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Lone mover in the night

Category: Community work, lion research fieldwork | Date: Feb 03 2008 | By: admin

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your comments; it is very nice to know there are lots of people out in the world sending support and well wishes to our beloved country. It is a tough time for Kenya.

I am very happy to report that I have safely returned to Mbirikani. We are still having computer issues, but are hoping we can sort them out shortly.

Lone mover in the night

It was around 9:30pm and we thought of going for a night drive to track some lions that might be near to our camp and the Ilmao hills (two identical hills located to the West of our camp, about ten kilometers away). Below is a picture of Ilmao hills.

Ilmau.JPG

The stealth of the night and a clear bright moon made our night exclusively beautiful. The only creatures on the move were Spotted Eagle-Owls and some night jars. These nocturnal feeders lay patiently on the dusty roads, waiting for prey to come along. It was after driving for about thirty minutes around the Ilmao hills that we spotted some shy yellow eyes on a tree; we thought “maybe it’s a leopard”. To our surprise, it was a bush baby, a small mammal that hops around on branches and looks like a squirrel, but is actually a very small primate with huge eyes.

After driving for about fifteen minutes, we saw a dark figure walking. Our first thinking was probably a wildebeest. We shone light in its direction, to our surprise it was a bull cow. We had to take care of the bull before carnivores, that are well known to reside on Ilmao hills, made the bull their late night snack. Using the car, we ‘herded’ the bull around the hills and back to the temporary boma where he belonged.

The smile on the face of the owner was as bright as the moon. We had brought back his precious cow that cost him over 30,000 shillings. The last thing he wanted was to have the bull killed by hyenas or lions. He was very willing to allow to us take photos of his boma and cows. As for our trip back to camp, we saw only an Aardwolf and got a faint signal from Lentim’s collar, far away in the hills. Perhaps our sole purpose of the trip was to save the life of the bull.

LostBull.JPG
Here is the saved bull safely back at his boma, you can see the other cows looking out over the boma wall.

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8 Responses to “Lone mover in the night”

Wanda, Atlanta, GA, on 03 Feb 2008

I am glad he was saved — it was meant to be!

Pam/Shell Beach, CA, on 03 Feb 2008

It is good to be able to help people. Maybe saving this bull saved a predator from becoming a target of an upset bull owner! The Ilmao hills are quite interesting and beautiful.

THERESA SISKIND, on 03 Feb 2008

Well Antony, good work saving that bull. You met some interesting critters along the way, the bush baby (so cute) and the curious looking aarwolf. I hope the owner of that bull has learned his lesson, and keeps better control of his stock, this is what leads to the lions being killed!

sheryl, washington dc, on 03 Feb 2008

Oh, we just learned about the galago, or bush baby, in last week’s primate class. Very cool.

s.

Fiona, on 04 Feb 2008

I”m very glad you found the bull too, Antony. That’s definitely a happy ending. When you use the term “temporary boma” does that mean that it’s possibly not strong enough to keep the bull inside, because it’s temporary not permanent?

THERESA SISKIND, on 04 Feb 2008

Antony, any news back on what poison was used to kill our lions?

Antony, on 05 Feb 2008

Everyone, once again thank you for your comments. We love the questions and all the support - it keeps us going!
Fiona - When we talk about temporary bomas we are referring to bomas that are built to hold the livestock while they away from the permanent boma/residence. As you know, Maasai are nomadic and follow the rains, so when it rains in an area people move their livestock to the place where the grass is green and lush. These places might be many days journey from the permanent boma, so the people build ‘temporary’ bomas (made from cut thornbush) to hold the livestock in at night. These bomas are not as well-built as the permanent bomas, but most of the time they are able to hold the livestock in (unless the livestock catch a smell of lions circling the bomas, then they stampede and break out straight into the hungry jaws of the lions!). These temporary bomas will be abandoned once the rains come and the livestock can be moved back to the permanent bomas.
Theresa - unfortunately no, we have not heard any news back on what poison killed our lions. We are waiting and will keep you posted as news comes in.

Fiona, on 06 Feb 2008

Antony, thank you for the information. It must be very difficult to secure livestock when you’re moving around, although thornbush sounds painful and therefore a good deterrent.

I did know Maasai were nomadic, mostly because my mother would tell my brother and I stories of the Maasai when we were little. It’s really been wonderful for her to hear about this project.

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