Lion Guardians

In September 2009, we received an unusual report from our Lion Guardian Kamunu. His report was of a group of 4 male lions of the same age traversing through the Selenkay conservancy. We had never had such a big group of males traveling together so we gave instructions for them to be closely followed. We were able to see them briefly one afternoon, but unfortunately that night , they went on a killing spree, killing 7 donkeys as well as several shoats from one neighboring community. In the morning they were hunted, but due to the efforts of the Lion Guardians and the Eselenkei Game Scouts, no one got hurt and all lions lived to see another day. The next day we collared the biggest and called him Sikiria (meaning he of the donkeys). He then disappeared for 4 months. We gave instructions to our Lion Guardians to track him down but to no avail. We even conducted aerial searches without success! One day when we were following a report of a male lion called Lomunyak on Mbirikani Group Ranch, we did a call-in expecting Lomunyak to show up. We heard the approach of lions and when we shone the light, we saw 2 lions and to our utter surprise, it was Sikiria and his brother Oyayai.   When we down loaded his GPS collar, we were completely baffled by his movement patterns. He had moved through Namanga, spending nearly two weeks up on Namanga Hill, then he went all the way to Torosei which borders Shompole briefly in to Tanzania and back to Eselenkei and over to Mbirikani! Shortly thereafter, he moved beyond the Chyulu hills to an area close to Tsavo West National Park, Kuku. On many occasions he killed livestock and was hunted. At one time in early 2011, he injured a young Moran who was with others, hunting Sikiria after he had killed a cow. Sikiria got away without a scratch.

Sikiria after killing the cow

Over the past few years, he has matured, behaved well and finally settled in a place called Oltiasika mating with more than 6 females and siring over 9 cubs. His pride is composed of 14 lions and is thus one of the biggest lion groups that our Lion Guardian Project monitors outside protected areas.

Some of the cubs sired by Sikiria

A few days ago, Sikiria, together with his brother and constant companion Oyayai, killed a cow at a place called Elang’ata Enkima on Kuku Group Ranch during the day. The cows were being herded by 3 Morans and when the Morans confronted these lions, Oyayai ran for his life but Sikiria waited for them. He was speared but in return he seriously injured 2 of the warriors while the 3^rd ran home calling for reinforcements. Many Morans came to the rescue of their colleaques and speared Sikiria to death. But before he died, he seriously injured a 3^rdMoran. All the injured Morans are currently recuperating at Loitokitok District hospital and we wish them quick recovery. According to the Maasai tradition, human injuries caused by any wildlife species is unforgivable and revenge is usually the ultimate response.

Sikiria lies dead with holes from spear wounds and parts removed by the warriors

Up until he finally met his fate, and upon downloading his movement patterns, Sikiria had travelled almost 7,000 square km, passing through 21 of the 30 Lion Guardian zones. As far as we can find, he has one of the largest documented ranges outside the desert lions of the Namib. Sikiria has always been a problem lion but our Lion Guardians in conjunction with other stakeholders within the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem like Maasailand Preservation Trust game scouts, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and KWS –Amboselihave all contributed to his protection until he met his fate. He was well-known as a recent survey conducted in Lon Guardian areas showed. Over 70% of people in the surveyed areas could name at least one lion and Sikiria was the most frequently named; a lion legend. His prominent beauty, unique personality, and composure will always be missed by those who knew him.

Sikiria's GPS locations

The last photo taken of Sikiria before his death

Living With Lions, the parent organization of Lion Guardians, has several other projects operating in Kenya, in addition to Lion Guardians!  Please read LWL’s annual report, which we have just posted to our website, to learn more about these great projects!  And please remember that we rely on your support to finance these projects, so please support us by donating here.

