Lion Guardians

Category: life in camp | Date: Oct 17 2007 | By: admin

Guess what this is.

Initially, we had just a plastic tank as is normal in many homes. After several problems with elephants however, we became wiser. They broke into the tank repeatedly and actually marked our camp as a watering point. They are so tall, they used to stand next to the tank and put their long trunks into the tank to draw water!

That is how we came up with the idea of erecting a stone wall (maybe we should patent it!) around the tank and digging a ditch around the tank. Elephants are capable of a lot of thing but alas, they can’t perform any significant jumps.

The trench plus the little solar charged electric fence stopped them on their tracks.

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Category: Uncategorized, life in camp | Date: Oct 16 2007 | By: admin

Recently, I have been running to and from

Nairobi

every week. The problem, search for a passport. You can’t believe what a hassle it is to get one on our side of the planet. After several such trips, I was sure that I was going to miss a fundraising trip that will take me to

New York

. Can you imagine my distress at missing my first opportunity to go abroad and see the world?!

Finally however, I received a message on my phone today! “Your passport No.: …. is ready. Pick it at any time…” I was so overwhelmed that I almost shed tears.

Anyway, at the camp, everything is calm. Except for an attack on our kitchen by the honey badger last night. He knocked everything over, drank the milk, and tried to open the tin food trunks. Here is a picture of one that he managed to move from where it was (next to the others).

and here is a picture of his track….

I met the guardians at their bomas and all are working hard at their respective zones. They love their work!

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Category: Donations received | Date: Oct 15 2007 | By: admin

Thanks for the $50 donation Kate!

In answer to your question, “do I get a tax receipt?”

The answer is yes, of course. widlifedirect is a registered 501 (c) 3 charity in the US and the guys in organisation tell me they can get the tax receipt to you in a week from the time that the donation clears.

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Category: life in camp | Date: Oct 14 2007 | By: admin

Sundays are usually busy days for me. I make my rounds today to reach all the Lion Guardians in their respective zones to collect their weekly report forms. This is the second time I am able to go on this round, thanks to the motorbike.

Although I will be out on a bike for most of today, I got a good send off. In the morning, Maria was busy with chapatis again.

Although it is usually hard work, I usually look forward to meeting these guys. See you tomorrow.

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Category: lion research fieldwork | Date: Oct 13 2007 | By: admin

Koikai, a Lion Guardian, joined the Seamus and Ernest for another trip to the Olepolos area in search of Sangale and his new bride. We were sure the pair would not move far from where they were the night before. After confirming this by radio tracking, they moved in. Sure enough, theylocated Sangale about 1km from where he was the previous night. What was surprising was that he was in the company of Nemasi a female usually resident in the plains near our camp.

In the hope that they will attract the other lioness to where the two were, they dropped the bait (the wildebeest meat) on a rope and crossed fingers. A short while later, Nemasi walked over next to the car and started inspecting the meat. She then sat down and nibbled lazily at the meat. Sangale just watched her but wanted no part in the meal.

Both looked already very full and soon Nemasi also lost interest. They lay on the open land and roared contentedly. A while later, the other female obviously bored from staying alone at the edge of the lava gave a roar. The roar sent both Sangale and Nemasi dashing into the woods to keep her company and the team were left all alone again.

Getting this lioness to be comfortable in our presence is definitely going to be a challenge. We hope we shall be able to do this before she leaves Sangale’s territory. That way, we can better track her activities.

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Category: Meet the lions, ways you can help | Date: Oct 13 2007 | By: admin

Here is a recording of Sangale roaring. We found an old tape-recorder and held it out the window of the car. Unfortunately we don’t have the equipment (or the MP3 ripping software) to do this properly yet… but you can download the wave file, play it and tell us what you think.

http://www.supload.com/sound_confirm.php?get=242555727.wav

On the subject of technical support: if you like our blogs and would like to see a whole lot more detail, these are the items which would greatly facilitate our blog postings:
1)a hand-held video camera (wouldn’t you like to see some of our guardians at work, and the lions they’re looking for?)
2)digital stills camera (we only have one at present and its working overtime)
3)digital voice recorder (it would be great to start recording verbal reports from the Lion Guardians themselves, and posting the files here… most of the guys can’t read or write but have lots to say)

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Category: Meet the Lion Guardians | Date: Oct 13 2007 | By: admin

This is Koikai. He is the Lion Guardian for the Olibili area.

