Thanks to the generosity of one incredible donor, Big Life’s Super Cub has a new engine — and it’s already back in the skies over the Greater Amboseli ecosystem.

For pilot Craig Millar, Big Life’s Chief Operating Officer, this upgrade means everything. “The Cub is one of the most important tools in Big Life’s toolbox,” he says. “Personally, I could literally not do my job without it. When things are busy, it does more work than any other vehicle in Big Life — eyes in the sky, rapid response, command and control, medevac, monitoring, search operations… You can do all that without the Cub, but it costs twice as much and takes ten times as long.”

The new Lycoming O-360 engine (180 horsepower) replaces one that had quietly served for more than a decade — logging hundreds of flight hours across roughly 160,000 miles of patrols. The difference was immediate: “It feels like the Cub did 10 years ago,” Craig says. “You forget how much power you’ve lost over time until you feel it come back.”

From tracking elephant herds to spotting illegal activity, this little plane gives our rangers the big-picture view that keeps wildlife — and people — safe.

A heartfelt thank you to the donor who made this possible. Your support keeps Big Life’s mission quite literally flying high.

📸: Joshua Clay