About Big Life Foundation

Born and raised in England, Brandt studied Painting, and then Film in London. He moved to America in 1992 and directed many award-winning music videos for artists like Michael Jackson (Earth Song, Stranger in Moscow, Cry), Jewel and Moby.

It was while directing Earth Song, a music video for Michael Jackson, in Tanzania in 1995, that Nick fell in love with the animals and land of East Africa. Over the next few years, frustrated that he could not capture on film his feelings about animals, he began to realize that there was a way to achieve this through photography.

In 2000, Nick embarked upon his ambitious photographic project : a trilogy of books to memorialize the vanishing natural grandeur of East Africa. The first two parts of the trilogy have been published in On This Earth (2005), A Shadow Falls (2009), and On This Earth, A Shadow Falls (2010, combining the best photos from the first two books).

Since 2004, Nick has had mutiple solo exhibitions worldwide, including in New York, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Sydney, Munich, Brussels, and Paris.

Nick photographs on medium format black and white film without telephoto or zoom lenses. His work is a combination of wide-screen panoramas of animals within vast landscapes, and graphic portraits more akin to studio portraiture of human subjects from the early 20th Century, as if these animals were from a bygone era.

In one of his books, Nick explains :
"I'm not interested in creating work that is simply documentary or filled with action and drama, which has been the norm in the photography of animals in the wild. What I am interested in is showing the animals simply in the state of Being. In the state of Being before they are no longer are. Before, in the wild at least, they cease to exist. This world is under terrible threat, all of it caused by us. To me, every creature, human or nonhuman, has an equal right to live, and this feeling, this belief that every animal and I are equal, affects me every time I frame an animal in my camera. The photos are my elegy to these beautiful creatures, to this wrenchingly beautiful world that is steadily, tragically vanishing before our eyes."

In 2010, Nick started work on the photos for the final part of the trilogy. In this book, Nick plans to show an unavoidably sad, darker vision amidst the beauty. He had no idea at the beginning of the year that the tragic sights he would see unfolding in Amboseli and elsewhere across East Africa would compel him to decide, in August of 2010, to start Big Life Foundation. It is his fervent hope is that the work of the Foundation can help slow down and ultimately halt the further destruction of the natural world he loves.

Nick divides his time between his home in the mountains of Southern California, and East Africa.

Nick can be reached at nick@biglifeafrica.org

Richard is the son of an early well known Kenyan Game Warden, Jack Bonham. This meant he had an early and vivid introduction to Wildlife, the bush and conservation. After a spell of bush flying in the Sudan, Zaire and East Africa Richard went into the safari business, concentrating in walking safaris in the remoter and wilder parts of East Africa.

In the mid-80's, Richard negotiated a 300,000 acre concession on a Maasai-owned ranch, Mbirikani Group Ranch, where he still currently lives. This ranch forms an integral part of the Amboseli ecosystem. It became clear to Richard from the outset that the only way that the Wildlife and the habitat of the area could be sustained was to partner and involve the local community themselves, through economic incentive-based conservation enterprises, employment and participating in law enforcement themselves.

Richard pioneered the Community Game Scout concept in the late 80's by employing four local Maasai warriors to collect snares which were appearing in growing quantities, 20 years later this the project has expanded to employing and training over 100 game scouts from the local community and operating over most of the ecosystem. In 2009 alone, working closely with Kenya Wildlife Service, these dedicated scouts prosecuted over 500 poachers and illegal loggers. (This number could and should be doubled with better resources and logistical support. These scouts also double as general security for the area, protecting farms from crop raiding wildlife, following up stock theft and crime so providing an appreciated service to the community.)

Richard's conservation history is not limited to the law enforcement approach, The Maaasailand Preservation Trust which he started has played an integral part in setting up health clinics, schools and a Wildlife scholarship program that has put hundreds of students through school.

The Maasailand Preservation Trust also pioneered the a Predator Compensation project that now covers over 700.000 acres of the ecosystem, This economic incentive based approach is attempting to turn the tide of looming local extinction of predators. These predators, especially lion, are being killed in retaliation for their killing of livestock, on which the local community depend upon for their livelihood.

