Lion Guardians

Category: Donations received, life in camp | Date: Jul 30 2009 | By: lionguardians

In April we were very kindly donated a Wingscapes bird camera trap by Sheri and Owen Hogle from the Wild Bird Center in Utah, which gave us some wonderful photos of birds during the day. But we were even more excited when they told us they were also sending a Bushnell Trail Sentry camera trap which can be used at night! This means we can also see what carnivores are out here, and hopefully try and identify some lions.

To get started we put the camera up 5 minutes walk from our camp, and tied up some bait that we had earlier got to use with lions. We got some amazing results! Here are some of the highlights of our first three nights with the camera trap up.

Spotted hyenas were our most common visitor, with over 200 photos of them over the three nights!

We also had visits from black-backed jackals…

a white-tailed mongoose….

an elephant….

and even a serval cat, which came back two nights in a row!

Our photos on the third night were finally put to an end when an inquisitive animal covered the lens in a rather dirty mess! Unfortunately the camera didn’t pick up the culprit but we are guessing it was a spotted hyena!

This has now been cleaned off, ready for another night of investigations! Now that we have a better understanding of the camera we are going to put it up near to some fresh lion tracks, or hopefully a fresh lion kill, to try to get some photos of lions. We’ll keep you posted with all our results from the camera trap. Thank you once again Sheri and Owen!

Tags: camera, camera trap, donations, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

3 responses so far

Category: lion research fieldwork | Date: Jul 28 2009 | By: lionguardians

Ever since she was collared 1 ½ months ago, our female lioness named Selenkay has been missing. We have searched for her practically everywhere but all in vain; it seemed she disappeared into thin air! The Lion Guardians both on Eselenkei and Mbirikani Group Ranches, conducted an intensive ground operation to look out for tracks or sightings of three lionesses, but all the searching was to no avail.

It was therefore with a great sigh of relief that we received the news that Selenkay had been found. The Director of the Living with Lions project, Dr. Laurence Frank, joined the search for Selenkay by flying around the greater Amboseli ecosystem.  He detected her signal from within Amboseli National Park. We immediately dispatched a team to verify the report and get visuals on Selenkay and her lioness companions. And here they are!

The outcome was very satisfying. A visibly pregnant Selenkay and her two sisters were found peacefully resting within the Park. Their movement patterns (which we get from downloading and mapping the GPS data from Selenkay’s collar) completely baffled our team. They have spent most of their time outside designated protected areas, visiting not only Eselenkei Group Ranch (where Selenkay was collared) but also spending a lot of time on Mbirikani and Olgulului Group Ranches.

Their beautiful, peaceful, and absolutely captivating nature marks them out from the other Amboseli lionesses. Their spots are distinctively clear…. there is no doubt that they are members of the Tara Pride! We will definitely be keeping a close eye on them, particularly as Selenkay prepares to give birth in the upcoming months. We can’t wait to find out where she’ll choose to settle down and bring her cubs into the world. Keep reading the blog to find out!

Tags: collared lion, eselenkei, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lion research, lions, Maasai, masai, selenkay

7 responses so far

Category: Lions killed, Uncategorized | Date: Jul 27 2009 | By: lionguardians

Last night CBS showed the follow up to their 60 minutes program on the misuse of Furadan, to poison lions and other wildlife in Kenya. Click here to read about the program and watch the video.

We are very grateful to CBS for publicizing the devastating effects that Furadan poisoning has had on lions and other African wildlife. Until the 60 minutes program aired, the manufacturer of Furadan had consistently denied all the evidence of massive wildlife deaths due to its misuse. Immediately following the broadcast, they withdrew it from the Kenya market and farmers have switched to less dangerous products for legitimate pest control needs.

This was a tremendous victory for conservation, but carbofuran, the generic version of Furadan, is made by other companies and can be imported under different trade names. Carbofuran is banned in Europe, and in the process of being banned in the US.

We and other conservationists insist that the governments of Kenya and other countries must take the essential further step of banning the importation and manufacture of carbofuran under any name.

Wildlife in Africa is declining rapidly due to human population growth and lack of effective conservation measures. Banning lethal poisons is one simple step by which governments can protect their dwindling natural resources.

Tags: furadan, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lion poisoning, lions, Maasai, masai, wildlife poisoning

2 responses so far

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

As we told you a few days ago, the devastating drought is contributing to an increase in human-wildlife conflicts. In the last couple of weeks, reports have been streaming in from our volunteering Lion Guardians. During one week, over ten donkeys were killed by hyenas in different corners of Eselenkei Group Ranch.

Lack of enough pastures for donkeys means that many go out of bomas to graze at night. As you can see these donkeys have no grass to eat at all.