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Category: Lion Guardians: how the program came to be and why. | Date: Oct 13 2007 | By: admin

Dear Blog-reader

A few people have requested more information on the Lion Guardians. Here is some material that will soon be published on our own website (www.lionconservation.org). Please follow the link and see the a description of all the work that the Living with Lions initiative carries out.

Lion Guardians

In collaboration with the local communities of Mbirikani ranch, the Living with Lions project, and the Maasailand Preservation Trust a program called “Lion Guardians” was initiated in October 2006. The impetus to create this project was in response to the slaughtering of over 130 lions in the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem since 2001. Retaliatory and traditional spearing by Maasai warriors (murrans) is the greatest threat to the survival of lions in Kenyan Maasailand today. The Lion Guardian’s program attempts to reduce the pressure on lions by employing their greatest enemy to conserve them rather than kill them. Since the onset of this project there have been no lions killed on Mbirikani ranch.

The Guardians have two major duties: 1) to monitor lions and other carnivore movements so to protect them 2) aid their communities in various ways. Specifically; informing herders to avoid high-conflict grazing areas (where carnivores are present), improving livestock kraals, helping herders find lost livestock that are left out in the bush (and subsequently killed by predators), educating communities about carnivore importance and conservation, and lastly, but most importantly, Lion Guardians work with other murrans in the community to prevent further lion killings (both tradition and retaliation killings). Since the inception of the project, guardians have actively prevented over five hunting parties from killing lions. During the same time period, over 15 lions have been killed in surrounding group ranches by murrans. Given that the guardians come from the communities in which they work, and are older murrans (many have also killed lions in the past) they are very well respected by all community members and can assuage a tense situation of angry warriors wanting revenge on their dead cow.

Currently there are nine guardians employed and managed by a Maasai coordinator under the direction of the Living with Lions initiative and the Kilimanjaro Lion Conservation Project. The guardians are working in seven communities on the ranch where lion-livestock conflict is highest. Each guardian has been trained to document lion and other carnivore presence using GPS units, and then record it on a simple form with pictures rather than words making it easier for illiterate guardians. Also, each guardian knows how to track collared lions using telemetry receivers. Each lion that has been collared since the start of the project has been given a Maasai name by the guardian/s that helped with the collaring. In addition, every employee has a cell phone which is used to report back any significant sightings of lions or threat to their community to base camp.

The Maasai in southern

Kenya

are still totally dependent on their great herds of cattle, sheep and goats, but due to modernization and massive socioeconomic change, they have lost their traditional tolerance and ability to cope with carnivores and conflict. Today they regard wild animals as an unmitigated nuisance rather than an economic resource or embodiment of Maasai culture. If lions are to persist in this ecosystem, it is essential to increase tolerance of local communities by getting them involved in conservation and by showing them that benefits can come from conserving wildlife.

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Category: lion research fieldwork | Date: Oct 12 2007 | By: admin

Yesterday night Seamus, Ernest and Lion Guardian Koikai spent most of their night in the bush in the company of Sangale and a lioness we suspect to be Birdie. She is collared but disappeared for some time. Even from close by, they could not pick up the signal from her collar. We suspect that its battery is dead. Unfortunately, Birdie is still shy and will not allow us to go close to her. So, that night they observed them from a distance till the wee hours of the morning then moved back to camp.

During a game drive, a group from the neighbouring camp came across a dead wildebeest in the plains about 6kms from the camp. The people at the camp are aware about our attempts at catching lions at the south for collaring. One of the challenges we sometimes face is a lack of meat to use as bait. We normally have to wait until an animal has been killed by a predator so we can have the remnants of the carcass. So, when these guys came across a wildebeest lying in the wild, they called the researchers.

Having received the report at around midday, we sped to the scene before vultures tore the carcass away. From a distance we could see tens of vultures arriving at the scene. On arrival however, we were surprised to find the carcass of a fat wildebeest lying largely untouched. The vultures sat in a crowd a few meters away as if to discuss how to share the spoils.

Happily we took off with the wildebeest.

So, tonight, Seamus and Ernest are going to spend another night in the bush trying to capture the female lion, Biridi that Sangale is guarding.

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Category: Meet the Lion Guardians | Date: Oct 11 2007 | By: admin

This is Ritei, lion guardian for the Centre and Lemasusu area. His job is difficult because his area probably has the most lions and is very bushy.

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