Lion Guardians

Category: Lion Guardians work, ways you can help | Date: Nov 03 2008 | By: lionguardians

A few days ago we held our end of month meeting with all the Guardians. I can’t believe how quickly October has passed! The first thing on the agenda was to verify the Guardians’ equipment and make sure that everything was in good working condition. The Guardians are all given a mobile phone so they can communicate any news to us at camp, a GPS for marking the location of wildlife or any incidents, and a backpack to carry their equipment and forms that they fill out. Here is Lion Guardian Koikai on his phone.

Not all of their equipment was working - Mokoi’s GPS has broken, so he will have to wait until we get the money to buy him a new one. Two of our Guardians - Lenkina and Melubo had problems with their phones and need new ones.

And the most urgent problem is that all the Guardians’ backpacks were worn out and not fit to carry their equipment, especially as we head to the rainy season. They have holes, broken zips, and they are certainly not waterproof any more! Here is Olubi with his worn out backpack.

We need to buy new waterproof backpacks for all the Guardians, so we are asking you for your help. Can you donate the money for a backpack to us? We estimate it will be about $30 to buy a new one here. Or perhaps you have a backpack that is waterproof, which you could send us? Please add a comment if you have a spare backpack, and we will send you an address in the US or the UK to send them to, for someone to bring over.

Thank you! I hope we can give each Guardian a new backpack before the rains come. Speaking of the rains, we have had a little rain, but not enough. The animals are still hungry and many are dying. Lets hope it starts soon.

Share This

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

10 responses so far

Category: Donations received | Date: Oct 31 2008 | By: lionguardians

Thank you so much for your donations over the last month. I am especially glad to see we have some new donors on the site. Thank you all for reading the blog and supporting our work. Here is a photo of the plains near to our camp, where the Lion Guardians located one of our collared lions Nemasi recently.

We couldn’t continue to help the lions and the communities here without you, so please carry on reading our news, tell your friends about the Lion Guardians and donate to us if you can. Here is Nemasi, with one of her three cubs.

Our thanks go out to Black C, Loki Q, Anna M, Tanya D, Pirjo I, Lisa R, Hashi H, Jia L, Deb O, Susan A, Eric B, Evan B, Micheal B, Louis B, Richard G and Richard V, who have all made donations to us in October.

Share This

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

One response so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 29 2008 | By: lionguardians

I am sorry the blog has been so quiet - I have been in Tanzania to attend the graduation of my friend Stephen Melubo from the College of African Wildlife Management, which as you can see has our favourite animal - the lion as its emblem!

You may remember that Stephen spent some time helping the Lion Guardians with data entry. Well now he is a graduate in Wildlife Management, and will put his good knowledge and skills to use on our ranch, Mbirikani.

The College was like a swarm of bees as families and friends came to celebrate the graduation of their loved ones. I had a great time, and was very glad to be able to share this special day with my friend.

Share This

Tags: college of african wildlife management, graduation, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

3 responses so far

Category: Community work | Date: Oct 23 2008 | By: lionguardians

Earlier this week I travelled to Olgulului, our neighbouring ranch, where we will be starting up Lion Guardians soon. The first thing that people asked was whether we have rain yet on Mbirikani. And the answer was still no. The area was so dry that only dust could be seen from a distance. Donkeys are the only means of water transport in the area. Look how many donkeys we came across! You can see how it is just like a desert there.

The community told me that they think more livestock will get attacked by predators, as they are becoming weak and they cannot run away from carnivores. Everyone is so eager to have Lion Guardians on this ranch. As we reported back in June, lions are still being killed here, so it is urgent that we start the Lion Guardians as soon as we can.

Share This

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

6 responses so far

Category: Community work | Date: Oct 22 2008 | By: lionguardians

The rains still have not come to the Chyulus. This means that both livestock and wildlife are still very thirsty, and are becoming weak. This is a dangerous time for animals here.

The wildlife on this ranch had two ways to get water. They could walk to a river way off in the southern part of the ranch, or get water from breaks in the water pipeline. Recently though all the broken pipes were repaired, so this means of getting water has been removed. Instead they resort to drinking from private water troughs, sometimes breaking them. The community cannot afford to pay for water for wildlife too, since it will mean additional costs to their monthly water bills. So conflict is high, and we are all left in a difficult situation, as the rains still do not come.

