Lion Guardians

Today is another day in the office, entering data from the Lion Guardians into the computer. The weather is good outside, but in the shade of the office it was cold and my feet were so freezing that I had to put on shoes, and put my computer on my lap to get some warmth. Amy has gone out with Seamus to track lions. I hope she will come back with some more photos of our local prides for you to see!

This month marks the beginning of cold weather here. But not nearly as cold as the weather I experienced in New York last year, when I went to attend a fundraising auction for the Lion Guardians and the Predator Compensation Fund. I couldn’t believe how cold it was then! Some parasites flourish in this type of weather; ticks especially are a nuisance right now, and will be the biggest problem to livestock and to us during field trips.

This photos show my desk in the office and to the right of my computer is a photo that was taken while I was in New York last year, of myself, Laurence and a friend of his at the auction. A perfect reminder of my trip.

Anyway that was my day; what about yours?

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Tags: Kenya, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, winter

The Chyulu Hills are probably one of the best places I have been in my life: cascading hills that are always green and beautiful, amazing views of the ground below, and clean air that is uncontaminated by pollution.

Different animals, such as giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, eland, gazelles, impala, elephant and oryx roam the vast beautiful plains between the Chyulus and two twin hills known in Maasai as Ilmoa. Ilmoa means twins in Maasai, and you can see why they were given this name.

The hills are made of volcanic lava flows and cinder cones, and the Chyulus are home to the longest lava tube in the world! Thick vegetation covers the lava flows and makes it a perfect hiding place for lions. It makes it very difficult for the Guardians to track collared lions around these areas!

We are having a problem with receiving comments on the site at the moment, please be patient, the site is still getting back on its feet after the migration!

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Tags: chyulu hills, Kenya, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

Firstly, I would like to apologise for not being able to post any blogs over the weekend. This was because Wildlife Direct was carrying out a website migration. However, as I’m sure you will have noticed, since I last posted we have changed our blog quite a lot! We have even added a new page all about the Lion Guardians. I hope you like it - we think it is very beautiful!

Now, I would like to tell you about lions! Lion Guardian Olubi recently reported the presence of lions in an area close to the border of Mbirikani and Olgulului group ranches, and yesterday Ernest and Seamus of the Kilimanjaro Lion Conservation Project went out to track them, taking Amy along with them to take photographs. Here is Ernest tracking for radio collared lions from the roof of the car.

They found one of our collared lions, Nempakaai, in a pride of 8 individuals of varying ages, in an area close to where Lion Guardian Olubi had seen them last, and not very far from the road! It is possible that they are on their way towards Amboseli National Park. Here is a photo of Nempakaai - you can just see her collar.

And here are some of the other members of her pride. They were in tall grass, so quite hard to see, and seem to have recently eaten a big meal!

I would like to thank Fiona and Richard for their donations over the last few weeks. We are extremely grateful for your support. If you have the time, please help Wildlife Direct by clicking on the image below and completing their survey.

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Tags: Kenya, kilimanjaro lion conservation project, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lion tracking, Maasai, masai

This week we were lucky enough to have a vet from the Mara, Asuka Takita, visiting our camp, as well as Living with Lions director Laurence Frank. Asuka had come to find out more about what we do here with the Lion Guardians, and the Living with Lions program. It was great to have her here, and one thing that I really liked about her was that she speaks Swahili like a Tanzanian, who are thought to be the real Swahili language speakers!

The first time she went out of camp for a drive with Laurence and Amy, it was not very successful! They had been gone for about an hour, when I got a text on the Lion Guardian phone saying: “please bring us a lot of water, we have broken down on the plains near the air strip”. It was getting late and we had no transport at camp except for my bike and Asuka’s car, but she had the keys! Here is a photo that Asuka took of Amy and Laurence inspecting the engine, which was making strange sounds and steaming!

I went out to look for them on my bike but could not locate them anywhere, and it was getting late. It is risky to ride a bike at night here because of the soil type, so I was running out of ideas! As it got later and later they started to worry that they would have to spend the night out there! They did however have this amazing view to keep them occupied while they waited!

Luckily I found someone at the nearby lodge who had a car and very kindly delivered them water. We were very glad that we were able to bring our guests safely back to camp.

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Yesterday I mentioned to you that I have been elected as the treasurer of a community youth group. The name of this group is Ewang’an Community Development Association (ECODA). The aim of the group is to address issues affecting the community, such as environmental issues like wildlife conservation, education, and the rights of members of this ranch.

Having elected the committee, the members of the group had an important initial task for us. They believe the group ranch resources are being mismanaged, and hence the local community is not getting their rightful share of the resources of their land. They want us to find out whether this is the case, and to report back to them about it. Here is a photo of our beautiful ranch with Kilimanjaro in the background.

One of the main reasons why local communities are killing carnivores and other wildlife is because the resources of the group are being mismanaged. I believe we have to start somewhere to bring transparency to this ranch, and my hope is that once we have done this there will be many fewer wildlife killings by members of the community, and it will be much easier for the Lion Guardians to continue to protect lions like this from being killed.

