Lion Guardians

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 30 2009 | By: lionguardians

An article about the Lion Guardians has been published on the website Ecoworldly.com. The article explains the project and features an interview from Lion Guardians Director Leela Hazzah, who talks about the challenges and goals of the project. Click here to visit Ecoworldly.com and read the article by Rhishja Larson.

Tags: ecoworldly, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, rhishja larson

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Category: Donations received | Date: Oct 29 2009 | By: lionguardians

Thank you so much for your purchase of Lion Guardians Christmas cards! So that we have your email addresses, and can email you to find out what address to send the cards to, please make a comment on the blog. This is the only way we can get your contact details, as we do not have access to any of the information regarding your online donations!Thank you very much, from the Lion Guardians team!

Tags: christmas cards, donations, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

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Category: Lion Guardian reports, lion research fieldwork | Date: Oct 28 2009 | By: lionguardians

A few days ago, one of our Lion Guardians in Eselenkei was out on his lion monitoring duties when he saw the tracks of some lions. After following them a few meters, he found their kill; 2 zebras and a lesser kudu. He called Lion Guardians HQ immediately and we responded in no time. After following the tracks we found 3 female lionesses 2 of which are collared Selenkay and Narika. They were with Elikan, an un-collared lioness, and were all lying under a tree, oblivious of the new visitors. Here is Elikan.

I insisted that their tracks revealed 4 lions, rather than just 3, one of which must be a big male. We then conducted some ground tracking and after following his tracks for a few kilometers, we found the male lion. A closer look revealed his unmistakable identity - it was Lomunyak. The beautiful male lion from Eselenkei Group Ranch was probably up to something none of us knew, but he kept the secret to himself and kept a great distance between himself and the females, thinking really hard. He was probably deciding his schedule for the next few weeks before the rain comes. Respecting his decision-making process, we headed back to camp for our Lion Guardian meeting.

Tracking using telemetry equipment a few days later, we headed towards the direction of the signal and found Lomunyak with Selenkay doing some serious business! With snow-capped Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background, truth be told, Lomunyak is clearly a beauty to behold.

Another visit a few days later and we found him again seriously mating with another lioness, Elikan!

Lomunyak seems to have a great vision of the Tara pride Empire. He has carved up a territory spreading across three Group Ranches bordering Amboseli National Park. No other male lion seems willing to risk coming into this territory or else! With a pride comprising five cubs and five females to boot, one does not have to be a rocket scientist to see Lomunyak’s expansionist dream, given the right conditions. It’s these right conditions that the Lion Guardians team is trying to facilitate. We went back to camp strongly convinced that Lomunyak’s schedule before the onset of the rains will yield good results in the future.

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

3 responses so far

Category: life in camp | Date: Oct 27 2009 | By: lionguardians

Not far past midnight, Project Biologist Kylie was roused from her dreamy slumber by the sound of cracking timber and the tearing of metal sheeting. Believing it to be an elephant, the usual culprit of camp destruction, Kylie armed herself with a big Maglite torch and marched towards the source of the racket, determined to chase the elephant away. However, upon rounding the final shrub she was surprised to find a smaller creature - a honey badger, clawing its way into the beehive and stealing all the honey! The fury creature seemed unperturbed by the angry bees whom were less than impressed with their new home renovations!

The honey badger wasn’t terribly bothered by the torchlight from a distance but soon retreated into the shadows when Kylie moved in closer, disappearing before a photograph could be taken. However, here’s some shots of what he did to the beehive!

Tags: beehive, honey badger, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

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Category: ways you can help | Date: Oct 25 2009 | By: lionguardians

Just another reminder about our fantastic Christmas cards! Make a donation of $22 (or more!), remember to add a comment saying you would like some cards, and we will send them to you, wherever you are in the world!

Every donation made through this blog goes towards helping the Lion Guardians project conserve wild lions.

Thank you for your support.

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

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 24 2009 | By: lionguardians

We have heard that the piece on the Lion Guardians filmed by Reuters a few weeks ago has now been shown on television across the world! Blog reader Brenton reported that it was shown on Australian TV, Pauline says it was on the BBC, and we have also heard that is was shown in Kenya. Did anyone else happen to see the piece?If not, you can view it here!

Thank you Reuters, for bringing the important work of the Lion Guardians to the attention of the world. We hope this publicity will bring in some much needed donations, to help the project!

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

3 responses so far

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

I can smell home like the rain when it’s about to fall…

I am still here at Oxford University, but I am counting the weeks before I return home after my course. This puts a smile on my face as the weather here is starting to be chilly as the winter approaches! I can’t wait to meet my family and friends again and most importantly the Lion Guardians who have themselves travelled so far to make a difference in our community.

