Big Life Foundation

Big Life Foundation

Over the past seven years, Nick Brandt has spent many months photographing most of the elephants that live in Amboseli National Park in Kenya. As a result, he has been fortunate to know these elephants and their habits intimately. Sadly, he reports the following:

July 3 2010, 7am: Amboseli Lake Bed, Amboseli National Park, Kenya: A herd of 50 elephants are crossing the lake bed from outside the park near the Tanzanian border, making their daily journey into the swamp. Normally, these are the most relaxed of herds, quietly moving right past our vehicle without a care in the world. The terrible drought is over, food is plentiful, and the elephants are healthy.

Elephant Drinking, Amboseli, 2007. Killed by Poachers, 2009

But this morning, as soon as we get within half a mile of them, they start running in panic. So panicked that a baby gets knocked over in the rush. They're still running from us a full mile away to make it to the safety of the swamp. We've never seen anything like it in the seven years I've been photographing in Amboseli. Later, we discover that the night before, gunshots were heard from the direction the elephants came, near the Tanzanian border.

Over the next two weeks, the herd never really relaxes. On subsequent days that week, the appearance of a second car - something that would normally never bother them – sends them into newly-induced panic, suggesting not one but two vehicles were hunting them. Meanwhile, two weeks earlier, the carcass of a beautiful bull called Buster (as named by Cynthia Moss' Elephant Research Project) has been found outside the park with his tusks sawn off and taken. When I was last in Amboseli two months before that, Buster had been one of three bulls I saw with infected spear wounds in their trunks. Just in the last week of August, yet another three big bull elephants have been killed. One died from what seems to be a poisoned spike trap that poachers are increasingly using. And Winston, photographed below in July, was shot by poachers at the end of August just over the border in Tanzania. Wounded, he made it back over to Kenya, but then died and also had his tusks sawn off with a power saw by the poachers. At the present rate of deaths, there will soon be no mature bulls left in Amboseli.

In fact, most of the large-tusked elephants that are featured in my books are now dead, killed by poachers for their ivory. This includes the 45 year old elephant drinking that I photographed on the first page. Two other beautiful elephants featured in my photos, both now also killed by poachers, can be seen in this document.

Elephants Walking Through Grass, Amboseli 2008. Leading Matriarch Killed By Poachers, 2009

ESCALATION OF POACHING IN THE AMBOSELI ECOSYSTEM
Since 2008, the situation in Amboseli has become progressively worse, as of course, it has over much of Africa. The poaching of animals, most of all elephants, has escalated dramatically. There has been a massively increased demand from China and the rest of the Far East for ivory again, and as a result, the elephants here are being wiped out at an alarming rate. Estimates put it as high as 35,000 elephants being poached a year, 10% of the entire population of Africa's elephants each year alone.

But the killing is not limited to elephants. The lions are being poisoned at an incredible rate too. Most of this is due to conflict with the fast growing population. But increasingly, it is for body parts, again for the Asian market, now that tigers are too hard to procure. It has become so bad that there are next to no lions left outside the parks. It is no wonder that they are now on Appendix 2 of the CITES Endangered Species List. The plains animals are getting slaughtered as well. Giraffe here are being killed at a faster rate for bush meat. There are even contracts out on zebra, as their skins are the latest fad in Asia.

The Kenya Wildlife Service tries its best, but is very underfunded. With just two vehicles available in Amboseli for the Wildlife Protection Unit teams, their armed rangers are expected to cover over 1000 square miles. Additionally, rangers and scouts employed to patrol the much larger Amboseli ecosystem are few and far between, despite the efforts of a few good NGO's with operations nearby.

Nick Brandt has established the Big Life Foundation as an urgent measure to counter act these high levels of poaching. The aim of the Foundation is:

1. Co-ordindation between all NGO’s and Government agencies in Kenya

Considering the importance and status of the Amboseli ecosystem, which includes Tanzania, it feels a little forgotten. There are only a few NGO's here, with a relatively small number of scouts, with limited equipment, covering a huge area, and there are almost none over the border in Tanzania. But most significantly, there are almost no supervising NGO leaders actually living on the ground in Amboseli, with an ability to see, direct and and co-ordinate operations first-hand. There is also a lack of communication and co-ordination of information between the NGO's and Kenya Wildlife Service. It will make a tremendous difference if we bring together what resources do exist, take a leadership role on the ground in co-ordinating their efforts, establish a viable reporting system, and expand operations to
counter the present escalation in poaching.

So as a first action, Richard Bonham has been hired as full-time Director of Operations in Kenya. There is no-one better qualified to run the Foundation. As founder of the Amboseli Tsavo Game Scouts Association and Maasailand Preservation Trust, he has been dealing with these problems for years, but struggled with insufficient funding. Having lived in the Amboseli area for decades now, and knowing all of the key players, Richard has a better
understanding than anyone of how to start dealing with these problems. With his reputation, he instantly gives an authority in our aims to bring together all NGO's in the area. Richard is in frequent direct communication with the senior warden and rangers of KWS, with the other NGO's, with the local community leaders, co-ordinating all of them to galvanize and create better and more open communication, and thus more effectively synchronized actions. All the NGO's have the same shared goals and passion, and working in partnership is in everyones' benefit. Additionally, by having our own person and office in situ, he will be able to track donated funds, and see that they are targeted and accounted for much more efficiently.

