Lion Guardians

We’ve received a report that on the 28th of March, 60 murrans from Olgulului (OLG) went to hunt for lions. Allegedly these lions killed a cow and the warriors were seeking revenge. The murrans divided into groups and were chasing a lion, which headed into Amboseli National Park when the Amboseli-Tsavo Game Scouts and the Kenya Wildlife Service stopped the first group from entering the park. Just after the first group left, a second group showed up, but luckily the Game Scouts and KWS were able to calm the situation and put a halt to the lion hunting. The Olgulului warriors were not able to spear any lions. That was a smart (or lucky) lion to head back to the National Park. We are so glad that the Game Scouts and Kenya Wildlife Service were there to stop the killing before it happened.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that OLG is in desperate need of lion conservation. We are aiming to start Lion Guardians program over there in late summer/early fall. Those murrans need to begin benefiting from living with lions.

As for the murrans who succeeded in spearing lions on OLG last month; they appeared in court before the judge last week and denied their charges after being advised to do so by other inmates. Their case will be heard on the 19th of April.

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Hello everyone,
I have some news about Kapande. A good friend of mine who lives in Nairobi went to visit him at the hospital. Kapande is doing fine and the doctors are going to release him in a week or so. He still needs some more time to rest and recover from the surgery. We are happy that he is recovering. When I got the news I went to his boma and told his wife. She was so relieved to hear that Kapande was okay and on the mend. We all miss him here and hope he returns home soon, but are so thankful that we were able to get him the medical care that he needed.

We are very thankful for many things. One of the things we are most thankful for are all the people out there who support us and donate to our project. We just got news that we’ve received donations from Gregory S., Nancy C., THERESA S., and M Rosalie K. Also, we received a monthly donation from John D. THANK YOU, your support is essential to our success and growth. Together we can make a difference in the world.

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The long rains are here with us once more. This is when traveling becomes a nightmare, field work cannot be done until the rains are over. Though researchers and people trying to travel in cars are limited by the rains, the livestock owners are now the happiest people on earth. Water has become a thing of the past though it was just some days ago livestock owners were walking long distances to get water for their animals.

As much as I love for the people and livestock to receive the wonderful rains, I dislike staying cooped up in the office for the next month or more. Sometimes it is good to take a ride around the ranch to see what the guys are doing. My Sunday visits with the Guardians are the highlight of my week. I hope I don’t have to miss too many visits because of the rains. But the good side of being in the office is that I get to be in communication with all of you!

Here is a photo of the rains as they move along the Chyulu Hills

Today, I have a lot of wonderful people to thank. First, a big Thank You to William Luke for the donation of a Nokia and to Francis, Theresa S. and Loki Q. for their tremendous support. We also have to thank Leila M. for her very generous contribution to Lion Guardians (maybe we’ll see you back in Maasailand sometime soon?). I can’t say enough how much we appreciate all the support that we receive from everyone out there in the world. I know I’ve said it before, but we couldn’t do this without you and every little bit helps. THANKS!!

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I was just heading to camp when someone came running up to me. His face clearly showed that he needed help. He seemed almost desperate. He told me that his father was ill, very ill. He had asked people with a motorbike to take the father to the clinic, but the people were charging too much money to take him a distance of less than 10kms.

The son’s happiness was clear when I said I could take the sick mzee (elder man) to the clinic. The desperate son then asked me whether I would accept all the cash he had at the moment.

I refused.

He was persistent in his willingness to pay for my help. Since I wouldn’t accept money, the son offered me this beautiful young lamb;

I still rejected it.
He blessed me at the end of the day for not accepting all his offers and helping his father. I took the mzee down to town and made sure he got treated at the clinic since sometimes when they are busy, they only take very serious patients.

Here is a picture from the boma. The mzee I took to the clinic is at the center wearing the black coat.

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Today I received a great birthday present; I was blessed with the sighting of
Nemasi and her cubs. Nemasi was resting under a tree when we found her. She had her cubs well hidden in the long grass. She was an attentive mother, constantly making sure that they were safe. After a while, she led them out into the open where we got a good look at them. They all seemed healthy as did Mama Nemasi.

These cubs are believed to have been sired by Sangale as Nemasi was seen mating with him a few months before his death. Now, we know that Lentim is in the area of Nemasi and her new cubs, approximately ten kilometers away. Infanticide has been observed in lions before (when a male lion kills other male’s cubs so that the female comes into estrus quickly, then he can mate with her and sire his own cubs). Our fingers are crossed that these cubs survive to carry on the great genes of Sangale.

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Kapande is now out of danger. He was taken to the theatre (operating room) yesterday at 3:30pm and came out at 6:15am. I am going to visit him this morning and see how he has been for the night. Then I will head back to Mbirikani. Thanks to everyone for all your support and prayers. I’ve told Kapande about all the people out in the world who were sending their prayers. It made him very happy.