Click here to go to Living With Lions Annual Reports

It was a remarkable year for Living with Lions, with conservation accomplishments in each project area which can be adapted for use in many other parts of Africa. In the Amboseli region, the drought of 2009 killed off 70-85% of lions’ wild prey, forcing them to turn to the remaining Maasai livestock, itself reduced by at least 60%. Starving lions started invading Maasai bomas to kill cattle, and in the first three months of 2010, 16 lions were speared or poisoned in the one small area which as yet had no Lion Guardians program; in the rest of the region, the Guardians stopped dozens of lion hunts, and none were killed.  This stunning success in protecting lions during a major crisis has shown the Guardians concept to be an extraordinarily effective lion conservation strategy for areas outside parks. To a biologist, an equally impressive development has been the Guardians’ efficacy at finding, identifying, and cataloguing the region’s remaining lions. Persecuted predators are nocturnal, very shy, and nearly impossible to count. Working with our biologists, the Guardians have identified essentially every lion in the region, documenting lengthy movements and very large home ranges. This is an unprecedented accomplishment, remarkable testimony to the field skills of the Lion Guardians and incredibly hard work by LWL biologists.

In the Mara, Sara Blackburn has demonstrated the accuracy and efficiency of her lion monitoring method that depends on training tourism guides and their guests in accurate lion identification. This year, she is expanding her coverage from 350 to over 1000 square kilometers of this critically important region.

In Laikipia, Alayne Cotterill has made great progress in her dissertation work to determine if lions can change their spatial and temporal use of the landscape to reduce conflict with people and livestock. Long time collaborator Michael Calvin has re-activated the lion tracking website he developed several years ago, which plots the details of GPS-collared lion movements on Google Earth, allowing anyone to see how our study animals are using the landscape: http://www.abycats.com/laikipialionmap/ and http://www.abycats.com/klplionmap.

As Project Administrator, Lisette Gelber has transformed LWL into a far more organized and efficient organization. In 2010 LWL became  formally incorporated in Kenya and in 2011 we will be incorporating as a US nonprofit.

We hope you will find the reports interesting, and welcome any questions or inquiries.

Best regards,

Dr. Laurence Frank, Founder and Director
Living With Lions

The beginning of 2010 marked an extremely difficult time for our Lion Guardians. First, a prolonged devastating drought wiped out over half of the herbivore population – both domestic and wild. Livestock, which are the backbone of the Maasai economy, were drastically reduced by both the drought and the subsequent diseases which affected the survivors once the rains did come. The lions fared quite well during the drought, as they didn’t even have to hunt for their food – wildebeest, zebra and other prey species were dropping dead everywhere from starvation. This widespread loss of wildlife brought about an imbalance between predators and plains game. The few remaining primary prey species that were strong enough to survive the drought left the area as soon as the rains came. And those that stayed were strong enough that lions found it hard to find them and bring them down. As a result, the Lions therefore targeted livestock, as they were much easier prey. The Maasai pastoralists meanwhile vigorously guarded their remaining livestock, each of which had become tenfold more valuable as a result in the drastic reduction in herd size; conflict was clearly inevitable. Our Lion Guardians found themselves with a dual mission – they had to protect livestock from being killed by lions as well as defend lions from being killed by Maasai Morans in retaliation.

Even though their physical and mental strengths were tested to the limit, our Lion Guardians performed extremely well in 2010! With the help of other stakeholders within the Amboseli ecosystem, the Lion Guardians managed to stop over 44 lion hunting parties, most of which would have resulted in lion deaths had they not been stopped. Also, the Lion Guardians helped find 4,808 of the 5,635 lost livestock reported to them, most of which would have been killed overnight in the bush by predators if not found…deaths which would have no doubt resulted in further retaliation by the pastoralists. This translate to an 85% success rate, an impressive figure by any standard! The Lion Guardians also helped fortify over 100 bomas visited by carnivores at night, part of our effort to increase communal tolerance towards lions. In addition to creating lion protection “buffer zones”, the Lion Guardians also help create conservation awareness while acting as teachers of better animal husbandry within their communities.

Another major highlights of 2010 is that, with the help of our donors, we were able expand our Lion Guardians’ coverage to southern Olgulului, a conflict-prone zone that saw tens of lions being killed in the start of 2010. We recruited 5 new Lion Guardians and since they have started, not one lion has been killed in this stretch of land that is reknown for lion killing.

Also in 2010, we successfuly held the first ever Lion Guardian Games. Click here to read about it and click here to see a video of the games’ highlights. And now, at the end of an extremely productive year, to show the Lion Guardians our appreciation of the hard work they have done, we are providing each Lion Guardian with a D.Light S 250 solar lantern/phone charger. They will be able to use their lanterns in their searches for lost livestock as well as to provide illumination in their homes at night – rather than having to use smoky paraffin lanterns.

