We’re in the home stretch: the race for the gold is on! Only one last regional event stands in the way of the 2018 Maasai Olympics Finals.

Since August, the four main manyatta (warrior-village) teams have competed in five regional sporting events, accruing points and prestige along the way. The last regional event, to be hosted by Mbirikani Group Ranch later this month, is the final test of strength before the main event in December.

And because no sporting event is complete without spectators, we’re happy to report that over 2,000 warriors, men, women, and children have journeyed across the ecosystem to support the regional competitions, loudly cheering from the sidelines. Their participation is testimony to the shifting mindset of local communities: from lion killing, to lion conservation.

Simultaneously, there is another gold rush happening. This one is a bit furrier. The Chyulu Hills’ lion population is continuing to grow. One pride now totals 16 lions, with 10 cubs. This this the largest pride and highest number of cubs recorded in the Greater Amboseli ecosystem in years, potentially even decades.* Given that African lion populations have declined by about 50% in the last 20 years, this is absolutely joyous news.

As we enter the final stretch of this year’s Maasai Olympics season, our hope is that both local communities and local lion populations will continue to come out on top – now, and far into the future.

*This information is made possible by Big Life’s ecosystem partner, Lion Guardians, who undertakes lion monitoring work.

It was probably not an easy decision, but she was suffering from pains, and her child was sick. So, she made the 7 km journey to the rural village of Kalesirua.  Luckily, the journey was time well spent.

Big Life Foundation was conducting its second mobile health clinic of the year, and the woman was able to access medical treatment, family planning services, and take-away nutritional supplements for her children. She was one of the 271 people - men, women, and children - that received health services that day.

In the more remote parts of Big Life’s area of operation, there are Maasai communities that are very isolated from healthcare. Consequently, children often go unvaccinated, serious health issues are regularly ignored, and testing and counseling are a rarity.

Realizing healthy families result in healthy communities, Big Life has been stepping in to help fill this lifesaving gap. Thus far, in 2018, Big Life and the Kenya Ministry of Health have provided 527 people access to healthcare, de-wormed 1,107 children, and provided long-term family planning to 23 women.

While the clinics are mobile, for the hundreds of community members who are able to receive medical services, the impact is lasting.

Maasai warriors from across the Amboseli ecosystem are one step closer to their shot at greatness. Traditionally that would have meant killing a lion, but today it is achieved through participation in the Maasai Olympics.

The warriors who will represent their manyattas (warrior villages) in the final event on December 15, 2018 have been chosen, each for their prowess in one of six Maasai Olympics disciplines, all of which are based on traditional warrior skills.

Of the hundreds of warriors that battled for a place to compete on one of four teams, 120 now advancing to compete for medals, prizes, the winner’s trophy, and a prized breeding bull, all in the name of lion conservation.

The regional competitions will be held over the next month. During these one-on-one team duels, competitors and teams will size each other up to see what it’s going to take to come out on top in December.

In 2016, the underdogs (Rombo manyatta) knocked the two-time reigning champions (Mbirikani manyatta) from their pedestal, but only time will tell if they can come back and do it again. There is a hum in the air, and it’s only going to get louder as the regional competitions begin.

Thank you for supporting the Maasai Olympics – the hunt for medals, not lions – by making a donation.

Wildlife tracks are a bit like long pieces of spaghetti; it’s not often that you follow them to a neat and satisfactory ending. So, when a dawn ranger patrol found rhino imprints that seemed to belong to a mother and calf, they could not predict where they would lead, if anywhere.

Regardless, this was an exciting discovery. The Eastern black rhinoceros is the most critically endangered of the black rhino subspecies, and was thought to be extinct in the Chyulu Hills until they were rediscovered in the 1990s by one of Big Life’s first rangers. A small population had been there all along, hiding deep in the lava fields and thick vegetation far east of the Amboseli ecosystem.

That population now comprises eight individuals, including the new calf, each of which is extremely special as a member of an original wild population, not bred under human management. To see a rhino is an extreme privilege, and very rare.

The tracks got fresher as the rangers followed. They slowed, not wanting to startle the animals, or elicit a dangerous charge from the mother. Excitement eventually turned to elation when they spotted two dark shapes in the bush ahead.

Better still, the two rhinos were relaxed enough that local lodge guests had enough time to get out to see them, becoming the first tourists to photograph a rhino in decades here in the Chyulus. We hope that this is the first of many such sightings!

Protecting these rhinos is no small job. There are 51 Big Life rangers based in 7 rhino-specific outposts coordinating with 24 Kenya Wildlife Service rangers who are all committed to keeping the rhinos safe. We’re grateful to all of our partners who help and support us in this, including: Kenya Wildlife Service, Save the Rhino International, Chester Zoo, US Fish and Wildlife, Tusk, and Great Plains Conservation.

Photo Credit: Jackson Lemunge