Rhino have also figured in Richard’s conservation history. In the mid 90's he was a key player in setting up the Selous Rhino Trust, and at home in the Chyulus, his scouts, together with KWS, are working around the clock to preserve what is probably the last unmanaged Black Rhino populations in Africa.

Richard can be reached at richard@biglifeafrica.org

Damian formed a safari company in Tanzania over 20 years ago called Sokwe. It became a leading ecotourism company that with others pioneered partnership tourism agreements with local communities to enable these communities to benefit from tourism, value wildlife and look after these resources.

With this experience, Damian realized that the future of the ecosystems requires a harmonious balance with human livelihoods and conservation of natural resources, and that tourism could play a big role. He established the Honeyguide Foundation that exists to create mutually-beneficial partnerships among Tanzanian communities and tourism, in order to conserve wildlife and natural habitat by using a holistic approach to business enterprise. Honeyguide believes in the continued co-existence among local communities and wildlife though the utilization of innovative approaches to conservation using social business and conservation initiatives, thereby creating an economic environment favorable to wildlife conservation and economic development.

Current projects include one in the western Serengeti, where a densely populated community living alongside the Park that depend largely on bush meat. Honeyguide has developed a project that enables these communities to make an income by growing and selling food for the tourism camps in the park through the establishment of a community business center. Another current project is in the eastern Serengeti ecosystem, where Honeyguide has developed Tourism Management Plans for the Maasai communities that live in Loliondo and Lake Natron using a holistic approach. With a broader focus, the Foundation in partnership with others is creating an association that will provide guidelines and accreditation for responsible tourism businesses in Tanzania.

Positioned just south of Amboseli is Longido where due to the proximity to Arusha and the Kenya border, the poaching has become extensive. The game scouts that are in place are underfunded and have insufficient coordination strategies with all the other scout patrols and with the teams in Kenya. Honeyguide in partnership with BIG LIFE will support the Maasai communities’ game scouts and the various organizations and administrations involved in conservation the same objectives. The Honeyguide Foundation will develop a unifying structure of collaboration and effective community conservation and improve the communication, coordination, resources and training of these game scout teams.

Damian lives in Arusha with his wife and two children, and can be reached at Damian@biglifeafrica.org

Ole Kirimbai is a Maasai and was born in Tanzania on the slopes of Mt. Meru. He grew up as a child looking after his father’s cattle in and around the forests that is now occupied the sprawling town of Arusha. This fostered a child that has an affinity with nature and for the rest of his career until today; Kirimbai has been a conservationist and worked with nature in some way or another.
He went to Mweka Wildlife College, graduating in 1973, then immediately set of on his life as a conservationist. He joined the Tanzania Wildlife Department and was seconded to the Anti-poaching Unit, Northern Zone. After 12 years as an anti-poaching officer, Kirimbai became a camp manager and during those times hosted a number of prominent people including the Ex US President Jimmy Carter and Prince Charles. In 1992 he joined Sokwe, a high-end safari company and became a professional safari guide. He became known as one of the best professional guides in Tanzania. However a passion is a passion, and his memories of his anti-poaching days constituted the majority of his campfire tales.
In 2007 the Honeyguide Foundation was formed and Kirimbai offered to join. He is now the Chairman of the Foundation. When BIG LIFE contacted Honeyguide and asked if we would partner with them on the protection of wildlife in the Amboseli Kilimanjaro Ecosystem, Kirimbai’s dreams returned. He is now in charge of overseeing all operations of the BIG LIFE protection project, and with his background and contacts from all his years, is a respected and trusted leader.

Llewellyn Dyer is fourth generation Kenyan, born and brought up on Borana Ranch, Laikipia. From an early age he was out in the bush exploring. Llewellyn got to know the wilderness on foot and on horseback, spending time with several members of Borana’s security team as well as on the neighbouring Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. He used to visit the Chyulu Hills on a fairly regular basis while growing up and first worked for Richard during a summer holiday at the age of 16, tracking rhino.
Having been educated in Kenya and England – he graduated from Newcastle University with a degree in Agricultural Science and also learnt to fly. He is now excited to have the opportunity to work directly with the Maasai people to try and save the wilderness he loves.

