Big Life was co-founded by photographer Nick Brandt and award-winning conservationist Richard Bonham in September 2010.
Since its inception, Big Life has expanded to employ hundreds of Maasai rangers—with more than 40 permanent outposts and tent-based field units, 13 vehicles, tracker dogs, and aerial surveillance—protecting 2 million acres of wilderness in the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem of East Africa.
Big Life was the first organization in East Africa to establish coordinated cross-border anti-poaching operations.
THE MISSION:
On the ground in Africa, partnering with communities to protect nature for the benefit of all.
THE VISION:
Envisioning a world in which conservation supports the people and people support conservation.
WHAT BIG LIFE DOES:
Using innovative conservation strategies and collaborating closely with local communities, partner NGOs, national parks, and government agencies, Big Life seeks to protect and sustain East Africa’s wildlife and wild lands, including one of the greatest populations of elephants left in East Africa.
The first organization in East Africa with coordinated anti-poaching teams operating on both sides of the Kenya-Tanzania border, Big Life recognizes that sustainable conservation can only be achieved through a community-based collaborative approach. This approach is at the heart of Big Life’s philosophy that conservation supports the people and people support conservation.