I also want to sincerely thank several people for donating to the blog over the past month:
John D 20 Monthly Donation for Lion Guardians
Hashi H 10 Monthly Donation for Lion Guardians
Peter P E 30
THERESA S 25 for help with Uniforms, solar battery chargers, Rain coats

THANK YOU! We couldn’t do this without you. During tough times, knowing we have support from WildlifeDirect and especially from all of you, makes the Guardians and I work harder even through times of sickness and killing.

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Today I, once again, have bad news, but this time it isn’t about dead lions. This time it is one of the Guardians; Kapande, from the Lenkiloriti area, is very sick.

This morning, as I do every Sunday, I left camp early to visit all the Guardians, collect forms, and make sure everything is going well for the guys. When I got to Kapande’s boma, I found him there. He was too sick to speak or barely move. His family was very upset and had been looking for a car to take Kapande to the clinic in Mbirikani town. His family and I loaded him onto my motorbike. He was too weak to hold on so his family tied him to me so he wouldn’t fall off.

I drove him to the clinic where they diagnosed him with a severe case of appendicitis. If he doesn’t have surgery soon, he will die. I have come up to camp only briefly to gather some things. I am going back down to Mbirikani town clinic to travel in an ambulance with Kapande up to a Nairobi hospital. Kapande doesn’t speak any Swahili or English so he is going to need someone he knows and trusts to be with him explaining what is going on. We just hope the ambulance can get him to Nairobi quick enough to get the surgery he so desperately needs. I’ll keep you all posted.

Here is Kapande, at our camp in January, looking at the Guardians’ favorite book

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Today was a special day in our camp.
The chairman of the Mbirikani Group Ranch paid us a courtesy call
Here are photos of him in our camp on Mbirikani.

I call him the wise man because he is the one who makes decisions on behalf of more than 5000 members. He was a on a tour in the area and was supposed to attend a meeting that was postponed. So he thought to come visit us and announce his support for the work done by Living with Lions project and the Lion Guardians. He was accompanied by members of his committee and influential politicians of the ranch. Although his visit may have some hidden agenda, it was very clear that he and his committee support our work and other conservation efforts on the ranch; this is important. His visit made today a great day.

News from the Guardians:
The Guardians from Olngosua, Ilchalai and Kalesirua are monitoring different prides of lion believed to be uncollared. These Guardians were able to identify by the tracks that one of these prides has four young cubs. This is overwhelming news for us and we hope they don’t move off the ranch where lion killing seems to be, once again, the popular game amongst murran (warriors).

Also, further news about the recent lion killings:
For the killing of the first lion, two culprits were arrested. They were taken to a district court.
After two weeks, they were released on bond worth less $30 each. As far as the arrest of the killers of this week’s two lions; we don’t what will happen. I will update you all as things unfold.

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I have really sad news and I’m not sure how to put it. It has not even been ten days since I posted that a lion was killed on Eselenkei….. now two more lions have been killed.

The apparent reason for the killing is that these lions killed two livestock. However, there are contradictory stories about the killings and I am still trying to establish what led to the persecution. We do know there were two female lions speared on the neighboring Olgulului group ranch, which is to the west of our ranch. The lions were actually killed 5km to the east of where we got stuck in the mud in January.

All this killing makes me wonder how many lions will be left in the ecosystem if this rate of slaughtering continues. Something must be done as soon as possible to save the king of the cats.

Below are photographs of the carcasses of the two female lions.

This is the second lion that was speared on OLG but died a day later. You can clearly see how her paws were cut off as trophies.

Our efforts of conserving lions on Mbirikani ranch will be like putting out a raging forest fire using a fire extinguisher if the people on neighboring group ranches don’t begin to see the value in lions and other wildlife. Lions know no boundaries. When they move to other ranches they get killed, hampering our conservation work. We desperately need to expand the Lion Guardians and other conservation efforts to these areas.

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The Lion Guardians recently gathered for our monthly meeting. We had just finished discussing our meeting agenda when I announced to the Guardians the wonderful items that had been donated to us. They immediately put on the new rain coats donated by Patagonia, and began fiddling with the torches (flashlights) we bought with blog donation money, the camera from Lisa and the five mobile phones. Their big smiles and sparkling eyes said it all.
Guardians from left to right: Lekina, Olubi, Ritei, and Masarie

Ritei’s smile is the perfect example of everyone’s happiness upon receiving the donated items.

Maria was the mother of the day by making sure that every “child” gets an equal opportunity. There were small torches and big ones, and everybody wanted the big ones. But she knew what to do. Maria gave each torch a name and then asked the Guardians, one after another, to pick a name from the list. This name corresponded to the torch they received. In the end, everyone was overjoyed with all the useful donations; their work, guarding the lions, will now be easier.

Here is Mama Maria fairly distributing the torches to the excited Guardians.

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