Please help us cover this and other important project related expenses such as salaries, phone credit and fuel.  If each person that follows us via our blog or Facebook donated even  $10, we would be able to cover the annual salaries of 8 Lion Guardians!  Please help us to continue our work – your support makes the difference!  Click here to donate (make sure to specify Lion Guardians)!

We would like to take this opprtunity to wish all our friends a prosperous Happy New Year and we look forward to your continued support in 2011!

All the best from Eric and the Lion Guardians

Recently, we have received several reports from our Lion Guardians and the Selenkay Conservancy game scouts of a male lion calling.  Our Lion Guardian team decided to do a “call-in” in an attempt to identify the lion. To do a call-in, we  play a variety of animal calls over a loudspeaker at night such as lion territory calls, buffalo distress calls, and a cacophony of excited hyenas.  If we are lucky, nearby lions, curious about the sounds, will come to investigate.  To keep them in the vicinity long enough for us to get pictures and identify them, we usually tie some sort of bait to a nearby tree or bush for them to snack on.

A curious lion shows up to see what is going on

The male lion that replied to the call-in turned out to be Ndelie, one of our collared male lions, who generally likes to spend his time between Kuku and Mbirikani Group Ranches.

Ndelie mugging for the camera

Curiousity...

We were surprised to find him there due to the fact that Selenkay Conservancy is quite far from his normal stomping grounds.  His presence reconfirms what we have been finding out this year; lions living outside protected areas have massive ranges.  We have also been finding that they hang out in groups of 2 or 3 but never in larger prides. This is their strategy for survival in areas that saw several past generations of lions being persecuted. Talk about survival instincts!  Ndelie was very nervous, and after spending a little time with the bait, he left the scene.

But what made the call-in even more interesting was the number of additional visitors it attracted. The first to respond was a serval cat.

A serval cat shows up

It took her a while to get comfortable with our car and she was also nervous from having just heard a lion roar at that particular spot not so long ago (she didn’t know that it was just a recording). But eventually she took her rightful share of the bait and thereafter left the scene. Then in the morning, when it is easier to see any enemies lurking about, it was time for another regular visitor to call-ins, the black back jackal.

A free meal!

It too took its share of the bait and then left, albeit reluctantly.

When the sun was a bit higher, another interesting visitor came; it was a pale chanting goshawk.

The Pale Chanting Goshawk eats mainly lizards, as well as large insects, small mammals and birds.

It first assessed the bait then did just what the other predators before it did, it began feeding.  Obviously, this late visitor made our long overnight vigil worthwhile.  But my question is, is this a normal occurrence or is it because the festive Christmas spirit is in the air?

Happy Holidays to all from the Lion Guardians!

The Lion Guardians have been conducting ‘spoor counts’ for almost a year now (spoor is a word meaning animal tracks) as part of their weekly routine. Each Guardian has two set routes of roughly 6km long and he walks each route once a week.

From the very beginning of the route to the end, the Guardian makes a note of how many tracks he has found of particular animals (i.e. prey that lion often eat, and large predators). The spoor counts help to scientifically identify the numbers of animals living in different parts of the ecosystem and show where and when the animals migrate. Here is Lion Guardian Kamunu doing his spoor count. Though he knows the tracks very well, he is using a visual guide as a scientific tool, so that we can verify the tracks he has identified.

The art of tracking is not as simple as just walking along, spotting some tracks and writing the number of animals onto a data sheet. Each Guardian needs to be 100% sure of the identity of the track before he can record it, and some tracks can be very similar, especially on different soil surfaces.

A good example of this is the difference between a leopard and a juvenile lion track. Both can be the same size and very similar in shape, so how do the Guardians know the difference?

As you can see above, the shape of the toes and the pad is slightly different, but if the track is not on good soil the toes may not show very clearly.    

Can you tell which is the track of the lion and leopard in the photo above?

By closely looking at the shapes of the pads, size of toes, distance of toes from pad etc, the Guardians can come to the correct conclusion every time and have no doubt in recording it on their data sheets.

So, getting the identity correct every time is one skill, but imagine how difficult it is when a Guardian comes across an area completely covered with lots of zebra tracks going in different directions and he has to work out how many zebra passed there!