2. Anti poaching teams in Tanzania

There is a huge area of unprotected hunting block on the other side of the border in Tanzania. This constitutes hundreds of thousands of acres. Stretching around Mt Kilimanjaro, it is a critical wildlife corridor. Right now, this is where most of the poachers come from, and if the animals venture over the border into Tanzania, this is where they're likely to get killed. Per Cynthia Moss of Amboseli Elephant Research, most of the beautiful big bull elephants have been killed here. With no equivalent of the Kenya Wildlife Service present to call in, we need a significant number of scouts, vehicles and equipment for this side.

Once again, communication and co-ordination is the key. We will be working in partnership with Damian Bell of Honeyguide Foundation, who has an outstanding relationship with the local communities and wildlife departments, perhaps more so than anyone else in Northern Tanzania.

With our team of scouts and rangers, similar to those on the Kenyan side, we would be well situated to combat poaching on both sides of the border. Working in tandem, the scouts and rangers in Kenya can radio those on the Tanzanian side, to track and pick up any poachers crossing back over into Tanzania.

3. Establish scouts/rangers in buffer zones around the Park in Kenya and Tanzania

More scouts and rangers patrolling all around the buffer zones around Amboseli. Since these rangers can call in KWS' armed Wildlife Protection Unit as soon as they see something suspicious, even their presence is a deterrent for poachers who think they otherwise will stand a very good chance of making it out with their bounty.

These scouts and rangers must be the best, most efficient, well-organized, well-equipped, and knowledgeable in the area, creating a sense of morale, purpose, and attracting the best candidates.

Our initial first year budget aims to establish five new ranger outposts of our own and accompanying vehicles and platoon commanders around the outlying areas of Amboseli National Park, three of which will be along the border with Tanzania. Each will be staffed by a team of well-trained rangers or game scouts and equipped with transport, radios and GPS kit.

Operating in teams of 2-3, each group would have a GPS so that they could send in the coordinates of poachers to increase the chances of their capture, and a simple camera to photograph evidence and poachers. We are hiring a full-time training Instructor, who will constantly move from team to team, on both Kenyan and Tanzanian sides, to try and ensure everyone across the region is operating to the same standard.

Additionally, we will contribute where necessary to help upgrade a number of underfunded NGO scouts and rangers operating in other areas, in terms of training, equipment and recruitment. The protection of the animals can only be as strong as the weakest link. The poachers will quickly find that weakest link and use it.

4. Support for the KWS Protection Unit

Buying more vehicles, equipment and camps for units of the armed rangers for the Kenya Wildlife Service's Wildlife Protection Unit. These are the only people in the entire Amboseli area who can be armed, so having a sufficiently strong presence there is essential.

Donors from Western countries are understandably skeptical and suspicious of how their money is used when the donations go to a third world government body. This has been addressed and solved in our discussions with KWS. We will be co-signatories on any checks they write for the money that we donate. That way, we know that every cent we give them is going to those vehicles, equipment and rangers for the armed Wildlife Protection Units funded by our initiative.

5. Amelioration of human-wildlife conflict around the Park

More and more of the land in and around the Amboseli ecosystem is being converted to farmland. As this happens, the animals are coming into more and more conflict with a growing population. Many more animals, elephants included, are being killed as a result. Because of this, we are also hoping to establish two mobile PAC (People-Animal Conflict) teams that exclusively monitor the areas that abut farmland, to prevent crop raiding that often results in the spearing of elephants.

6. Support for communities living on the edge of the Park

Working with the local communities is critical. It's the key to establishing more trust and thus vital exchange of information. More eyes means better protection. Educating local people about the importance of preserving their wildlife, how it works for them, is integral to our success. Again, having someone there on the ground co-ordinating and meeting, and a local office with an open door, will make so much difference.

7. Surveillance cameras

We are also looking at putting small, hidden surveillance cameras at points known or suspected to be poachers’ routes. Powered by solar, connected by cell service (which works everywhere in the region), that are triggered into action via movement sensors. This provides real time alerts, recording and broadcasting an alert to a monitoring station. This could be a vital supplement to any ranger force we train and instal in and around Amboseli.

There are currently about an estimated 1500 elephants left in the Amboseli ecosystem. Of those, there are still approximately 30 bulls left over the age of 35. These are the key breeding bulls, vital to the ongoing survival of one of the most extraordinary populations of elephants in Africa.Right now, at the current rate, we are losing a few of these bulls every month.If our efforts help keep those bulls alive, the elephant population of Amboseli can continue to survive,and hopefully thrive.

If you would like to receive more information on how to support the Big Life Foundation through Tusk please contact the UK Tusk office direct or download the Big Life Foundation donor forms here - Big Life Foundation Donor Forms

Elephant with Half-Ear, Amboseli, July 2010. Killed by Poachers August 2010

All photographs Copyright Nick Brandt 2010

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