The idea of tagging elephants with SIM cards and creating an artificial geofence (mentioned by Hashi Hanta) sounds great, but would not work here. The elephants here do not have collars, and we are not inside a protected area - this is wild Maasailand, and animals may roam where they please. It would also be very expensive, and we do not have enough money for the Lion Guardians - there is certainly not enough for this kind of measure, however successful it may be.

Let’s hope the rains come soon. In the meantime the Lion Guardians are working with their communities to reduce any conflicts that arise from the water shortage. Please help them and their communities by making a donation to, if you can. Thank you.

Share This

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

2 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 20 2008 | By: lionguardians

Today I went to visit three of the Lion Guardians, Koikai, Melubo and Ritei. On the way we came across a dead zebra being feasted on by many vultures.

We were interested to find out what had killed the zebra, as none of our collared lions are in the area - maybe it was a new lion that we didn’t know!

We took a close look around the area and found only cheetah tracks; they might have been able to kill the zebra because the animal was a sub adult and may have been weak. The situation for wildlife and people here in the Chyulu Hills is still tense because this is the time when we expect the short rains to come and they are not yet here; wildlife and livestock are getting weaker everyday.

Share This

Tags: attack, carcass, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, vultures, zebra

3 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Oct 15 2008 | By: lionguardians

Elephants are becoming a problem in Olngosua once more. Previously this area was troubled by a lone elephant that was scaring the local community. Now, the two Lion Guardians that live in this area, Mokoi and Olubi have reported that elephants have broken and dismantled water pipes from three different water troughs.

The community need this water desperately, and have asked for help from the game scouts. Representatives have been sent to the area to scare the animals with thunder flashes, and to help the community to repair the broken pipes and water troughs. This time of year, just before the rains it is extremely dry, and water is in short supply. This situation could become very dangerous for the local people if they cannot get water for themselves and their animals.

Share This

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

7 responses so far

Category: Donations received, Meet the Lion Guardians | Date: Oct 13 2008 | By: lionguardians

I think that Ritei is probably the one Guardian that every single person in camp adores. His smile will make any gloomy face happy, and his dedication to his job as a Lion Guardian is unwavering.

He never wants to miss a Lion Guardians meeting, and will walk for hours to get to camp in time. The day before our last meeting Ritei arrived late at night as he had to walk all the way from where he works, which took several hours. As you can imagine this is very dangerous, as well as tiring, and he was still one of the first to be up and ready for the meeting the next morning! Here is Ritei at the meeting after his long walk.

Ritei is very thankful to Richard V for sponsoring him. His sponsorship has made a real impact on Ritei’s family, who used to only own 2 goats. Now they own seven goats and his family is guaranteed of food. Ritei’s sponsorship not only helps him to protect lions, but also helps Ritei’s whole family.

If you would like to make a donation to help the Guardians, their families and the wildlife in Maasailand, please add a quantity in a QTY box to buy an item, or in the USD box to donate an amount of money, and click on Donate. A big thank you from all the Lion Guardians for you support.

Share This

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

One response so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Oct 09 2008 | By: lionguardians

Lion Guardian Kapande has reported that a carnivore has been killing livestock at his place of work Lenkiloriti. According to the community that lives there, the carnivore tracks resemble those of a lion but are smaller.

Kapande has not seen the tracks himself, but when he told us the community’s description we all agreed that it sounds like the tracks of a leopard. Kapande will update us with more news on this as he investigates further.

Share This

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

5 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 07 2008 | By: lionguardians

Have you had a look at the map on the right hand side at the bottom of the blog? If you click on the map you can see how many people are reading this blog from all over the world. It is amazing to see that people from so many different places are reading about the lions and their Guardians here in Maasailand. Who could imagine that people so far and wide would be interested in helping save our lions?

Please let us know where you are and what you are doing, whether you are surfing with dolphins in the Atlantic, backpacking in Australia or are logging on to the Lion Guardians somewhere deep in the African bush like we are. A big thank you to all of you for reading our blog!

Share This

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

6 responses so far