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I am now back in camp, after my time off from work with the Lion Guardians. Even on my days off I have been busy working with the community, as part of a youth association.

I never thought that my work in the community as part of the Lion Guardians program could really impress the youth to the extent that they would make me the treasurer of this youth association. But this is exactly what happened at the meeting. It caught me unawares; and as I got inside this room full of young people - both educated and un-educated, men and women, little did I know that they were all waiting for me declare which position I would prefer in this association.

After a long struggle deciding whether or not to accept this new responsibility, I eventually decided I had to go for it, since if I did not I would have let the community down, as a member of this youth group and as a murran. So, this is another responsibility that I will take on in the community. I will update you more on the group and the reasons behind its formation - it is really interesting.

Here are some of the photos I took of the meeting:

And here I am talking to the group at the meeting:

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Today I am travelling from the Laikipia Predator Project down to Nairobi, and then back to camp. I am happy to say that from my bed last night I was able to hear the amazing (although slightly scary!) sound of lions roaring. It is an incredible sound, which I have not yet experienced from camp in the Chyulu Hills, where the lions are much more elusive. Here is one of the collared lions, Nosero, roaring, for those of you not lucky enough to have heard this before in the wild.

I am not really looking forward to being in Nairobi, now that I am so used to the tranquillity of the bush, and also having just read the awful story of Iregi Mwenja who was robbed at gunpoint there yesterday after giving a talk to KWS.

I’m glad to say that very soon I will be back in camp, looking at views like this..

..and wildlife like this..

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Hello, Amy here. I am writing my first post while Antony is taking a well-earned few days off work. I have already been introduced by Antony, but I thought I would tell you a bit more about what I am doing here with the Lion Guardians, and why I think their work is so important.

I have been associated with the Living with Lions project for a while now, having made their website as part of my Masters project three years ago. Since then I have been updating the site and helping out the project in my spare time, while working as a producer.

Now I have swapped my London office, for a tent in the beautiful Chyulu Hills region of Southern Kenya, and am working as a volunteer for the Living with Lions project, which includes the Laikipia Predator Project, Kilimanjaro Lion Conservation Project, and of course the Lion Guardians. Although I am not getting a salary, there are a few major perks to the job - here I am with a male lion, which was darted by the Laikipia Predator Project last week for a collar change.

I think the Lion Guardians is a fantastic program. It is so great to see the Maasai warriors, who once used to spear lions, have now changed their attitudes towards carnivores, and have also helped to change those of their communities. It is extremely encouraging to see them bringing about real differences to the environment around them.

I am hoping to help the Guardians raise more much-needed funds through this blog. The project is always in need of donations, which among other things, go towards the costs of equipment, for example telemetry equipment so that the Guardians can track collared lions, and mobile phones, so that they can report their findings to us at camp. And of course we also need money to pay their wages! We are also desperately in need of a vehicle, as Antony’s bike is not a satisfactory form of transport, especially in the rainy season!

We know that everyone gives what they can. The problem is that we need to make more people aware of what we are doing, and the work that still needs to be done. Soon we will be starting a Sponsor a Lion Guardian campaign, and we hope that our loyal readers will help us by sending our blog address to anyone who might be sympathetic to the cause.

Thank you so much for all your donations. It is inspirational that so many people are interested in lion conservation and are willing to helping the Lion Guardians in their goal to conserve wild carnivores in Maasailand.

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We recently received some shocking news from Lion Guardians Olubi and Mokoi. On Thursday, they were informed that three children, aged 8, 6 and 5 years old had gone missing in the bush at Olngosua. They had been herding livestock when some of the animals that they were herding got lost.

They couldn’t find them anywhere, and were afraid to go home because they were worried they would be caned. Sometimes it is left to children as young as the one in the photo below to herd cattle on their own in the bush.

Lion Guardians Olubi and Mokoi tracked them through some dense bush, and eventually found them safely the next day. Their parents were very grateful to the Guardians, and of course extremely happy that their children had been found.

The parents slaughtered a sheep, as required by Maasai tradition: if someone spends a night out in the bush, a sheep must be slaughtered to cleanse them. We are all so glad that Olubi and Mokoi were able to find the children and bring them home safely.

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As you heard yesterday, we recently held the monthly Lion Guardians meeting. All the Lion Guardians attended the meeting, even Kapande, who has been very ill recently.

Looking at Kapande now, I just can’t believe that this is the person I knew two months ago. His fingers look longer than usual, his ears that used to be decorated with attractive beads, and the beautiful arms with coloured bracelets are now not the ones I used to know. Here is a photo of Kapande at the meeting.

I wish I had powers over nature - my first priority would be to eliminate sickness. But I am happy that my prayers for Kapande were answered – because although he now looks different to how he used to, emaciated and tired, it is surely just a matter of days before he will be back to his normal life again, helping his community to conserve the lions.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all donors and blog readers for supporting his medical bills, and for their prayers and encouragement during this hard period for him. Kapande also asked me to pass his heart felt gratitude to you for all your support.

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