Big Life Foundation

There’s a familiar saying: the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second-best time is today. We take this approach across all our programs, but our scholarship and education program exemplifies it most clearly—because education is how conservation grows roots. If you consider scholarships to be seedlings, then we started planting way back in the year 2000. Since then, we have awarded more than 3,600 scholarships from primary to tertiary level. Many of those same seedlings have since grown, graduating from university, taking up prominent positions, and pursuing careers that might not have been possible without this support. Growing from seedlings to tall trees that now offer shade to the next generation, our scholarship recipients are living, thriving examples of how wildlife conservation can benefit society in different ways and over many years. And the more you plant, the more momentum you create. Last year in 2025, we awarded 818 scholarships, on top of the 875 we awarded in 2024, and we are not stopping there. Just as it takes more than trees to make a forest, scholarships are only one piece of the puzzle. Which is why we have also built a primary school, constructed dormitories for girls, dug toilets, provided water, and funded teachers’ salaries. Because we know at the end of the day that if the communities who live across Amboseli do not benefit from our conservation programs, they are not going to support conservation. Education and healthcare are two key ways we can improve the lives of the local communities who share this landscape with the elephants, lions and other species we fight to protect. Thanks to your support, we will continue to make lasting change here in Amboseli. 📸: Joshua Clay #internationaldayofeducation

2025 YEAR IN REVIEW As we step into a new year, we want to pause and say thank you. Your support made real conservation impact across the Greater Amboseli ecosystem. Here are some highlights from the past year: Launched Big Life’s drone unit, giving rangers more eyes in the sky to monitor wildlife, respond faster to threats, and patrol vast landscapes more safely and efficiently. Collared eight elephants during a critical field operation, to better help us understand migratory patterns, protect key corridors, and reduce human-elephant conflict. Secured more than 100,000 acres of habitat for conservation in partnership with local communities, keeping land open for animals and in the hands of the local Maasai. Deployed new tracker dogs who are ready to start detecting snares and supporting anti-poaching patrols that protect elephants and other wildlife every day. Supported a young Maasai woman with an education scholarship, who recently graduated from university and has plans to return home and contribute to conservation efforts in her community. Protected a new rhino calf in the Chyulu Hills, the second in under two years — a quiet but powerful sign that long-term protection works. And in one unforgettable moment, our rangers reunited a lost lion cub with its mother — a reminder that conservation is about care, patience, and presence. Behind every one of these moments are community rangers walking vast distances, building trust with their communities, and showing up every day for wildlife. Your support ensures they have the training, tools, and backing they need to do this work well. Explore the stories here: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/g6fCpN5x

Big Life is deeply grateful to be a recipient and partner of the Safarious Fund! Responsible tourism plays a critical role in conservation — not only by helping protect wildlife and wild landscapes, but by connecting people around the world to the places, communities, and stories of East Africa. These connections inspire deeper understanding, care, and long-term commitment to conservation. Thank you, Safarious Fund, for standing with us and our rangers, and for helping people everywhere feel personally connected to the future of these extraordinary places. 📸: Jeremy Goss

TWO ELEPHANT TREATMENTS IN KIMANA SANCTUARY Last month, we received a call from the eagle-eyed guides at Angama Amboseli that a large bull elephant was walking around Kimana Sanctuary with what appeared to be a metal rod through his lower lip, and Big Life rangers responded immediately to assess the situation. The elephant in question was Per – a 37-year-old emerging tusker who had been pushed away from farms by our Drone Unit on three separate occasions in the weeks leading up to this incident. It appears he must have eventually succeeded, and farmers responded to protect their crops. The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust-funded KWS vet unit soon arrived and removed the metal rod, revealing it to be a broken end of a spear. Fortunately, the cut was not serious and easily treated, and Per was soon up and walking, without his new piercing. 8 days later, another victim of conflict with nearby farmers was spotted limping through Kimana Sanctuary, this time a female elephant with a spear wound on her left knee. Big Life rangers again contacted the KWS vet who treated her and got her back on her feet quickly. Per’s mother, Penelope, was a celebrated matriarch of one of Amboseli’s largest elephant families - the PA’s. She died in 2001 at the grand age of 63, not of old age but as a casualty of conflict, speared while raiding crops. A quarter of a century later and her son almost met the same fate but didn’t. What has changed? Collaboration and communication. Today, we have eyes and ears almost everywhere and respond to incident reports as they happen. We work with a diverse range of partners across the ecosystem who share the common goal of keeping the peace. This shared commitment to coexistence is saving lives every day. We are grateful to Amboseli Trust for Elephants for their remarkable long-term research on these elephants, The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) for their dedication to veterinary treatment, and to Angama who continue to set the standard for responsible tourism. 📸: Jay Supeyo / Angama

