The Amboseli landscape is a sea of neutral hues – greens, browns, greys. Maybe a pop of color in a starling or a weaver, but otherwise an ecosystem where prey has evolved to hide from predators. Everything blends in.

The Maasai however, stand out. Amongst this neutral landscape is a vibrant human community, heavily adorned with beads and colorful garments of bold reds and blues. The people are as synonymous with the ecosystem today as the elephants and lions with whom they coexist.

The Maasai have lived in the ecosystem that Big Life works to protect for centuries. As their communities have grown, so have their interactions with wildlife. Their involvement in the conservation of the animals they live with is essential, which is why Big Life’s ethos has always been to support the local people, in very real and meaningful ways, so that the people will support conservation. Whether it is through employment, education, search and rescue assistance, or building crop-protection fencing, our mission is one that is shared: to protect nature for the benefit of all.

The vivid fabric they wear is called a shuka. Shukas come in a variety of patterns and colors, and are worn by men and women alike. While the history behind the cloth is a bit of a mystery, the shuka has become a cultural symbol unique to East Africa and the Maasai, and you’ll see them in most of our photos that feature community members.

If you’re interested in having a shuka for yourself, to wear or use as a blanket on these chillier fall days, we’ve made a limited number of them available on our online store.  We sourced these from a shop near our headquarters in Kenya and you won’t find these available on your local high street. Even better, the proceeds will help to fund our operations in Kenya protecting wildlife and wild lands. 

Thank you, as always, for your support.

Photo: Shaun Mousley

Four years ago, almost to the day, we lost a young black rhino called Bahati. His name meant “good luck,” as he had previously survived a poacher’s attack against unbelievable odds, yet he was ultimately caught in a poacher’s snare and captured on camera trap after snapping the cable free from its tether. It was a desperate show of strength and courage.

After days of tracking by our rangers, who were racing against the clock to find him, a vet finally managed to dart Bahati, but infection had weakened him to the point where he wasn’t able to survive the operation. Bahati’s untimely death shook us all, and made us that much more determined to prevent something like this from happening again.

Four years later, on this World Rhino Day, we are immensely happy to report that we have managed to achieve just that. Since Bahati’s tragic death, we have not lost a single rhino to poachers from the small population that Big Life works so hard to protect. This matters not just for individuals such as Bahati, but also in the bigger picture.

At the start of the 20^th century, it’s estimated there were several hundred thousand black rhinos across Africa, a robust and healthy population that once thrived. By the end of the 20^th century, however, fewer than 2,500 remained. The rhino population in Big Life’s area of operation was believed to have been extinct for decades. Until the mid-90s, when one of Big Life’s first community rangers, Nderu Loormunyei, noticed something very peculiar while on patrol: rhino tracks.

It took years to capture photographic evidence of their presence, but we were thrilled to confirm that a tiny population of this critically endangered species had managed to hide in the dense lava and thick vegetation that covers the Chyulu Hills, a range covering just a few hundred kilometers.

They’re significant for many reasons, but especially due to the fact that they are one of the only unmanaged populations of black rhinos left in East Africa today, having retained their original genetics.

At the end of 2015, there were 886 Eastern black rhinos in all of Africa, 678 of which were in Kenya. And 8 of them live wild and free in the Chyulu Hills today, including a calf born last year that has successfully survived its most vulnerable time under the protection of our rangers.

The thick bush that kept the rhinos hidden for decades also hides their biggest threat: poachers. In response to this threat, Big Life has continually intensified patrols, increased manpower, and improved infrastructure. We now have 51 rangers, 9 ranger units, 29 camera traps, and 7 outposts all dedicated to rhino protection in partnership with Kenya Wildlife Service. As a result, zero rhinos have been poached in the last 4 years.

Our hope is to continue growing this small but important population, and we are working with the Kenyan government on a plan to do so.

In the meantime, we’re grateful for your support today on World Rhino Day. Please consider making a donation in support of our efforts to extend our four-year streak of rhino protection, and in loving memory of Bahati; may his name bring good fortune to all those who survive him.

The ultimatum was unimaginable. Either find the funding to pay for school fees, or be forced into an early marriage.

A girl in Big Life’s area of operation, we’ll call her Sarah to protect her privacy, had entered secondary school with high hopes of completing her education. However, a change in her family’s circumstances meant that they could no longer afford her school fees, and seeing no other option for additional income, Sarah’s father initiated plans for her to be married.

But just before her fateful deal was sealed, a plea was made to Big Life. Through a grant from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Big Life was able to provide Sarah with a one-year scholarship to continue her studies, as part of Big Life’s Education and Scholarship program. Big Life’s team in Kenya say of Sarah that her “outlook on life is now bright and she has been strengthened to face the future.” 

In addition to sponsoring Sarah’s education, Big Life currently supports 262 students (133 girls and 129 boys) with long-term scholarships, and pays the salaries of 22 teachers. This support is particularly important for girls, since education is one of the most powerful weapons in preventing child marriage. The longer a girl stays in school, the less likely she is to be married before the age of 18 and have children in her younger years, among countless other benefits.

This truly life-changing work would not be possible without Big Life’s amazing donors, including the IMF, the Ann Lurie Revocable Trust, the Highland School and Families, Michael and Jane Agg, the Capricorn Foundation, The Foundation for the Promotion of Individual Opportunity, the Mellmann Foundation, the Stoneleigh Charitable Fund, and dozens of inspired individuals.

As back-to-school time has arrived in the US, Big Life wishes students worldwide a bright and strengthened future.

It’s human nature to defend the things we value. It matters not whether that value is placed on an idea, a place, or some tangible object. When these values are shared, they become the cornerstones of our societies and communities.

It is not possible to implement conservation programs in human-populated areas without understanding the values that drive human behavior, and to respond and adapt accordingly. The success of Big Life Foundation’s programs in East Africa is a reflection of this ethos: that if conservation supports the people, then people will support conservation.

Most of the land in the Greater Amboseli ecosystem is owned collectively by Maasai communities. The wild animals that live here are, for the most part, not protected by wildlife reserves or National Parks. Big Life helps to fill the gaps in these ‘unprotected’ spaces, by working with local communities to implement conservation initiatives.

The primary reason that many of these areas are still home to wild animals is that they have historically been compatible with the predominately pastoralist livelihoods of the Maasai people. And at the core of traditional Maasai values are: cows. A Maasai will know each individual in his herd, and the character of each. A person’s cattle can have multiple values, ranging from a symbolic demonstration of status and wealth, to the actual economic value gained from sales.

So understandably, anything that threatens these valuable cows is immediately perceived as an enemy, wild predators included. Try to imagine what it would be like to have a lion jump into your homestead at night and kill one of your animals. The anger is intense, and the natural response is to reach for a spear.

The challenge then is to understand these daily realities of the people who live alongside wild animals, and work with these communities to support coexistence.

In the case of livestock predation, we do this by mitigating some of the associated economic losses through compensation, via Big Life’s Predator Compensation Fund. Despite our success with this program, there are occasional setbacks, such as the recent incident in which a lioness was speared for killing two cows. But even when this happens, it does not help to place blame. Rather, we should channel that energy into understanding why the incident happened, and what can be done to prevent it happening again, which is what we will continue to do.

There are always two sides to the story. These are difficult discussions that require empathy and understanding on both sides, or we will never find mutually agreeable solutions. The end goal is to protect nature for the benefit of all, humans and wild animals alike.