It is always a surprise this time of the year to realize that we’re halfway through it already. In the bush, there’s a steady stream of incidents to respond to, wildlife to assist, and community issues to help sort out. The seasons are marked by the rains, or sometimes lack thereof, and the green landscape that hopefully comes with them.

We got some rain in the second quarter, but not enough. The land has already shifted back to dry season conditions, and with it have come the usual complications. We can only hope that the abundance of rain from last year will carry us forward. In the meantime, the watering holes are looking a bit crowded.

Speaking of crowds, we are practically tripping on lions. If the pun can be forgiven, I’m quite proud of the large prides we’re now seeing on Maasai community lands. Twenty years ago, a lion sighting was an extremely rare thing; retaliation by local community members was high for depredation of livestock and ingrained social norms, so the lions kept their distance. The handful of lions that survived these retaliatory attacks hid in the lava in the hills around my home.

Now with predator compensation available for local livestock owners, and shifting attitudes thanks to the Maasai Olympics, as well as the work of our local partners, our lion population has rebounded to upwards of 200 in the ecosystem today—roughly 10 times as many as when we started. And quite a few them enjoy the grassy fields that are my back yard, much to my dogs’ dismay.

We’ll be hearing a lot about lions in the coming weeks thanks to a certain movie I hear is being released. We are grateful to our partners at the Disney Conservation Fund for using this opportunity to support lion conservation. Maybe someday soon I can enjoy this re-envisioning of The Lion King, with vistas inspired by Big Life’s area of operation, with my own children. If I leave the bush in time to make it to a theatre, that is.

In the meantime, Big Life’s rangers will keep protecting the wildlife and wild lands of this magnificent ecosystem for the benefit of us all. To all of our supporters who make this possible, thank you.

Richard Bonham
Co-Founder and Director of Operations, Big Life Kenya 

Read the full 2nd Quarterly Report

For a lion born in Amboseli in the early 2000s, life was likely short. At least 108 lions were killed between 2001 and 2006, and that’s just counting the bodies that were found.

Maasai communities have historically killed lions, in retaliation for killing livestock as well as for cultural reasons, but in the Greater Amboseli ecosystem, losses used to occur at rates that the population could reasonably sustain. With the arrival of cheap and deadly agricultural poisons in the 1990s, that changed fast.

One person could easily wipe out an entire lion pride—and countless other animals, as well—with a single packet of poison, and the accelerated death rate left the lion population hanging in the balance, with as few as 20 individuals left alive at one point.

A local scientist wrote that one particularly bad month, during which more than a dozen lions were killed, “may represent the beginning of the end.” But local communities had other ideas, and Big Life took up the challenge.

In response to this urgent situation, we started the Predator Compensation Fund (PCF), aimed at reducing the economic losses associated with livestock depredation, and in each area where it was implemented, retaliatory lion killing immediately ceased.

At that time, there weren’t many lions left to kill, but thanks to our local conservation partners Lion Guardians, who have also made important contributions to protecting the species, we know that the lion population has grown steadily and is now in excess of 200 animals across the ecosystem.

During the worst of the killing, the lions who survived were those living singly or in small groups, those who avoided humans at all costs. The surviving lions hid themselves well. But with the reduction in persecution, stable prides have once again established.

It is a huge moment for us to report that there is currently a pride of 22 lions living entirely on Maasai community land. This is about as many lions in one pride as there were in the entire ecosystem 15 years ago. And thanks to this important cultural shift, the lions are calm and comfortable, allowing tourists on safari to get quite close, as this photo demonstrates.

This is only the beginning; conflict between lions and humans continues, and coexistence is uneasy. Big Life’s predator protection work is as critical now as ever, particularly as lion numbers continue to fall across the rest of Africa, and each population becomes a more important part of the whole.

However, it’s good to pause now and again and appreciate the results of all our hard work. In at least one small corner in Africa, the lion population is increasing, not decreasing, and that is worth celebrating.

Please help us to continue this success story by making a donation.

Photo: Andy Biggs

This was an attack on all sides, by multiple attackers. There were spear wounds on the rump, back legs, and two through the trunk. A total of five holes that shouldn’t be there.

We know this elephant. His name is Lobolo, and until recently, he hadn’t been seen for a number of months. Wherever it is that he went, he clearly found trouble, and most likely the wounds were a result of conflict with humans. It could have been from continued fall-out following a spate of elephant hunting after two people were killed early last month by elephants to the north and outside of our core area of operation.

Thankfully Lobolo made it back to safety for help, which was quick to come. He was first spotted at a waterhole by guides from ol Donyo Lodge. Big Life rangers staked out the waterhole, knowing that Lobolo would soon return. When he did, late one afternoon, a well-rehearsed response kicked into action.

Not two days since our previous call for a separate incident to the Sheldrick-Wildlife-Trust-supported Kenya Wildlife Service sky-vet, and the helicopter was back on the scene. The pilot skillfully corralled Lobolo, keeping him in the open for a clear shot from the vet and his dart gun. The wounds were all successfully treated and packed with blue medicinal clay, and a groggy Lobolo woke up and ambled slowly off into the bush.

The Greater Amboseli ecosystem is a huge place, and while we try, we cannot keep an eye on all 2,000+ elephants moving through all of the time. Big Life rangers respond to all reported conflicts and try to prevent any injuries to both humans and elephants. But this is not always possible, and we’re thankful for the work that the rangers do, and the partners we are able to call on to help the injured.

Cockroaches in the cupboard, mosquitos landing on your face.  Even in the most mundane way, everyone has experienced animals invading our personal spaces. 

In Africa it can be on a dramatically larger scale. Lions and other predators killing your livestock. Elephants trampling your crops and killing or injuring a family member. The automatic response by many is predictable: kill the problem animal.

Listening to our local communities, Big Life has always believed that one of the most effective ways of intervening is to relieve some of the economic costs borne by those who live alongside wild animals.

One of our early innovations in this field was the creation of Big Life’s Predator Compensation Fund (PCF), a compensation program designed to reimburse livestock owners for a portion of their losses to predators (with penalties for poor livestock husbandry), provided that no predators are killed in retaliation.

The result, fifteen years later, is arguably one of the world’s most successful predator protection programs. Big Life’s PCF has gone from an experiment to one of the core driving forces behind the spectacular recovery of the lion population in the Greater Amboseli ecosystem, along with the work of our local lion conservation partners.

On a larger scale, increasing conflict between humans and wildlife has become one of the biggest threats to conservation in Kenya, and the government has taken note. One outcome is the recent formation of a high-level Taskforce on Human-Wildlife Conflict Compensation Schemes, and we are incredibly proud to have Daniel Ole Sambu (pictured here), Big Life’s predator protection program coordinator, as one of the few non-governmental representatives invited to participate.

This task force will look at the opportunities for compensation programs to contribute to human-wildlife coexistence across Kenya, as well as a broad range of other potential conflict mitigation options.

Running a successful compensation program can be difficult, as there is huge potential for fraud and a high risk that the program won’t have the intended impact. So we’re incredibly honored that the Kenyan government has taken note of our success and that someone as experienced as Daniel will have the opportunity to help design future national solutions.