John grew up in a small village adjacent to the Serengeti National Park. He only got the chance to go primary school and when he left school at 16, he had to find a life for himself. John got a job as a driver for an anti-poaching team in his home area. This experience sparked a passion in John to protect wildlife and the nature. He worked his way up from driver to anti-poaching scout then a community development officer in southern Serengeti, and also in western Tanzania, where poaching was particularly dangerous due to many of the poachers being armed with AK47's, and the masses of refugees from Rwanda creating a demand for bush meat. In 2005, John was sponsored to go to Pasiansi Wildlife Management College, where he became a qualified anti-poaching officer. After that, he returned to Serengeti as a field officer again and back into wildlife protection.

John has the key attributes to being a platoon leader - extremely dedicated to his role, a caring and considerate leader, and a passion for protecting wildlife.

Born and raised in New York City, Meredith fell in love with Africa from an early age. After completing her studies in Political Science at Columbia University, she left the States to travel across Tanzania and Kenya. It was there that Meredith met some of the world’s leading conservationists, scientists and filmmakers, and began a lifelong commitment to preserving Africa’s most threatened species while helping to form strategies for education and community development.

Returning to New York in 1990, Meredith began writing a monthly What Ever Happened To... column for The Manhattan Spirit, before joining Time, Inc. Following her marriage one year later, she moved to South Africa where she reported on finance and the environment for Business Day. Over the next fourteen years, she lived and worked between London and Johannesburg, continuing to freelance. Her work has appeared in the Financial Times, the Sunday Telegraph Magazine, The Lady, US, Mexico and Russia VOGUE and Signature.

Having lived and worked in Africa as a journalist, Meredith has extensive and broad knowledge of the continent, from history and politics to agriculture and mining, wildlife and conservation. During her years in South Africa, she was involved with various organisations that focused on community development and wildlife management. Among her initiatives was a successful re-introduction of zebra into Liwonde National Park in Malawi, a project that involved the translocation of various sub species up the continent from northern South Africa. Meredith has worked in both documentary as well as feature film production, writing and co-producing a pilot for Discovery as well as her role as African consultant on Blood Diamond. She has been a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London since 2003.

Her conservation experience brought Meredith to Tusk Trust in 1999, where she has participated in many areas of the charity ever since, including the Appeals Committee in London. Since 2005, she has served as a Trustee of Tusk USA and has more recently been asked to help shape Tusk’s strategy for its educational curriculum, PACE, with US donors as well as initiate a pilot program of the curriculum into New York Charter schools. As of 2011, she is Executive Director for Tusk Trust, USA.

Meredith continues to write freelance and is currently working on her first book. She lives in New York with her twin sons, and can be reached at Meredith@biglifeafrica.org

Wendie is general counsel for three companies in Washington State. She is a former board member of PAWS and the former Vice-President & Director of Fundraising for US Friends of The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. After graduating from law school, Wendie received her LL.M in taxation and routinely advises nonprofits. She resides in Seattle, Washington, and can be reached at Wendie@biglifeafrica.org

Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Cameron started off working with technology at an early age by playing around with computer systems and networks, and soon after begun building and configuring custom computer systems. He turned this into a profession and career by fixing and building systems and networks for local businesses, which he continued during his education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he earned his Bachelors Degree concentrating in Political Science, Legal Studies, and International Relations. Maintaining his interest in technology throughout his University career, he integrated his experience with technology into his studies, culminating with his thesis on cybercime and signals intelligence. He took his experience to co-found numerous web and tech startups, and does commercial web development as a primary occupation.

In addition to being Big Life's website designer, developer, and webmaster, Cameron is in charge of researching, developing, and implementing technological methods to combat poachers, and handles equipment purchases and acquisitions to facilitate this end.

Cameron currently resides in Boulder, Colorado, and can be reached at Cameron@biglifeafrica.org