In this situation, the Guardian starts by finding the tracks of the two fore feet and the two rear feet of one zebra. He makes a note of where they are on the ground, then looks for a different zebra track near it, and continues to add up the sets of tracks until there are none left. Here is Kutata marking the numbers of tracks he has found on his data sheet.

This is a very tricky subject but with the excellent traditional tracking knowledge the Guardians have, they continue to produce accurate results of the animals which the Maasai share their land with.

Keep up the good work Lion Guardians!

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.

On Monday we received a report from one of the guides from Amboseli Porini Camp, which is near our new project on Eselenkei Group Ranch. (Thank you so much for the report Amboseli Porini!) They told us they had seen a collared lion in Amboseli National Park, so we rushed over to see who it was.

Our suspicion was that it was Nempakai, who used to reside on Mbirikani with a large pride of 9 others, but hasn’t been here for many months now. We picked up her signal almost immediately and after some searching we found her relaxing with another female with three cubs. Here is Nempakai and one of the cubs.

Then just a few metres away we spotted 2 lovely young male sub adults, and another female, making a pride of 8.

And not only that but a few hundred metres away was a large if slightly bedraggled looking male. What a great sight!

We wonder whether Nemapaki and her pride will now stay in the park or venture back over to Mbirikani. Amboseli is extremely dry. Here you can see a dead zebra next to bones from another animal, with another carcass in the distance.

The place is littered with dead wildlife; buffalo, zebra, wildebeest and sadly elephants are dying too.

The drought is seriously harming the wildlife and Maasai livestock in this area and our Guardians are struggling to cope with their communities’ problems. Lion Guardian Koikai told us yesterday that at a boma close to him they had 12 dead cows in one day, and had burnt 26 dead cows the previous week. The Maasai people here are finding it extremely hard at this time.

We are very happy to introduce you to our new biologist who is now working for the Kilimanjaro Lion Conservation Project, the lion research wing of Living with Lions on Mbirikani Group Ranch.

Kylie joins us from Budongo Forest, Uganda where she was working for the Jane Goodall Institute, an organisation dedicated to the conservation of chimpanzees and their habitat. She now keeps track of our lions on Mbirikani and surrounding areas, and follows up any sightings and reports from Lion Guardians.

So far Kylie has helped find our lost lion, Selenkay, who had wandered very far from where she was first found, has had some close encounters with newly collared female Nimaoi, and has caught up with Nemasi’s two remaining offspring. All of this whilst getting to know her way around the ranch, meeting all the Lion Guardians, and trying to get used to the weird and wonderful ways of the Living with Lions team!

Kylie will be bringing you news from the collared and un-collared lions she finds on Mbirikani, and keeping you up to date with the local prides. Welcome Kylie!

As we told you last week, we finally found our collared female lion Selenkay in Amboseli National Park. She had been wandering far and wide, around Amboseli and the surrounding communally owned Maasai land with 2 other females.

On Saturday we received a call from Lion Guardian Mokoi to tell us he had been following the tracks of 2 female lions on Mbirikani Group Ranch, not far from Mbirikani town, so we rushed over to meet him and find out who these lions were. We tracked from the top of a nearby hill, and found that it was Selenkay, who had come over from Amboseli with one other female!

Here is Selenkay’s beautiful friend.

We have asked Mokoi and Olubi, the Lion Guardians that work in the area closest to Selenkay’s latest position to keep a close eye on their movements, and to make sure that all the herders in the area know that they are close, so that they can keep their livestock in a different area.

The other members of the Tara pride are still located on our neighbouring ranch Eselenkei, where the new Lion Guardians are taking great pleasure in keeping track of this fantastic group of lions. Collared female Nosieki has 2 small cubs, and the other pride lioness Nasieku has 3 cubs. Here is Nosieki with one of her small cubs.

And here is one of Nasieku’s cubs, a few months older than Nosieki’s.

The cubs have great fun playing together, and with the male of the pride. The lions in Eselenkei and Mbirikani seem to be doing very well at the moment, probably because of the availability of weak prey, due to the drought. The Guardians are doing a brilliant job of monitoring their movements and reducing any possible conflicts between the local people and the carnivores.

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!