Lion Guardians

Category: Lion Guardian reports, life in camp | Date: Nov 20 2009 | By: lionguardians

After only a little rain, the devastating drought is still ravaging the greater Amboseli ecosystem. The drought is bound to completely change specialized pastoralism, the core of the Maasai’s cultural identity. It is like a wind that blows nobody good. Wildlife of all kinds despite their shapes and sizes are also susceptible to the drought. In fact, even ostriches which are considered to be extremely hardy in dry conditions are no exception.

The little showers that came to Eselenkei arrived just at the opportune time. Though not widely distributed throughout the area, the rain came as a big relief to many species. There has not been enough rain for much grass to come out, but there has definitely been a change in vegetation cover – the shrubs and trees are now becoming green. Here are some of the new Guardians on Olgulului, our neighbouring ranch – you can see how dry the ground still is here, but at least some of the trees are becoming green!

It was against this background that our Lion Guardian team came across a big ‘ostrich meeting’ attended by over a hundred of the birds. Adult males with black and white plumage, the white being restricted to the tail and the tips of the stunted wings, dictated the proceedings. With pink heads, necks and thighs and in the company of many females, the ostriches converged together in a manner suggesting a well convened meeting with a sensitive agenda on the table!

Clearly, the birds of feather wanted to discard the so called philosophy of ‘burying their heads in the sand’ and assuming everything is just fine. (Actually, I am yet to see any ostrich burying its head)! As opposed to this very wrong assumption, the ostriches in the ecosystem not only saw the devastating drought, they were experiencing it painfully.

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

One response so far

Category: life in camp | Date: Nov 06 2009 | By: lionguardians

Last night the Lion Camp received yet another visit from some naughty elephants, though they didn’t cause too much destruction this time, only knocking over the water container. We are also still getting regular nightly visits from our friend the genet..

..and this morning the lion camp had even more animal visitors in the kitchen - this time it was mice in the oven!

We haven’t quite worked out how these two mischievous mice are getting into the oven yet, but they will certainly get a shock when we start cooking!

Any ideas for a humane way to remove these pesky little guys from our kitchen?

Tags: Kenya, kitchen, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, mice, mouse

6 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

2 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: life in camp | Date: Oct 12 2009 | By: lionguardians

We were very happy to be visited by Mary last week, a GIS expert from Canada who came to help the lion researchers learn all about GIS (Geographic Information Systems). They are using GIS to map where our lions move, so we can see their patterns of behaviour and try and work out where they are going, when, and why! Mary was also able to get to know some of the Lion Guardians, and see the work they do, and even got to do a bit of lion tracking herself!

Thank you Mary for all your help! We hope to see you again!

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

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Category: life in camp | Date: Oct 10 2009 | By: lionguardians

After our problems with elephants making cups of coffee in the kitchen at night, we were pleased that our next uninvited guest was a bit smaller! We would like to introduce you to our latest kitchen visitor - a beautiful genet.

This genet (Jenny to her friends) seems to like hanging out in the cutlery drawer, and has started to come every night to feed on scraps she finds in the kitchen.

Though she is very cute, we hope she doesn’t make the cutlery drawer her permanent home or we will have trouble finding our forks!

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

4 responses so far

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

The drought is still continuing here, and the animals and people are struggling badly. Everyone hopes rain will fall soon and bring back some life to the parched land. The water hole near to our neighbouring lodge Ol Donyo Wuas is constantly visited by many elephants, as well as very thin herbivores like these zebras, all looking for the scarce water.

There is no grass left to be eaten anywhere, and the wildlife and livestock are starving. These hills were once covered with long green grass - now there is nothing for the animals to eat.

The carnivores however are doing well. They have so many weak animals to choose from, they are able to feed regularly. Here is collared female Selenkay eating a zebra.

This drought is the worst anyone can remember and everyone in the community is praying for the rains to come soon. For their part, the Lion Guardians are doing their best to find lost and weak livestock, which is a particular problem during this time.

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

10 responses so far

Category: life in camp | Date: Sep 21 2009 | By: lionguardians

Last night was full of noise and disturbance. No, it wasn’t some rowdy Maasai warriors having a party… it was elephants! In the last few days the elephants have decided to come to our camp and are spending their time breaking branches, pulling up trees and causing a tremendous racket!

But the strangest thing that we found this morning was that an elephant had set up his own café outside our kitchen! He had removed a chair, presumably through the window, and also taken a mug, a bottle of water, our jar of lovely fresh coffee and our coffee plunger (which sadly he managed to break)!

What an odd sight we found in the morning - it was almost as if he had wanted to make himself a cup of coffee and have a sit down after so much tree-breaking!

We’ll keep you posted on the latest from these noisy visitors!

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

2 responses so far

Category: life in camp | Date: Sep 20 2009 | By: lionguardians

Here are the latest pictures from the camera trap we were kindly donated by Sheri and Owen Hogle from the Wild Bird Center in Utah. It was put at a water hole so that we could see what animals were visiting the area. Here are some of the animals that came:

Some very inquisitive giraffes…..

a number of elephants…..

and an oryx!

We still have not been able to capture any lions on the camera, but Lion Guardian Kapande reported seeing fresh tracks of a male lion this morning, so we are hoping to find this individual soon!

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

2 responses so far

Category: life in camp | Date: Sep 16 2009 | By: lionguardians

The new Lion Guardian training and celebration day in Eselenkei Group Ranch was held to celebrate the new Guardians after their first month of work. The day started with traditional blessings and the new Lion Guardians were then each given 5 minutes to present the reports from their zones. They talked about signs of lions in their areas, how they were getting on with reinforcing the bomas (livestock enclosures), lost livestock that they had found and what animals are being killed by carnivores. After this, the Guardians had some important training sessions, covering data forms, telemetry (to track collared lions), GPS and spoor counting.

In the evening, it was time to celebrate, with dance and song, as everyone enjoyed delicious expertly-roasted goat meat that was prepared especially for the occasion. Maasai traditional songs filled the air as the Lion Guardians tried to out-do each other in their praise songs. What a wonderful occasion! That evening ranks as one of the best we have enjoyed since the start of the project in Eselenkei. Here are the Guardians enjoying their goat roast!

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

2 responses so far