Ironically, sometimes the most beautiful, pristine, and remote natural places on our planet often harbor the very worst human beings. Dark, tangled forests provide cover and safe haven for bandits, poachers, and thieves. So it was with the Chyulu Hills.

This spectacular and biologically diverse volcanic mountain range can be found in the east of Big Life’s operating area, and amongst other things is home to a small remnant population of highly endangered Eastern black rhino that was tucked away for years, thought to be extinct. Such is the cover provided by the thick lava forests that blanket the foothills, and towering cloud forests that crown the range.

The Chyulu Hills used to be a dangerous place. A nest of charcoal burning and illegal logging operations, and a refuge from which cattle rustlers and common thieves launched their raids. Snares lined many kilometers traversing the slopes, and only the very luckiest animals made it through alive.

Slowly, and over the course of many years, we have worked with the Kenya Wildlife Service to turn the tide. One by one, our rangers pulled out snares, destroyed charcoal kilns, and arrested illegal loggers. Today, it is once again a safe haven for wild animal species, and providing clean air and water for the ecosystem.

As a testament to its importance, the Chyulu Hills is now the site of a REDD+ carbon credit project, being implemented through a partnership between local communities, government, and NGOs, one that is further enhancing the benefits of environmental conservation. So far, sales of these carbon credits through our partners at Conservation International have contributed $15,000 towards protection of the area.

Today is World Environment Day, and a time to both take heart from the environmental conservation success stories such as that of the Chyulus Hills, but also to acknowledge the grave ongoing threats to our planet. The theme for this year’s World Environment Day focus is air pollution, a hazard to both human health and our natural environments. There’s much work to do be done, but the Chyulu Hills is today a vital carbon sink and water resource for Kenya that simultaneously cleans the air.

There are steps that we can all take to #beatairpollution - please take a look at the World Environment Day website to better understand these. As for Big Life, we will continue to work daily, with all of our partners, to protect the natural habitats of the Amboseli ecosystem.

The science on species diversity has been clear, and dire, for a long time. The scientific community generally has long been in agreement that the rapid rate of species loss means dramatic consequences for not only the health of the natural world, but also for humans as part of this planet. So the only surprise in the recent United Nations (UN) report is how strongly worded the 1,500-page report is, boldly titled: Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented,’ Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating.’

The report is the most comprehensive assessment of its kind and ranks the elements having the largest global impact by magnitude of devastation as follows:

1. Changes in land and sea use;
2. Direct exploitation of organisms;
3. Climate change;
4. Pollution; and
5. Invasive species.

The report includes an ominous warning: around 1 million plant and animal species are currently threatened with extinction, many within decades. This is more than ever before in human history. Given the current number of known living species is about 8.7 million, that’s a scary percentage.

The good news is that this and other issues facing the world today are challenges that are actively being addressed by Big Life in one special corner of the world in East Africa. A summary of the UN report includes possible action plans to curb the devastation and swing the tide back towards conservation, many of which we’re already implementing. Big Life’s mission and vision align with the UN report’s conclusions on what is necessary for a sustainable future for all life: a world in which conservation supports the people, and people support conservation.

So, with the challenges clearly defined, what we all must do now is contribute in ways that accelerate the solutions. We know that it feels daunting, especially given the news out of Botswana this week about overturning the ban on elephant hunting. But we can’t lose hope.

To all of you who support organizations fighting against extinction, including Big Life, we thank you.

His name is Jenga. He’s a 31-year old male. We don’t know why he did it; perhaps he set off on a whim, chasing a scent on the breeze. Or maybe some long-forgotten memory of a previous journey surfaced, triggering his decision. All we know is that he started walking.

His walk has given us an extraordinary look into the life of a bull elephant, and the relevance of our work to such an animal. For a while now, we’ve discussed the importance of the Kimana Sanctuary and the Kimana Conservancies as critical pieces of a movement corridor that allows animals to thread their way through agriculture and other human development on the journey between the Amboseli and Tsavo ecosystems.

