniques, which can then lead to other opportunities to implement nature-based solutions that safeguard the ecosystem and generate income for local communities. By helping to save the wild lands of Amboseli, helping to bridge inequality, and creating a chance for more children to achieve an education, the Saving the Wild Bee Keeping Project fits into Big Life’s ethos that if conservation supports the people, then people will support conservation.

For the first time since Big Life took over management of Kimana Sanctuary back in 2018, we have observed the formation of an elephant supergroup inside its safe boundary. An estimated 100 individual elephants gathered in close proximity to each other, enjoying the lush conditions within the Sanctuary, and each other.

In other parts of Africa, a “supergroup” might be a sign that the animals are stressed and gathering together for safety. But according to our partners at the Amboseli Trust for Elephants, the Amboseli elephants are particularly social and gather in large numbers like this when conditions are right.

While it’s not uncommon to see these gatherings closer to Amboseli National Park (a group of 450 elephants was once recorded together there!), the formation of a supergroup inside Kimana Sanctuary feels like a conservation victory. It’s an opportunity for the elephants to bond, learn from each other, catch up with friends, test rivals, mate, and engage in play. In other words: party!

They obviously feel safe to do so under the watchful eye of Big Life’s rangers across the Sanctuary’s 5,700 acres.

We can’t help but watch awe as they splinter and head off in their own directions again. Many thanks to our partners at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and the D.N. Batten Foundation for helping us secure this special place.

Video by Jeremy Goss

To get to Amboseli, of course! Negotiating manmade obstacles like this is daunting for any wild animal, but in the case of this road there is simply no way around it.

To complicate matters, this is not a quiet backroad. It’s the main access into the Amboseli ecosystem, heavily trafficked by trucks carrying goods to and from Tanzania, and agricultural produce from the slopes of Kilimanjaro destined for markets in Nairobi.

Human development has expanded along this commercial artery, severing historic wildlife movement routes in the Kimana area as buildings and fences have sprung up along the highway. In the nick of time, just as the last open route was closing in late 2018, Big Life was able to secure a lease with the landowner to keep a narrow gap along the highway free of development.

Big Life’s crop-protection fences now keep wildlife out of urban areas and farms, and safely funnel animals through this 70-meter-wide “Kimana Crossing” as they journey between Amboseli National Park and the community-owned lands in the east of the ecosystem. The crossing has been carefully engineered with speed bumps and fencing to protect the people traveling along the road, and the animals crossing over it through this narrow gap.

Most wildlife use it at night, because that’s when the road is quietest, but excited passers-by have recently had a number of daylight elephant sightings, including this bull crossing in this video. It’s another example of how local wildlife is adapting to a changing environment, one where they must coexist with their human counterparts.

It is inevitable that Amboseli will continue to develop, but we believe in a future that has space for wildlife too. Big Life is working with landowners, with support from Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, to protect important wildlife habitats outside of national parks, like the “Kimana Crossing.” Protecting the critical wildlife corridors that hold the whole system together benefits both wildlife AND humans.