Practically all the cows have moved to far places and it is therefore very quiet near the Maasai bomas as there is little noise and light. This is a perfect environment for hyenas who are usually more fearful of attacking livestock at human habitations.

Groups of marauding hyenas have been going around killing the donkeys that go outside the bomas at night, and the people who remain here are not happy with the situation. Unfortunately as the drought continues to strike hard here, we expect the situation to persist. The Lion Guardians and the Selenkay Conservancy are working hard in this tough situation, and preventing the community from retaliating against the wildlife.

Tags: drought, human wildlife conflict, hyena, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, menace

One response so far

Category: Meet the Lion Guardians | Date: Jul 22 2009 | By: lionguardians

It has been three months since I joined the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit. Before, I never knew what it meant to collect data and why someone must use specific methods to do it right. That is now history. Thanks to Dr. Lucy Tallents who has been working tirelessly to make sure that I understand all the methods involved in the study of wildlife. Here I am in Oxford, enjoying listening to some musicians playing in the street.

For your information, I am the only student on this course who does not already have a degree. Nevertheless, I have been keeping up quite well with the rest of the students. I am quite amused by statistics, and the logic of working out different questions regarding wildlife and conservation models. I think I want to pursue it to greater length when I finish this course.

Apart from the weather that the natives also have trouble with, everything else has been fine. I have finally moved into my own room. It is really fancy, but at times I get really lonely as I am used to sharing a tent with my colleague back in Kenya. I am not going into details about food. I try to eat pretty much what I can get my hands on, but am really missing the real food of home and the people there; especially my family and other locals that have been dispersed by the raging drought. Here I am in Oxford with a postcard to send home.

I would like to take this chance to thank all the Lion Guardian blog reader for the support they have been giving. It really gives me strength to move on in this tough life. This means that I have an extensive family to count on all the time. May God bless you all. I would especially like to thank Sheri and Owen Hogle who sent me this wonderful suit. Thank you so much! I hope you will agree it looks great!

I try to follow the activities of the Lion Guardians, especially the new project in Eselenkei, just as you do on the blog. This gives me joy in my heart that finally my dream is coming true - that lions across Maasailand are going to be saved from the brink of extinction, and my fellow warriors from other ranches, who were yearning for the program to commence there have been satisfied.

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

6 responses so far

Category: Community work, Donations received | Date: Jul 18 2009 | By: lionguardians

Thank you for your concern about the ongoing drought here and for your donations over the past few months. We would like to thank Cass N, Brian M, Black C, Richard V, Lois C, Anne C, Loki Q, Diane K, Jessica F, Pirjo I, Sheri H, Katherine J, Samantha V, Scott R, Jace A, Sauwah T, Hashi H and Jide A for their support of the Lion Guardians and their help conserving the wild lions of Maasailand and the other wildlife that is struggling to survive here. Here is a photo of some of the members of our new Tara pride, that you are helping with your donations.

The boma (livestock enclosure) fencing by our voluntary potential Lion Guardians on new ranch Eselenkei is going very well. The Guardians have shown total commitment to their community work. A perfect example is Melita, who selected a boma which needed to be re-built very urgently, as the owner was having problems with his livestock being attacked by predators that were able to get through gaps in his boma.

Amazingly Melita completed the work in one day - a very impressive achievement! Members of the community have quickly embraced boma fencing as a way of preventing human wildlife conflicts.

Speaking of our new Lion Guardians on Eselenkei, we have a request for you. Are you, or is anyone you know getting rid of an old laptop? The new Lion Guardians team are starting to collect data now, and need to enter this into a computer so that we can measure how the project is doing.

The computer would need to be able to run Microsoft Office (Word and Excel), but do nothing more complicated than that! Do you think you can help? If so, please add a comment below! Thank you!

Tags: boma, eselenkei, fencing, human wildlife conflict, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, predator

7 responses so far

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

The drought is worsening day by day. It has not rained properly for two consecutive years, and the pastoralist Maasai community who inhabit the group ranch have moved their livestock in three directions in search of greener pastures. The cows are all becoming very thin, and many are dying.

The first group moved their livestock all the way to Manyara in Tanzania. Others decided to take their cattle to Tsavo West National Park, but they have been experiencing serious clashes with the park authorities, who are trying to prevent the pastures of the national park from being overgrazed by cattle, leaving the ground bare.

Following some unexpected rain in the north towards Nairobi a few weeks ago, almost all the remaining livestock has been moved that way, including some who had already gone to Tanzania, meaning they had travelled for over 400km with their herds to find grass. We are now almost resigned to the fact that it may not rain until the end of October.

