Lion Guardians

Category: life in camp | Date: Jan 07 2009 | By: lionguardians

For the next two weeks I will be busy with a Swiss television crew who are out here in Kenya to make a documentary about Living with Lions (our umbrella organization) and the Lion Guardians program. They are with us at the moment to find out what we do, and try to see some interesting things.

So far they have been out tracking with the Guardians, and they also went to film the elephant that was speared. When they come back I hope they will bring good news of the elephant. We heard that a vet from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust has been sent to help, so we are all hoping for good news.

For those fans of the Lion Guardians in Europe I will let you know when the documentary will be aired on TV.

Tags: elephant, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, speared

One response so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jan 05 2009 | By: lionguardians

Yesterday we heard the news that an elephant had been speared four times near the edge of our ranch. We also heard that the scouts that had found the elephant had lost it in the bush, and the pressure was on to find it again. A plane was sent to search for the injured elephant so that it could be treated by Kenya Wildlife Service. Luckily the elephant was found, and we all hope that KWS will be able to treat it, and it will survive its injuries.

We don’t know the circumstances that surround the spearing but water is still in short supply here, so it is possible that the elephant was causing trouble with the communities while in search of water.

I will update you with more news about this when I receive it.

Tags: elephant, injured elephant, Kenya, kws, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, speared elephant

2 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Jan 02 2009 | By: lionguardians

On the 31^st December it was time for our end of month meeting. This meeting was special because it also marked the end of the year. All the Guardians came to camp and told us their news from the last month, and from the whole year. Everyone was happy and the news went well, except that all the Guardians and the whole community are worried that if it does not rain again soon, then all the livestock will die. We did have some rain in November and a little in December, but it has not been enough, and the land is starting to dry up again.

To celebrate New Year’s Eve we bought a sheep and a goat for the Guardians to feast on, and had a party until we saw the 1st January. There was singing and dancing, and everyone had a great party. At the moment we have a Swiss television crew here who are making a documentary about Living with Lions and the Lion Guardians program. I will tell you more about these people in my next post. Here are the Guardians being filmed during the meeting.

I would like to say thank you to everyone for your support and for being with us until the end of 2008. I hope 2009 will be a great year for you and for the Lion Guardians. Happy New Year! Here are some of the Guardians preparing the meat to be roasted for the New Year’s Eve feast.

I would also like to say welcome to those of you who have not visited our blog before, especially those of you who saw the piece about us on Canadian TV. Hello, and welcome to the blog! Thank you very much for your interest and donations to our project.

Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Maasai, masai, meeting, new year

One response so far

Category: Community work | Date: Dec 29 2008 | By: lionguardians

As many people all over the world do at this time of year, I took some time this festive season to go and see my family and friends back home. It was great being with my loved ones. My mum bought a goat, and we invited all our friends for a big feast. I was able to leave all my thoughts of work behind me, and just dine and drink with my friends and family.

This is also the time when lots of students and young murrans meet to discuss issues affecting the community. Despite being off duty, I attended two of these meetings. One was about the possibility of creating a local conservation area, which would be great for our wildlife and would also create more job opportunities for young people. Here is one of the meetings in action!

The second meeting was more for the young elite murrans to discuss the different positions and jobs they hold, and the impacts they have had since they got employed. Two of our Lion Guardians were present at this meeting and I am pleased to say that the invited elders were all very happy with the Lion Guardians program for giving uneducated warriors a chance in life, so they have another option apart from killing lions.

Now, I am back in office preparing for the Lion Guardians end of month, and end of year meeting. I hope you all had a great time during your holidays and are looking forward to the new year!

Tags: christmas, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, meeting, murran, youth

4 responses so far

Category: Donations received | Date: Dec 27 2008 | By: lionguardians

I hope you had a great Christmas. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who donated to us in December. I know it is a difficult time of year to donate as there are so many other things to spend money on, so thank you to all of you who helped the Lion Guardians this month with your donations:

Black C, Loki Q, Anna M, Kevin C, Jaime E, Andrew P, Marianne W, Jessica F, Adrienne H, Pirjo I, Julie H, Mary B, Hashi H, Roseanne T, Pirjo I, Brenton H and Jia L. To those of you who bought Christmas certificates - I hope your gifts were well received. If you have any photos of your friends or family with their certificates I’d love to see them!