But demonstrating this journey is not easy. We regularly see animals on the move, but have little idea where they’ve come from or where they are going. The long journeys in particular are uncommon, and usually made by young males in search of better food or breeding opportunities.

Now thanks to Jenga, and his tracking collar that was fitted by Save the Elephants, we can finally show you what a journey through this corridor looks like. Over the month of April, Jenga travelled first from Tsavo West towards Amboseli (this movement not shown on the map above), not quite reaching Amboseli National Park but spending several weeks in the Kimana and Elerai community conservancies.

For whatever reason, he decided to turn around and head home. Without ever having seen it or done it before, he used the Kimana Crossing, where animals are funneled through a 250 ft wide gap and over a tar road. He then passed through the Kimana Sanctuary on his way back to Tsavo West, perfectly demonstrating how the corridor can and should work. In total, Jenga travelled more than 100 km over the two weeks.

Such movements, and the strategic pieces of habitat that allow for them, are more important than they sound. They keep wildlife populations connected, maintaining genetic diversity and the adaptive potential that comes with it. And as our climate continues to change, this freedom of movement will become more and more important.

A huge thanks to Save the Elephants, who are doing the science that is helping to demonstrate the importance of these wildlife corridors, to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, who are our partners in protecting the Kimana Corridor and Sanctuary, and to Vulcan Inc. for developing the technology that allows us to track these movements in near real-time on our mobile devices. But an equally big thank you to all of our supporters for helping us to protect these elephants and the wilderness areas they need to flourish.

IMAGE COURTESY OF TSAVO TRUST

2018 feels like the year when we finally started to see the fruits of labors that were started nearly ten years ago, or longer.

Big Life’s broad range of programs have coalesced into three distinct categories: wildlife, habitat, and community. The core components of each are outlined in this report, and I’m proud of the work our team has put into these programs. It is always an interesting exercise to review the numbers and put the blood, sweat, and tears of our field staff into perspective.

On the wildlife side, there are many highlights, starting with the discovery that one of our Eastern black rhinos had given birth to a healthy calf, bringing the number for this unique, wild population up to eight. I’ve lived in the Chyulus for nearly 30 years now, and to see a mother rhino feel safe enough to bring her calf down out of the dense lava and into the open is truly cause for celebration.

Lion numbers are also up, and these days, it feels like we’re practically tripping over cubs. For the second year running, no lions were killed this year in violation of our Predator Compensation Fund, proof that humans and apex predators can coexist.

Our work to mitigate human-wildlife conflict is also working, and although it’s an uphill battle, it is one we will continue to fight. In the areas where we’ve built electric fencing, a project started over two years ago now, we’ve seen about a 90% reduction in crop-raiding by elephants. And the local farmers agree that the fence is working, which is just as important as the fence itself.

Of course, without habitat, there would be no place for these animals to go. We’ve secured the Kimana Corridor, which helps to funnel animals between the marshy swamps of Amboseli National Park, and into Kimana Sanctuary and beyond. Animals of all kinds are using the corridor daily and seem to have adapted to the narrowest pinch-point, just 250 feet wide. Kimana Sanctuary itself continues to be a diamond in the rough that we’re slowly polishing. Thanks to our partners, including Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, we’re already seeing some tourism revenue in this special place that is a refuge for some of the ecosystem’s biggest tuskers, like Tim.

The third leg of this stool is as important as the other two, and that’s the people who live here, our community. We continue to invest in the community generally through land leases and conservation programs, as well as by employing rangers and administrative staff from the local community. We’re also continuing to provide education and healthcare benefits to those with whom we share this special place, and will expand these services as we can in the coming years.

We’ve got big goals for 2019—including continuing to expand north into Eselengei Group Ranch, improving wildlife security across the border in northern Tanzania, securing more habitat for wildlife, continuing to grow our intelligence network—and we couldn’t do any of it without your support.

Thank you, as always.

Richard Bonham
Co-founder & Director of Operations

Read the full 2018 Annual Report

[Photo credit: Clifford Pickett]