Once upon a time, a ranger’s job was simple: catch the poachers. That was the case when most of Big Life’s rangers started out, and for some that was more than two decades ago. And although the goal of protecting wildlife hasn’t changed, the times certainly have.

Modern rangers need to be as comfortable reading a GPS as they are at reading tracks in the sand. They need to work with people as much as animals, mitigating human-wildlife conflicts, and working with community intelligence networks to solve crimes.

So while some of the veteran rangers have seen it all, there is always more to learn. That’s why Big Life worked with the association that represents community rangers in Amboseli (and thanks to generous support from Thin Green Line, generous private donors, and IFAW) to create the Amboseli Conservation Academy, a local training facility that provides refresher training to community rangers, intended to build on the solid and reliable foundation provided by the Kenya Wildlife Service Manyani training camp.

It’s been almost a year since construction of the Academy was completed, and since then 225 rangers have completed basic refresher training courses, including two courses for non-commissioned officers. One final 3-week course remains, following which all Big Life rangers will have undergone the first basic refresher. A series of more intensive 6-week training courses will begin thereafter.

Almost without exception, every ranger has enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to learn more, even if that meant going ‘back to school’ with the rigorous demands of boot camp. The result has been a fine-tuning of the bush experience that so many of these rangers have, and a ranger force that is ready for whatever the job can throw at them.

It’s the first rule of the bush: don’t mess with an angry elephant mother.

The herders who found her were wise to keep their distance, but got just close enough to see what was causing her distress. It was her calf, stuck in the mud on the edge of a seasonal lake, and she was unable to pull the baby elephant out.

This happens from time to time, when a youngster pushes the boundaries too far, not having the experience to know how dangerous a situation can be. The herders called Big Life, and we immediately sent our Super Cub aircraft to get a better sense of the scene.

A rescue was possible, but the mother would be problematic. She would have no idea that we were trying to help, and would not tolerate anyone approaching her calf. As we so often do, we called on the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust helicopter, hoping that it could be used to chase her off for long enough to rescue her calf from the mud.

While the rangers waited for the chopper, some decided to take a chance, slowly approaching the mother to see how she would react. They got closer, pushing her gently away. Eventually, she was far away enough to give them a gap. The rangers waded into the mud, and working with local community members, managed to wrestle the calf back onto solid footing.

It was a tiny thing, maybe six-months-old, which they guided back toward the mother. As they got closer the mother seemed to realize what was happening and came forward, and the calf ran the small distance remaining between them, reunited at last.

Together, they moved back into the bush, the rangers and community members went about their business, and a potentially deadly crisis was averted. The next day, rangers tracked the mother and calf and found them reunited with their small family group, relaxed and browsing contentedly.

This is an example of why Big Life’s conservation model works so well. We are an integral part of the local community, and the herders wasted no time in calling. We have the resources to react immediately. And the result is what we all love: a happy ending.

We were heading into the unknown. We’d known the critical moment was inevitable since Big Life had started construction of electric crop-protection fences in the Amboseli ecosystem more than two years ago, to reduce the sometimes deadly conflict between farmers and elephants.

Animals that migrate out of Amboseli National Park frequently head east and into a series of conservancies that form a migratory passage known as the Kimana Corridor. They traverse this protected space to reach the Kimana Sanctuary some 15 km away, from where they are able to move onward to Chyulu and Tsavo National Parks.

At its narrowest point the corridor is only 250 feet wide, with human development on both sides and a tarmac road to cross before reaching safety in the Kimana Sanctuary. This pinch point is known as “Kimana Crossing,” and has been causing us a bit of heartburn, but a carefully engineered plan was developed to mitigate the impact on wildlife.

To start, we filed our plan and received approval from the Road Authority. From there, we constructed a series of speed bumps to slow the traffic approaching the crossing. As the fence crosses the road, the wire is elevated to permit cars and box trucks to pass underneath. To prevent animals from simply walking out the way the cars are driving, long dangling electrified wires are suspended that stop animals but not cars. When all was finally in place, the power was turned on, and the Kimana Crossing was live.

