Founded in September 2010 by photographer Nick Brandt in urgent response to the recent dramatic escalation in poaching across much of Africa, Big Life Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of Africa’s wildlife and ecosystems.

With one of the most spectacular elephant populations in Africa being rapidly diminished by poachers and increasing human/wildlife conflict, the Amboseli ecosystem that straddles Kenya and Tanzania is the Foundation's large-scale pilot project.

With highly-regarded conservationist Richard Bonham at the helm, multiple fully-equipped teams of rangers have been placed in newly-built outposts in the critical areas throughout the 2 million acre region on both sides of the Kenya / Tanzania border. As of August 2011, Big Life has hired 120+ rangers, built or expanded 14 outposts, and purchased 13 vehicles, with latest technology night-vision equipment, tracker dogs, aerial monitoring and a critically important large network of informers.

Within just one year of inception, this new level of co-ordinated protection has already elicited a dramatic reduction in poaching in the ecosystem. Big Life’s teams are now apprehending poachers almost every time they kill, with a number of significant arrests of some of the worst, most prolific long-term poachers in the region have at long last been engineered by Big Life's teams. As a result of these successes, Big Life has been able to quickly send out a strong message that killing wildlife now carries a far greater risk of being arrested.

Big Life Foundation has been able to achieve all this in such a short amount of time because its' leaders live and work on the ground in the project areas, where they are able to stay connected and engaged with the local communities, garnering the critical support necessary to maximize effective, efficient operations. It means that Big Life is always ready to react and respond immediately to ever-changing situations, but always with a view to the long-term sustainability of the projects.

And in the US, operating with minimal organizational bureaucracy and red tape, currently 93% of donor money is channeled into the field immediately to be put to effective use with surprisingly instant results.

However, the killing continues unabated in the areas where Big Life still has no presence. Whilst Big Life has made substantial progress, we have a long way to go to achieve our goal of stable and sustainable operations long term. As the illegal demand for ivory and other wildlife parts continues to grow, there will be many who cannot resist the easy profits to be made out of killing these irreplaceable creatures.

With your support, Big Life’s teams will continue to do everything they can to stop them.