Lion Guardians

The following donations have been received for the Lion Guardians:

One new camera and an “old” camera (I put “old” in quotes because to others it may seem older, but to me and the Lion Guardians, all the items are brand new) from Lisa

Two phones from Sharon

One new phone and five other phones from Mary

One new phone from Bob

The new camera which I have started using is just perfect. I can’t find the right words to express my excitement about the camera. It has clear images, portable size….. and all the other perfect words to express a wonderful new camera. Thanks so much, Lisa! The second camera will go to the Guardians. They will rotate it on a weekly basis which means a different Guardian will have it every week. This way each and every Guardian will get a chance to use the camera and take pictures of what they see during their work and in their daily lives. I will keep the new camera for times when I visit the Guardians, attend meetings, see the lions, or even just when Maria cooks something delicious here at camp, I can take a picture and share it with all of you.

Each Guardian is going to get one of the new phones since all of their phones are broken or not functioning correctly. I have not yet announced the good news to the Guardians. I will tell them at our end of the month meeting. They are going to be really excited!

Thanks so much, all of you, for the items you donated; it means a lot to us and helps us continue to do our work to save the lions of Maasailand.

Share This

Hi Everyone,

I have been quiet in the past days because of a research meeting about lions and hyenas which I have been attending in Nairobi. I am still traveling, but I will tell you all about it when I get back to our camp in Mbirikani.

A lot of people have been inquiring about the man who poisoned the cow carcass which killed Sangale and Birdie. We did receive the good news that he was arrested and is awaiting trial. If we hear any more we will pass it on.

Thanks for your comments and concern. I’ll answer more once I am able to!

Share This

I received a report yesterday that a pride of ten lions attempted to break into a boma on the west side of the group ranch in the Mbirikani town area. I took my motorbike and went to investigate if any of these lions happened to be one of our collared lions. The area had received rains the day before so the soil had consolidated and the lion’s tracks were not very visible. But the people of Mbirikani area are seeing a lot of lions recently. A resident of west Mbirikani reported coming across eight lions feeding on a wildebeest carcass close the road which heads into Amboseli National Park. Such news is sweet music to the Guardian’s ears. When I met Mokoi (Guardian from Orngosua area near to Mbirikani town), he was very excited. Olubi (Guardian from Kalesirua area, south of Mbirikani town) wanted to go tracking as well but my motorbike is small; it can’t fit three people. Olubi was still happy, even though he couldn’t go tracking with Mokoi and me. He left us waving and smiling, but commenting that I should buy a bigger bike or a small car.

Mokoi and I did not pick up any signal and we were sure that these are a pride of new lions in the area. Last year at this same time, our collared female Birdie with her cubs were in this area. I talked to one local of Mbirikani and he told me that this is the time of the year they used to go for lion hunts (Olamayio).

Here is Mokoi tracking for collared lions

Share This

The Maasai tribe is composed of three major clans: Ilaitayiok, Ilaiser and Ilmolelian. These three clans got their names from the sons of the first elder who was married to three wives. Ilmolelians is comprised of five subclans: Iltaatasero, Ilmoingo, Ilpakeneti, Iloigerr and Ilmakesen. Among Ilaitayiok there are: Ilmarmash, Ilaitayiok, Ilmiraani and Ilmoshono. Ilaiserr is made up of Iloodokishu, Ilpartimaro, Ingidon’gi and Isekerr. Some subclans have some special beliefs and activities that are associated with them up to present day. Other subclans names are just for identifications, they don’t have any particular meanings, beliefs, or activities associated with them.

Ingidong’i got their name for being famous bee-keepers and the best honey harvesters. They are even believed to harvest honey while nude. Ingidong’i were also renown prophets and fortune tellers. They were used to prefigure the future and what calamity is coming on the land.

Iltaatasero subclan, where our chef (Maria) comes from, have strong beliefs over nature, e.g. when you get stung by a scorpion like myself yesterday, they are able to contain the pain and heal you. Further more when livestock get lost, they can perform an operation that livestock will not be attacked by carnivores for days while in the bush until the owner can find them. Their name “Iltaatasero”, comes from a type of poisonous snake. If the snake bites any member of this subclan, there will be no effect on them.

And please don’t ask me why all the names start with an I.

Mt. Kilimanjaro, photo taken at sunrise from the plains below our camp

Share This

Last night, I was working on my computer and all of a sudden, I felt a sharp painful sting. I jumped from my seat and started looking around. Coiling under my seat was a scorpion. I took my open shoe and started hitting it from anger mixed with pain. Slowly, the poison moved up my blood stream making every part that it came across numb.

Fortunately, Maria, our cook was around. Her Maasai sub-clan has “precious” saliva that heals scorpion stings. I yelled out for her to come to my rescue. She came running, thinking I had been attacked by an elephant. When she realized I had been stung by a scorpion and wasn’t on the verge of death, she laughed at the way I had been yelling for her. After a good laugh, she felt pity for my pain and she spit on my foot close to the ankle where the scorpion had bit me. Within twenty minutes the pain went down. She saved me the agony of having to suffer pain the whole night before the poison could dissolve into my blood.

Thanks, Maria, you saved me a lot of agony.

The Maasai tribe is broken into clans and sub-clans, each having their own special characters which I will tell you more about tomorrow.

Today, I have several important thank you’s to say. These are even as important as thanking Maria for spitting on me!

