Lion Guardians

Category: life in camp | Date: May 26 2009 | By: lionguardians

Over the past few months we have had 4 different snakes in our office at Lion Guardian headquarters! It’s been a herpetologist’s dream to be working here - however not so pleasant for those of us who want to get down to work, and would prefer not to be disturbed by these slippery intruders! Here is our lovely office that has recently had a series of hissing visitors!

First we had an Egyptian cobra under the desk, then a spotted bush snake fell from roof, we were then confronted by a hissing sand snake IN the printer and finally a striped snake at the door step! Here are some photos.. can you identify which is which?

Luckily we have a massive snake fan (and expert!) living just up the road at Ol Donyo Wuas lodge, who helps us out with snake identification, removal and relocation! Do you wish your office had this kind of problem?

Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, snake, snakes

7 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardians work | Date: May 21 2009 | By: lionguardians

You may be wondering what is happening with the expansion of the Lion Guardians program to two of our neighbouring ranches Eselenkei and Olgulului. The ongoing drought across these ranches sent Maasai murrans and their cattle to other areas in search of greener pastures, which meant that we couldn’t hold community meetings or interviews for Guardians - the first steps in the Lion Guardians expansion. Here is Olgulului during the drought, which is not yet over. As you can see, there just isn’t any grass, so people had to move elsewhere…

Now, after a little rain (although far less than is needed) patches of grass have pushed their way through the parched and dusty top layer of soil, bringing both colour and murrans back into the area. With their return, preparations for the launch of the project across these ranches have finally begun. The assessment of 27 warriors from the Eselenkei ranch will be conducted over the next three days, from which, three suitable new Lion Guardians will hopefully be found.

Lion Guardian Olubi from Mbirikani will do some training with the newly chosen Guardians, passing on the skills and knowledge attained through his role in Mbirikani. Job notices for a Lion Guardian Project Coordinator have also been posted in trading centres, with interviews to be conducted on the 25th May. We’ll keep you updated on the growth of our Lion Guardian team! 

Tags: Amboseli, drought, job, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

5 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 19 2009 | By: lionguardians

On Saturday, I had to go to London to take an English exam at Acton College. After my exam, I had some time to walk around London, the oldest city I have ever seen!

It was a great experience to see this old city that I had only ever seen in movies before. I got the chance to visit the British Museum and learned a lot about Greek and Egyptian history. Here I am in front of the British Museum…

And inside the museum with a very ancient lion!

I went to Trafalgar Square and saw another lion! I am so proud that there are many statues of the amazing animals we are trying to protect all over London, and I hope this means that the people of England love these animals and want to help protect them. If that is true - please help us with a donation! The Lion Guardians still need your support! And a big thank you to those of you who have donated recently.

I also went to the River Thames and saw St Paul’s Cathedral (you can see it in the distance below).

I also saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

It was such an amazing place, and I only had one afternoon to look at it all, so I plan to visit with my class mates. I’d really like to visit Buckingham Palace and the London Eye too.

After all is said and done, I am crossing my fingers that I will pass the English exam, which will determine my stay here at Oxford University.

Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, london, Maasai, masai, Oxford University

8 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 15 2009 | By: lionguardians

On April 28^th nearly 300 guests gathered at the Tribeca Rooftop in New York City to honour five women and present them with WINGS WorldQuest Women of Discovery Awards, which celebrate and support the ground-breaking work of current women explorers and scientists. And one of these women was our Lion Guardians’ Director, Leela Hazzah!

Leela won the Field Research Award for her work in Kenya’s Maasailand, where she started the Lion Guardians program. Here are the winning women, who were awarded in the following categories: Earth, Sea, Air & Space, Humanity, Courage, Field Research and Lifetime Achievement.

The evening was led by Bertha Coombs of CNBC and Leela’s award was presented to her by actor Anthony Edwards.

The other winners were Aparajita Datta who has discovered new mammal species and monitors threatened wildlife with local communities in northeast India, Rosaly Lopes who has led the NASA teams exploring Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io, where she discovered 71 new active volcanoes, Bolortsetseg Minjin, a Mongolian paleontologists who has been credited with spectacular finds of dinosaur fossils in the Gobi Desert and Maya Tolstoy, a marine geophysicist who researches mid-ocean ridge earthquakes and their impacts on life forms. 

Congratulations to all of you!

Tags: anthony edwards, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, wings worldquest

4 responses so far

Category: Donations received, life in camp | Date: May 08 2009 | By: lionguardians

Thank you to all our donors who have been so generous recently: Anne C, Lois C, Richard V, Black C, Brian M, Scott R, Cass N, Samantha V, Katherine J, Aleta W, Hashi H, Jia L, Kathleen W, Pirjo I, Jeremy W, Susan S, Jessica F and Loki Q. You have all helped the Lion Guardians with their work conserving our wild Maasailand lions in this last month, and we are all very grateful to you.

This monthly meeting where all the Lion Guardians get together to discuss their work, we were also able to give them a camera to use that had been donated by Sheri and Owen Hogle. Here is one of the photos they took of Lion Guardian Mokoi.

And here are some photos we got from the bird camera trap that was also donated to us by Sheri and Owen. Can you ID any of these birds that the camera picked up?

And here is another example of the variety of wildlife that we find at our camp. Can anyone identify this beautiful green snake?

Tags: birds, donations, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, snake

7 responses so far

Category: life in camp | Date: May 07 2009 | By: lionguardians

Yesterday we were called to the scene of an injured elephant, which had been spotted limping badly close to our camp in Ol Donyo Wuas. The elephant had been speared in the foot because he had been raiding farms in search of food and water.

KWS/Sheldrick Trust vets from Tsavo West National Park were called to the scene, and eventually he was in a good position to dart. Everything went well, and the vets treated the spear wound on his leg.

Game scouts from the Maasailand Preservation Trust were on hand to make sure he was kept cool with water.

When the vets were happy that the wound was treated fully, they made some final checks before rousing him from the anaesthesia.

Here he is, waking up, and moving off into the bush. We are told he will be just fine! Thank goodness for a successful outcome to this potentially tragic story!

We’ll keep you posted if we hear any developments about how he is doing.

Sorry for the slight hiccup on posts for the last few days. I think it is what is called a technical fault, which has now been rectified! It does mean that any comments you made about Antony’s new home in England have been lost though. Sorry about that!

Tags: elephant, injured, Kenya, kws, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, sheldrick, speared, vet

6 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 04 2009 | By: lionguardians

This is my first week since leaving Kenya. People are really taking good care of the new “Panthers” as they are known here in Tubney House in Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU). The other students are from Nepal, Zimbabwe, South Africa Bolivia, Madagascar and Bhutan.

The weather is not that good although the people here think that it is the best time of the year for them! Contrary to the weather, the people are extremely nice to us! Lucy Tallents and Murray are helping us to get used to the life in Tubney and navigate around Oxford. Here is our new home!

Yesterday, I was taken out punting by my new “parents” here in England. A punt is a kind of boat that is used on the rivers here in Oxford. We also visited the Codrington Library. It had very beautiful sculptures done many years ago. My new papa and mama took good care of me on Saturday, showing me great places in my new city.

We also got a chance to be welcomed by Professor David Macdonald. His words were those of a father welcoming a son to a new home; he told us that Tubney is just like our homes we left behind. True to his words, this is actually like my place in the Chyulus.

Tags: International Wildlife Conservation Practice, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, oxford, Oxford University, WildCRU

2 responses so far