From there it was a tense wait. We had no idea how the elephants would react: would they use it? Was it going to be chaos funneling them through a narrow and potentially stressful gap?

We should never have underestimated these intelligent creatures. Within a day of the crossing’s completion in late 2018, the elephants had already worked out what they were supposed to do, and the first herd used it in broad daylight with young calves in tow. Since that moment, there has been steady use of the crossing by a variety of species on a daily basis, and our camera traps have even captured rarer species, such as lion and aardvark, using it to cross back and forth between the Kimana Sanctuary and the Kimana conservancy areas.

Amboseli is changing rapidly, and we are trying to look ahead and imagine what it may look like decades from now. One thing is almost certain, and that is the days of unrestricted movement will be over. Animals will need to weave their way through the human-developed areas across the landscape, threading their way from one block of natural habitat to the next. We will be working to ensure that they can make these journeys safely.

Thank you as always for your support of these efforts.

I won’t forget the last quarter of 2018 anytime soon. It took us all on an emotional rollercoaster ride.

More than two years ago, Big Life started work on a series of electric crop-protection fences in the ecosystem. The goal was to reduce local farmers’ losses to raiding elephants, which has always been a key source of conflict between the two species. With Phase 2 approaching completion, and over 75 km of fence line now constructed, we were faced with uncharted territory: the closing of the fence on either side of the Kimana Crossing.

It is at this point where elephants and other animals coming from Amboseli National Park have only a 250-foot gap to pass safely between the farmland areas on their way to the Kimana Sanctuary and the open spaces beyond. Furthermore, this same point crosses a heavily-trafficked paved road. To mitigate the impact, we constructed a series of speed bumps to slow traffic, but the whole experience is still very uncomfortable for any wild animal. I had no idea how the elephants would react: was it going to be chaos channeling them through a narrow and stressful gap?

Turns out, I needn’t have worried. It took no time at all for these intelligent animals to adapt. A day after the crossing was completed, the first herd of elephants crossed in broad daylight. Since then, there has been steady use of the crossing by a variety of species, and our camera traps have even captured lion and aardvark using it.

On the subject of crop-protection fencing, I am deeply satisfied to see how well it’s working. Two years ago, in the fourth quarter of 2016, Big Life rangers recorded a total of 112 acres of crops destroyed in 199 crop raids by elephants. Over the same period in 2018, rangers recorded only 30 acres destroyed in 49 incidents of elephant crop raiding. This is a 75% reduction in crop raids recorded by Big Life in the ecosystem, and the continuing problems are almost exclusively in the unfenced areas. More importantly, the community agrees with the success of the fence project. In a recent survey of 388 farmers, 97% of respondents said that the fence has been effective at eliminating human-elephant conflict.

There were scary moments this past quarter as well. Tim, probably Amboseli’s biggest bull elephant and one that Big Life rangers spend a lot of time protecting, got stuck neck-deep in a muddy swamp. The chances of saving him were slim, and we were all prepared for the worst. But as has so often been the case, we were able to call on friends and partners, in this case Kenya Wildlife Service and the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, and work together in an almost unbelievable effort to get him out. Somehow, Tim survived to live another day and has recovered from his ordeal, recently seen in musth for the first time in a couple of years, which is fantastic as it means that he is strong and in good health.

There was news, too, for our predator protection efforts. We took an important step with the official signing of an agreement for Big Life to expand our Predator Compensation Fund on Eselengei Group Ranch, which forms the northern boundary of the Greater Amboseli safe zone for wildlife. We were reminded of this in December, after three lions were killed when they ventured north beyond Eselengei and preyed on community livestock. The lines have been drawn, and we will continue to do everything we can to support conservation in the spaces where wild animals still have a home.

The fourth quarter ended with a bang. An exciting component of Big Life’s predator protection program, the Maasai Olympics reached its much-anticipated biennial peak on December 15. Two of the teams were tied going into the final event of the competition, an indication that this has become a sporting event in the truest and most exciting sense and was a real nail-biter for all attending.

At the end of another year, as always, I extend a huge and heartfelt thanks to everyone who makes our work possible.

Richard Bonham
Director of Operations, Kenya

READ THE FULL 4TH QUARTERLY REPORT