The most sincere thanks to Theresa who once again showed us her unshakeable support as well as big thanks to Ivan and Peter P. and Emily. We couldn’t do this without you all!

Here is a picture of a sunrise from the plains twisted with clouds and mist

Share This

Yesterday when I went out to collect the weekly forms, I gave Koikai a newly donated phone. He was full of excitement. Soon after Koikai received the phone we realized there was one problem. Koikai doesn’t understand the language and the set of the phone; it took me more than four hours trying to explain how to use the phone and what each menu means. Some alternative I gave was that he can exchange it to a Guardian who knows how to use that type of phone. Koikai is not the only one with that type of problem; even Lenkiloriti Guardian, Kapande, has the same problem. Most of the Guardians can’t read; they’ve learned the basic English. Enough to write their names, use a GPS and fill out two basic forms which are written in Swahili. They’ve all memorized their phones, especially the name list so they call the right person. The Guardians are very excited to have new working phones, it is just going to take some time for them to adjust to the new technology.

Even with the difficulties, Koikai was so overwhelmed with happiness at having a new phone that he took his little Sangale to have a photo of him with the new phone. But for some bad luck I don’t have a functioning camera yet. Hopefully this week I will be receiving a new one which was donated through the blog. Thanks again to our readers for the helpful donations!

Here I am working with Kapande on his reading and writing in Lenkiloriti

Share This

Today, as I was doing my rounds visiting the Guardians and collecting their weekly forms, Koikai (the Lion Guardian from Olbili) told me very exciting news. A few weeks ago, as you may know, Koikai and his wife had a new son. This was during the time after Sangale and Birdie were poisoned. Koikai especially felt the pain of the loss of these two lions as they spent a lot of their time in his area.

Koikai told me that in honor of his favorite lion, he has named his newborn son Sangale!

We are very proud to have another Sangale as part of the Lion Guardian program. Unfortunately I did not have a camera to take a picture of the new Sangale. Hopefully I will get a picture of him next week when I visit Olbili.

This is a picture of Koikai, his wife, and their firstborn daughter. This picture was taken one year ago.

Share This

If you happen to visit camp one of these days; you will think there is no single soul living there. Maria and Ernest have gone home for their off duty days, leaving Justus and myself in camp.

This is Justus Supeet, our camp manager.

With rains in place birds sing sweet melodies making the environment even quieter. The distraption of crested Francolin sometimes scares us and at times signal the intrusion of Elephant that are around camp right now. The ripening of Amarula tree fruits attracts them. They seems not bothered by our noises as we try to chase them away. Possibly having a fruit that makes the most tasty drink, Amarula.

Share This

Am so much pleased that even at difficult times like the ones I had been through, there is somone out there who is concerned as much as my family. They pressured me to resign after I narrated the story thinking I will be tempted to go to the city again. But I had a simple answer: I am a young man who is fortunate to have been to school to some level. This leaves me with a lot of obligations to society and my environment.

Lion Guardians is a unique program to me in that it is growing from one level to another. With the facts that these are young murrans who had never been given a chance to be in school. I am ready to help them achieve their desires in life. Some of them already know how to read and write and others are able to use equipment they never saw before. The consequences of our work on lions in our Group Ranch are also remarkable. With these in mind, I am determined to help them.

Thanks a million times our readers for the support you are providing us with; advice, equipment and finances to run the program. We at the Lion Guardian desk will try to keep you updated on our daily running.

Share This

Success story of the Lion Guardians

Lion Guardians interact with many different people from other areas during their daily tasks. This mostly happens when Mbirikani has an influx of nomads due to the short rains which other ranches didn’t received. These people bring with them different traits specifically murrans (warriors) whose areas still continue killing lions. These murrans are never given a chance of education. The Lion Guardians encounter hard times trying to explain to them the story behind their change of minds to conserve the king of beasts rather than killing.

Warriors have had a history of knowing each from the different lion killing they have participated in. They use these criteria when moving to other places so that they can compete or even outdo their host murrans. This was the case that happened to Lenkiloriti and Emukutan Guardians. Some people may ask why Lenkiloriti and Emukutan got the visitors and not other areas on Mbirikani ranch? There are two main reasons: Lenkiloriti and Emukutan have good pastures and are not as far from water points as other places, like Oldoinyo Wuas whose livestock travel to Kikarangot River which is 20 kilometres south of our camp. Lenkiloriti and Emukutan are not infested with Tsetse flies like along the Chyulu Hills

Above is a photo of the Lenkiloriti area

Back to the Guardians story: Kapande (Guardian from Lenkiloriti) and Masarie (Guardian from Emukutan) went to a night dance invited by their new murran friends who have migrated over from neighboring group ranches. The purpose for this dance was actually to find out if Kapande and Masarie would take the new murrans out to hunt for lions. Kapande is well known as he killed more than two lion before he became a Lion Guardian.

Both Lion Guardians explained the benefits their communities are getting as a result of conservation and their changed ways. This was quite a surprise to visiting murrans since their expectation was to be shown where lions were. This made them wonder what is so special that inspired murrans not to go ahead with Olamayio (lion hunting parties). The Guardians told the newcomers about the Lion Guardian program and how nowadays warriors on Mbirikani benefit from protecting the lions, not killing them.

Here is Kapande watching livestock in his home area, Lenkiloriti

Share This