Big Life Foundation

Big Life’s primary conservation mission is to prevent the poaching of elephants and all wildlife within the more than 1.6 million acres of wilderness in the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem. This wildlife protection effort currently employs hundreds of local Maasai rangers—with more than thirty permanent outposts and tent-based field units, thirteen Land Cruiser patrol vehicles, three tracker dogs, and two planes for aerial surveillance.[7] In addition to preventative measures, Big Life partners with local communities to track and apprehend poachers and collaborates with local prosecutors to ensure that wildlife criminals are punished to the fullest extent of the law.[8][9]

The East African black rhinoceros is one of the most endangered species on Earth. Big Life works in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service to protect the Eastern black rhino in the Chyulu Hills area. Together, the two organizations conduct extensive foot patrols, aerial surveillance, monitoring via camera traps, and engage in direct confrontation with rhino poachers when necessary.[10]

For the Maasai herders in Big Life’s area of operation, cattle are their livelihood and subsistence. Living in close proximity to predators like lions or hyenas means the Maasai’s livestock often falls victim to predation. To discourage herders from retaliating with spears or poisoned carcasses, Big Life and local communities developed a compensation program, the Predator Compensation Fund. This fund protects lions, and other carnivores in the ecosystem, by partially compensating local Maasai for economic losses due to predation. In return, communities agree not to kill predators in retaliation.[11]

Growing human population in the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro region has led to increased human-wildlife conflict, often with catastrophic and deadly results for both people and animals.[12] Big Life works in partnership with the local Maasai to reduce the negative impact of human-wildlife interactions, such as crop-raiding by hungry elephants.[13] Co-founder Bonham notes, “An elephant can trample a crop in 10 minutes. This year we have had four people killed by them. We try to scare them. We have guys out at night. We use bangers and paint ball guns to shoot chilly [sic] bombs. When one hits an elephant, they get a whiff and a sore nose. But they realise that big bangs are not dangerous. They learn.”[5] Human-wildlife conflict remains one the greatest challenges with initiatives such as elephant-proof fencing as one possible solution.[14]

Big Life supports the future of communities in East Africa by funding teachers’ salaries, providing scholarship funds for local students, and conducting conservation workshops.[15][11] “...if we are to save these endangered species from extinction, we’re going to have to save the humans first. For far too long now right across the continent wildlife is being wiped out because poverty is shoved into the unsolvable box.”[16]

In 2008, Big Life was approached by Maasai elders for assistance in ending lion hunting within the Maasai warrior culture.[17] This event marked the beginning of a collaboration that would eventually lead to the first-ever Maasai Olympics, “an organised Maasai sports competition based upon traditional warrior skills.”[18] Now a biennial event, the Maasai Olympics has become part of creating a shift in the cultural attitudes of the Maasai away from competitive and ritual lion killing towards a broader commitment to wildlife and habitat conservation.[19]