This devastating drought spares nobody. Livestock and wildlife are affected in equal measures. Elders in the group ranch are describing this drought as the worst ever, and with price of consumer goods sky-rocketing while the price of selling livestock and other domestic products are falling, the situation is triggering a catastrophic food crisis.

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

19 responses so far

Category: Community work | Date: Jul 10 2009 | By: lionguardians

At the workshops we held recently with the new potential Guardians, we asked them to each pick the weakest boma  (livestock enclosure) in their area - one that had been recently targeted by predators or that they thought needed the most urgent re-building.

We wanted them to find bomas that would benefit most from being given the Lion Guardians predator proofing treatment! A boma wall like this for example, would certainly not stop a lion or a hyena attacking the livestock inside!

Yesterday we set out to verify that each Lion Guardian had chosen the weakest boma and to give them the go-ahead to start improving it. With three zones to cover, we set out early to check the ten bomas. In the first zone we found three well chosen bomas all needing to be re-built, and were honoured to have the presence of the local area chief.

At the second zone we found that the three Lion Guardians here were so eager to start helping their local community that they had already started work on re-building a weak boma! The owner was very thankful for the hard work of the warriors. It might have taken him a week to complete this work himself. We left zone two knowing that the Guardians here had already made a great impact on the life of one family in the community.

The four Guardians in zone 3 had all chosen wisely, with one of the warriors selecting a boma which had recently experienced an incident where a hyena broke in and bit two people as well as killing two goats. 

We were very pleased with all the work we had seen and made our way back to camp satisfied that the new Guardians were beginning to make an impact in their communities. We’ll continue checking on their progress in the upcoming weeks and let you know how they all progress!

Tags: boma, Community work, conflict, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Livestock, Maasai, masai

2 responses so far

Category: lion research fieldwork | Date: Jul 07 2009 | By: lionguardians

Thanks for your suggestions about names for our new pride of lions. After long discussions about what to name the Eselenkei pride of lions which includes collared female Nosieki, the Lion Guardians and team have settled on a Maasai name which is befitting for this pride: the Tara Pride.

An interesting thing about this pride is that all individuals seem very spotted. In other parts of the world like South Africa, lions lose their spots once they reach adulthood, but here in East Africa, some lions keep their spots throughout their lives. This pride is full of very spotted individuals so we have therefore decided to name them the Tara pride…. Tara is the Maasai name for spotted.

We have the great honour of introducing you all to the new additions to the Lion Guardian’s care and protection. The Tara pride consists of lioness Nosieki, who we introduced you to previously. She now has two beautiful cubs (one male & one female). Looking extremely cheerful with wobbly legs & eager blue eyes, they were introduced to the other pride members on the 19^th of June.

The other pride lioness, called Nasieku which in the Maasai language means the one that comes forward first, has three young cubs who are a few months older than Nosieki’s cubs. The mothers, Nosieki & Nasieku, are respectful and caring to the five young cubs. The father figure in this pride is a big maned male, who is behaving very well with the cubs. He lets them play all around him as he sleeps lazily.

There are also Selenkay and her two lioness companions who seem to visit the rest of the pride infrequently so we don’t know as much about these three lions, but we hope to learn more as time goes on.

True to their nature as carnivores, the Tara pride have killed two adult zebras & an aardvark (a secretive master digger who leaves its holes for all to see) in the past few weeks. No wonder this pride looks so healthy!

Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, pride, pride name

4 responses so far

Category: lion research fieldwork | Date: Jul 03 2009 | By: lionguardians

We recently received a report from one of our volunteering Guardians Lopono, that lion tracks had been found over two hours drive from camp. We started our journey in the scorching afternoon sun and on the way collected a further three volunteering Guardians, Kisioki, Naini and Lenkai who had also found tracks in the area.

We soon found the signal of Nosieki, our newly collared pregnant lioness, and within minutes we located her in the bush. She was resting peacefully with the other female we had spotted with her before, and her three cubs playing around them.

We were keen to find the pride male too, so we went in search of him. Amazingly we came across three other lions only 500m away! These three were also lionesses, and they were so close that they must have known of each other’s presence. This was another great opportunity to put a collar on one of the lionesses.

The four Lion Guardians who had found the tracks and accompanied us throughout the journey were very excited to be part of the team. They decided to name the lioness Selenkay; a shortened name of the group ranch we are now working on - Eselenkei. This name also means a girl who has reached maturity in the Maa language. It is not often that a warrior gets to touch a ‘live’ lion and these murrans told us they will remember this moment for the rest of their lives.

We can’t wait to find out more about the lion population here!

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

3 responses so far