BIG LIFE X KINGSPAN Big Life Foundation is excited to announce a new partnership with Kingspan Group, a global leader in sustainable construction based in County Cavan, Ireland. Kingspan’s mission is to accelerate a net zero emissions-built environment with people and planet at its heart. For decades, the lion has been central to Kingspan’s logo and close to their heart. Today, that connection comes full circle as they commit to safeguarding the future of lions and other wildlife in the ecosystem. Kingspan will sponsor the Nairrabala Ranger Unit, protecting the Nairrabala Conservancy. This is a critical 37,500-acre wildlife corridor that connects Amboseli National Park to the north of the ecosystem. Big Life is grateful for the way Kingspan lives out its mission, ensuring that the protection of our natural world remains a priority. 📸 1:Jeremy Goss

TONIGHT! Tune into PBS Nature’s newest episode and learn more about Amboseli’s tuskers. Craig was a living legend, and we are already feeling his absence in profound ways. But others follow in his footsteps, including Pascal and Esau, both of whom have been actively protected by Big Life’s rangers and have many more years ahead of them. The lessons these magnificent bull elephants will pass on to future generations is irreplaceable, especially in a landscape changing as rapidly as Amboseli. Big Life’s rangers continue to protect them from threats every day and keep them safe from poaching, conflict, and habitat loss. It’s only possible with your support. “Tusker: Brotherhood of Elephants” airs today on PBS at 8/7c in North America. Also available for streaming on the PBS App, Roku, Prime, and YouTube. https://lnkd.in/gwDdG_cG

CRAIG’S COLOSSAL IMPACT It’s been 10 days since the death of Craig, Amboseli’s most famous super tusker. His death was mourned globally, and the social media outpouring of support and consolation has been amazing to see. Reading these personal accounts, it’s obvious that Craig had an extraordinary impact on a huge number of people, regardless of whether they ever saw him in person. People felt a connection with him, beyond simple awe of his magnificent tusks. Thank you to everyone who tagged us and recognized the role that we played in Craig’s long life. When so many elephants are lost to poachers or human-wildlife conflict, his natural death represents a conservation success. Decades of ivory poaching and trophy hunting in Africa have selectively removed elephants with the biggest tusks, leaving only a handful. Fewer than 30 survive in East Africa, and 10 call our area of operation home. Craig survived into old age because this ecosystem, and the people protecting it, held the line. Craig was truly an ambassador for his species. No one who spent time with him could doubt the sentience of elephants. For many, he bridged the imaginary divide between humans and nature, helping people to realize that there is more to the world than what we might perceive and understand. He was well-known among local Maasai communities and lived peacefully alongside people, rarely crop-raiding. There will always be conflict where humans and elephants share space, but Craig showed that each elephant is unique and not all are destructive. Craig was a rare animal, even in a well-protected ecosystem like Amboseli. But his offspring are out there, growing into the tuskers of tomorrow. We’ll do everything we can to ensure they survive to inspire generations far into the future. 📸: Jeremy Goss