Thank you for helping save these beautiful animals, and helping the people that live with them.

I also wanted to let you know that wildlife vet and author Jerry Haigh has written about our success over the year in his blog. Have a read!

Tags: blog, christmas gift, donate, donor, jerry haigh, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

One response so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Dec 23 2008 | By: lionguardians

The Lion Guardians program has had an extremely successful second year. The Guardians have been kept busy all year round, monitoring the carnivores on the ranch, especially our collared lions, as well as helping their communities in many different ways to reduce conflict with wildlife.

We have experienced some difficult times over the year, particularly with the lack of water and the many problems associated with that, but we are proud to say that due to the commitment and efforts of the local Maasai communities, the Maasailand Preservation Trust, and the Lion Guardians program there have been no lions speared on our ranch, Mbirikani for the past two years.

You can read our annual report here.

Thank you!

Tags: 2008, annual report, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

No responses yet

Category: ways you can help | Date: Dec 22 2008 | By: lionguardians

Great news! There is still time to buy a Lion Guardians Christmas gift certificate! If you would like to be emailed a certificate, please make your donation, and be sure to remember to add a comment, and we will send you one in time for Christmas.

Tags: 2008, christmas, gift, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

4 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 19 2008 | By: lionguardians

On our last night at Eselenkei conservancy we went on a search for lions before heading back to Mbirikani Group Ranch. We had been told various times by the guys at the camp that lions could be seen easily, even though none of them have collars. We started our search at around 9.30pm and the first animal we saw was a genet. It was a bit shy so we could only see the long round tip of its tail and the elongated snout. I have posted a picture of a friendly genet that comes and sits in our office so you can see what they look like. (This one likes eating biscuits)!

After just a few metres we saw a serval cat. She was in the process of hunting and due to the long grass we could not see the prey. We proceeded along to find our lion. Wilson Kasaine who was the spotter guide saw some movement and we stopped. Just 200 meters ahead was a female lion. In the distance we could see some wildebeest and zebras running away. Within a second she disappeared. The guys knew their way around the place well, so we drove around the thick bush. After about 10 minutes we saw her lying down, trying to master the movement of her prey.

One of the guides happened to know a little bit about this lioness, who they think has some cubs of her own. She is the only survivor from her litter - her three siblings were killed three years ago on Eselenkei, and her mother has only been seen once after the killing of the other cubs.

The thing that surprised me the most was that this lioness is not scared of cars. She came right up close to the car, something lions on Mbirikani will never do. They are so shy that we are never able to get close to them.

Just a reminder - if you want us to send you a gift certificate, you must request one in a comment on the blog as well as giving the donation. A big thank you to everyone who has bought a certificate so far. There is still time, if you want a gift certificate!

Tags: cubs, eselenkei, genet, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, mbirikani, porini

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Category: ways you can help | Date: Dec 18 2008 | By: lionguardians

Stuck for a gift for your friend? No time to go to the shops? Well the Lion Guardians can help! Just make a donation to us, add a comment and we will send you a certificate. You print it out and give it to your friend to show them how they have helped the cause with their gift. Who needs another pair of socks or a toy they’ll never use?

You will be helping our work saving wild lions, and we will be helping you with the shopping! Perfect! Happy Holidays!

Tags: christmas gift, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

5 responses so far

Category: life in camp | Date: Dec 17 2008 | By: lionguardians

We are in the process of establishing a new camp on Eselenkei group ranch, where we are going to start the Lion Guardians program. I have just been to visit Eselenkei, to see the place that we will be locating our camp, and we were very lucky to be able to stay at nearby Porini. Porini is a tented camp for tourists located north of Amboseli National Park. It is one of those amazing natural places that you would want to visit on vacation. It is located in a protected area of bush full of wildlife. Birds like the White bellied Go Away bird entertain you as you have your breakfast, and the views are beautiful.

We were treated like VIPs by the staff at Porini. I will never forget the hospitality of the guys I met, and I wish that I could have met them earlier. If I had, my life would have been more fun filled! I am very much looking forward to expanding the Lion Guardians to this new area.

Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me, but to see some photos of this beautiful place you can go to the Porini camp website.

Tags: Amboseli, camp, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Maasai, masai, porini

One response so far