Lion Guardians

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Feb 26 2009 | By: lionguardians

Lion Guardian Mokoi has again saved the day in his local community by helping track and find over 100 lost sheep and goats. The animals had wandered off in search of pasture and water, which is becoming scarcer every day, and the local people were very worried they would get attacked by lions or hyenas. The community were all very happy that Mokoi found their animals, and praised him for his work.

Sadly we have not experienced good rain for the last three months and this water shortage is leading the community to be pessimistic about their future and the future of their livestock. The land is extremely dry and in some areas there is hardly any grass left.

At least the Lion Guardians are feeling positive about their work - helping out herders by finding lost animals that might otherwise be attacked, and trying to reduce problems with carnivores as much as they can.

Please, if you think you can support us by making a donation, this will be greatly appreciated by all of the Guardians and the communities they help. Your donations pay the Lion Guardians’ wages, help buy equipment and train new Guardians among many other things. Without the donations we receive through this blog, we would not be able to continue with the project.

Thank you for any support you can give us, from all of us here in dry Maasailand, and thank you to all of you who have donated to us already.

Tags: attack, carnivore, drought, goats, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lost livestock, Maasai, masai, sheep

One response so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Feb 23 2009 | By: lionguardians

Our Lion Guardian in Ol Donyo Wuas area, Solonka, has reported that a cow has been killed by lions, just 10 kms south of our camp. Solonka went to the site to verify the claim and try to find out which lion was responsible for the kill.

Although our male lion Lentim’s signal was not very close we suspect he could be the one who killed the cow. There was just one lion track from the cow carcass, and we know that this area is Lentim’s territory and he is usually on his own.

 

We are lucky that Lentim has a GPS collar, so if you want to have a look at his movements and see where he has been you can do! Just click here! Here you can see a map of where he has been. We think he must be the culprit - don’t you?

Tags: attack, cows, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Livestock, Maasai, masai

One response so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Feb 18 2009 | By: lionguardians

Lion Guardian Mokoi has finally located collared male Kasayio, who he found in the company of two other lions. Kasayio is one of those shy lions who will never show his face. But on this day, Mokoi and I were able to see one of Kasayio’s comrades, a young male that we have never encountered before.

He is probably two to two and a half years old, judging by the development of his mane. Mokoi had to warn the community because he knows Kasayio killed a cow in December in Lion Guardian Kapande’s area, so we know he has a taste for livestock. We are crossing our fingers until these lions move out of the area as they are very close to people’s settlements at the moment, and we don’t want any conflicts between the local people and these handsome young males.

Tags: collared lion, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Maasai, masai

3 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Feb 16 2009 | By: lionguardians

One of our collared male lions Lentim has killed three cows up in the hills. This report was confirmed by our Lion Guardian Solonka today, who came to our camp to ask for a receiver and aerial to verify that it was Lentim that had made the kills. Here are some cows grazing up in the Chyulu hills. People have been forced to move their cows up into the hills, as this is the only place which still has green grass for them to feed on.

Solonka went to the area and found Lentim’s signal not far away from people’s settlements. Solonka will have to keep on monitoring Lentim closely and must stay very alert, so he can warn herders and the local people about his whereabouts so as to avoid any more conflicts.

Tags: cows, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Livestock, Maasai, masai

4 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Feb 12 2009 | By: lionguardians

We had some worrying news last night. Four lions on the neighbouring ranch to ours - Kuku, where we have some study animals with collars had killed four cows. The local community was furious, and had gathered a large group of warriors together to go out and hunt for these lions. They had all got spears ready and were very angry. We even heard reports that spears were thrown, but we are pleased to say that the lions escaped unharmed, thanks to the intervention of staff from Campi Ya Kanzi, the lodge located nearby.

This news was reported to us by Lion Guardian Melubo who works near the border between our ranch Mbirikani and Kuku. We were very worried by this news, particularly as it could have been our GPS-collared lions Ndelie and Mbalueni, who you can track online via our lion tracking website.

Thank goodness the warriors were calmed down, and did not kill four lions. This would have been a great blow to our lion population.

Tags: attack, cows, hunt, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lion hunt, Maasai, masai, spears, warriors

6 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Feb 09 2009 | By: lionguardians

We are pleased to report another sighting of the elusive lioness Nemasi and her three cubs. She has been very hard to track recently because the frequency of her collar has interference from another source and it is difficult to pick up her signal.

But Lion Guardians Mokoi and Olubi have been keeping track of her whereabouts by following her tracks on the ground, so we know that she is still in the area, which is great news. Mokoi reported that yesterday she killed a wildebeest, so we also know she is feeding and they say she is healthy too. Great news!

I’ll bring you some photos when I can! Here is a photo of Nemasi and her cubs which we took a while ago.

Thanks to all of you for keeping on checking the Lion Guardians blog. We are having a really busy time at the moment, with a new camp being built and some exciting other things developing which I will tell you about soon! We all appreciate your continued support.

Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Maasai, masai, nemasi

2 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Feb 03 2009 | By: lionguardians

The Guardians had a very successful end of month meeting. They brought us news from their areas of work, and told us they were all very happy as there has been some rain.

On the way to the meeting Lion Guardians Koikai and Lenkina discovered some lion tracks which they said were a female and some small cubs. They found the tracks near to one of our collared male lions Lentim (he is one of our 3 lions with GPS collars, whose tracks you can follow over the internet).

We were all very pleased to hear that there might be some new cubs in the area. After the meeting we sent Koikai and Lenkina back to the area to look around for more tracks, and we will give you any news about this when we have it. Wouldn’t it be great if we had some young cubs like this on our ranch?

Thanks so much to Pauline for telling us about the BBC programme. I am glad it was interesting. Hashi - I will ask whether your suggestion is possible.

Tags: BBC, cubs, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

4 responses so far