A CELEBRATION OF MAASAI CULTURE A couple of months ago, Amboseli hosted the Maa Cultural Festival. For five days in November, Amboseli’s dusty plains hosted tens of thousands of Maa-speaking people from across Kenya and Tanzania. The combination of music, dancing, roasted meat, prize livestock, and whirling shukas (traditional blankets) created a dizzying spectacle. Big Life rangers provided security support and we had a stall in the exhibitors tent, where a film about our conservation work was watched by His Excellency President Ruto. The event also marked a milestone in the transition to increased local authority over Amboseli National Park, with the official declaration of the handover of park management from the National to the Kajiado County government. Amboseli will remain a National Park, but the County Government will take primary responsibility for park management and utilization of the revenue from it, while the Kenya Wildlife Service will retain certain roles. This transition, implemented over multiple years, will see most of the benefit from Amboseli’s natural wealth retained locally; the intention is that it be shared with the communities whose land is so critical for the survival of this ecosystem. In return for this huge economic boost, the Kajiado County Government has committed to a target of securing 1 million acres of community land for conservation outside Amboseli National Park. With Big Life conservation leases already protecting ~120,000 acres of community land (and counting), we’re supporting the achievement of that ambitious goal. The majority of Kenya’s arable land has long gone under the plough; its original wild inhabitants gone with it. Most of the wildlife that remains is thanks to pastoral communities like the Maasai, who have continued to protect natural rangelands for livestock grazing. It is these people who hold the future of much of Kenya’s wild land and wildlife in their hands. These are the communities who are our primary conservation partners and driving force behind all of our programs, so we were delighted to be part of an event that celebrated their unique culture, and the beautiful places that they inhabit. Photos: 1, 4-7: Robert Sayialel Photo 2: Joshua Clay Photo 3: Agostino Mutinda

RHINO HORN DEALER ARRESTED This is a story more than a year in the making. It started with a man from Maua Town in Meru County in possession of an extremely rare item and ended a few weeks ago in the Kajiado Town jail. How he found it is a mystery, but the tiny, palm-sized keratin pyramid came from a rhino. The man thought he could make considerable cash from selling this rhino horn, but he needed a buyer. He started asking around in Malili, a town along the Mombasa Road, where he thought he’d fly under the radar. Instead, our informer network was tipped off. He needed to be caught trying to sell the rhino horn to be arrested, but there were no takers in Malili. The trail went cold for several months but picked up again in Kajiado Town, a far bigger and busier location. Our intelligence team posed as a buyer. After weeks of back and forth, he finally agreed to meet at a petrol station, where the Kenya Wildlife Service took over. Following more than a year of cat and mouse, he was finally arrested. This is a success story not only for our intelligence network, but for Kenya’s efforts as a whole stamping out illegal wildlife crime. While southern Africa is dealing with a surge in rhino poaching, Kenya is not. This is largely thanks to a combination of political will, sustained conservation efforts, and a hefty punishment for anyone caught poaching or dealing in items like ivory or rhino horn. This tiny piece of horn bore no cut marks, likely an old piece that had broken off naturally. Opportunism and possibly desperation turned this man into a trafficker. Even though he didn’t kill the rhino, he still faces life in prison for attempting to sell the horn. It sends a strong message to anyone, opportunistic or otherwise, that such activity will not be tolerated. Your support of our operations funds sting operations like this one. Thank you for helping us keep rhinos and all East African wildlife safe.

RIP CRAIG, AMBOSELI’S LARGEST TUSKER We have sad news to start the year. Craig, Amboseli’s largest tusker, has died of suspected natural causes at 54 years old. Some of you may have seen rumors of his death last November. Although untrue, it was clear that he was having digestive issues that were very serious for an elephant of his advanced age. He recovered, but we knew we likely had limited time left with him. Yesterday, he was in trouble again, collapsing intermittently, then standing and moving short distances. Big Life’s rangers stayed with him through the night but at 03:32 AM, he lay down and didn’t get up again. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done. Poorly chewed material in his dung showed that he was not grinding his food properly, which is evidence of worn-down teeth. Elephants get six sets of molars through their lives, and once their final set starts to wear, their lifespan is limited. We are waiting for post-mortem details, but this is very likely what led to Craig’s death. Craig was an icon. He was extremely calm around people and likely one of the most photographed elephants in all of Africa. He lived peacefully alongside the communities that he shared space with. Elephants with tusks as big as his have becoming increasingly rare, targeted by poachers and trophy hunters, and Craig was one of the largest of those remaining. Craig was a huge presence in Amboseli and will be sorely missed. But he lived a long life and died a natural death, and no creature – human or elephant – could ask for much more. RIP CRAIG, AMBOSELI’S LARGEST TUSKER We have sad news to start the year. Craig, Amboseli’s largest tusker, has died of suspected natural causes at 54 years old. https://lnkd.in/gXuf4vWv