I have been remembering my time with the Lion Guardians, from the sad moments when we lost the Guardians’ favourite lion Sangale to poisoning, to the numerous happy moments when we shared goat roast to celebrate the success of saving lots of other lions from killing by villagers. The happy thing is that I will be coming back soon to share my experiences from one of the worlds leading universities with the Lion Guardians.

It has been a tough time, but with prayers and wishes of good luck from both my blog fans and the Guardians I have been well. I will try to do one more post before leaving Oxford I as bid farewell to some of my friends I made here in the University. Here I am cycling to classes!

For our blog readers it’s you who made this journey a successful one, even during this time when the economy is down you are still with us. Thank you so much and God bless you all.

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

6 responses so far

Category: ways you can help | Date: Oct 22 2009 | By: lionguardians

I would like to remind all our blog readers that you can buy Lion Guardians Christmas cards right here on the blog! All the profits will go to the Lion Guardians, so please buy as many as you can and tell all your friends about them too! Maybe you could even buy a stock, and help us by selling them at your school or place of work?

There are three designs, one is of Lion Guardian Olubi tracking lions, the second is a female lion in Nempakai’s pride with her cub, and the final design is of a young Maasai girl from one of the communities that the Lion Guardians program works with. The cards are high quality glossy laminated and the message inside reads ‘Season’s Greetings’.

The cost is $22 (that’s approx £13) for 12 cards (4 of each design), and this includes airmail postage and packing of the cards (and envelopes) to your address. Just put a number in the QTY box next to ‘Christmas card pack’ to say  how many packs you would like to purchase, and click on DONATE. After you have made your donation, please add a comment, and we will then email you to ask for your postal address to send the cards to. It’s as simple as that!

We hope you like the designs, and we hope we can raise a lot of money for the Guardians, so please buy some now, and spread the word!!

THANK YOU! Your support is helping save the remaining wild lions in Kenya.

Tags: cheetah, christmas, christmas cards, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, season's greetings

4 responses so far

Category: Community work, life in camp | Date: Oct 21 2009 | By: lionguardians

Finally the Lion Guardians, Maasai communities, wildlife and livestock that live together on Mbirikani, Eselenkei and Olgulului Group Ranches have experienced their first showers of rain. Everyone is very excited and thankful that at last there are a few green shoots appearing from the ground.

Though the wildlife and livestock are still very hungry, at least there is now hope that the drought is coming to an end. The Chyulu Hills are certainly looking a little greener.

We really hope that these showers are the start of some heavy rains, so that the Maasai people that have lost so much during the drought can start to rebuild their lives after the devastation it caused. Both people and animals have been struggling to survive and it is said that the Maasai have lost 80% of their cattle (which is equivalent to losing 80% of their money, and their livelihoods). The cattle that remain are too thin to sell, and people are unable to buy food or pay for their children’s’ school fees any more. At least these cows now have a few small green shoots to eat.

Most people have moved away from this area with their cattle, in search of pasture, some as far away as Mombasa and Nairobi. Now everyone is hoping that the grass will grow here, and bring back some life to the area, though whether the communities will be able to fully recover after such a severe drought is uncertain. Those people who had a lot of cattle are no longer rich, and those who had only a few might now be left with nothing.

We are also hoping the wildlife that has been suffering and dying due to lack of food, will also be revitalised and strengthened. However, our big worry is that as the wildlife becomes stronger, and the weak cattle return from their long journeys in search of pasture, the lions and other carnivores in the area will start to attack livestock. The Lion Guardians are all prepared for the possibility of this, and are already warning herders to be extremely vigilant at this time, and to build up their boma walls in preparation.

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

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Category: Lion Guardians work | Date: Oct 16 2009 | By: lionguardians

Steven from the Laikipia Predator Project came down to Mbirikani last week with expert tracker, Morani. Steven and Morani spent a week with the Lion Guardians developing their tracking skills even further for a new part of their work - spoor counting.

Although the Lion Guardians are all expert trackers, Steven and Morani helped them with counting large herds of animals, which they need to be able to do for their spoor counting work. Imagine how hard it is to see how many wildebeest have crossed a particular path, when there are over 20 in the group, just from looking at their tracks! It’s a difficult skill to learn. Can you tell what animal made these tracks?

Steven and Morani taught the Lion Guardians on Mbirikani a lot - we hope that they will be able to come down again and teach our new Guardians on Eselenkei and Olgulului these important skills too.

Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, living with lions, Maasai, masai, spoor

3 responses so far