Lion Guardians

Category: Meet the Lion Guardians | Date: Nov 19 2009 | By: lionguardians

As we reported last week, we have now started up the Lion Guardians program on Olgulului Group Ranch too! Now we thought we should introduce you to some of the new guys who have started working there.. and our first new Guardian to be introduced is called Sumulei Ole Munke.

Sumulei represents the “Risa” zone and impressed our team of selectors during the interview and subsequent voluntary period with his many skills and real commitment to hard work. Though quiet and a good listener, his intermittent beaming smiles illuminate those around him on any subject of discussion. His impressive personality, wealth of experience and his general wildlife knowledge clearly put him above the rest. His tracking skills are second to none in this area, which is a busy wildlife migratory corridor.

Already, Sumulei has familiarized himself with the lions that are either resident or frequent his zone from time to time. Having participated in successful lion hunting parties in the past, Sumulei otherwise known by his age-mates as ‘Meingati’ is a valuable addition to the Lion Guardians team.  In fact, he has the luck of finding lions every time he goes out tracking! We think he will be a great competitor in the Lion Guardian Games too! Welcome Samulei!

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

One response 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: Meet the Lion Guardians | Date: Sep 07 2009 | By: lionguardians

Kutata is the most educated of the new Lion Guardians, but is a very traditional Maasai warrior (moran), who is strong and confident. His humble background, likeable character, impressive personality, wealth of experience and respect for his seniors were all strong attributes that impressed the panelists during the selection period.

We expect Kutata to take a leading role amongst the new Lion Guardians owing to his educational status. Kutata is already proving his abilities by conducting focus groups to find out which bomas are the worst for predator invasion and compiling a list of those that need the most urgent re-builds to make them predator-proof.  He is also marking the location of all local bomas with GPS.

We are very pleased that Kutata is bringing his skills and experience to the Lion Guardians team, and we hope you will enjoy reading the stories of his work protecting lions and stopping conflict between his community and the wildlife they live with.

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

One response so far

Category: Meet the Lion Guardians | Date: Sep 04 2009 | By: lionguardians

Melita is a very young moran who impressed our team with his enthusiasm and eagerness for work. The commitment in which he undertakes community work is second to none - working all day in the hot sun to fence livestock enclosures (bomas) to make them predator-proof.

Though he has never been to school, Melita highly appreciates the efforts being made to train him to read and write. Having participated in successful lion hunts in the past, Melita is now eager and willing to change this traditional practice and to protect the predatory species he once went out to kill.

He is a real go-getter, who takes every task in his stride and can’t wait to get on with his work as a Lion Guardian. We are very glad to have him on the team, and are looking forward to making good use of his enthusiastic hard work!

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

2 responses so far

Category: Meet the Lion Guardians | Date: Sep 03 2009 | By: lionguardians

Meet Lopono, the lastest Maasai warrior to change his ways from lion killing to lion conservation! Lopono is joining the Lion Guardians team on Eselenkei Group Ranch and will work to monitor the lions here and reduce conflict between his local community and predators.

Lopono is a very friendly and likeable character, who makes everyone feel comfortable in his presence, whether he knows you or not. He comes from a poor background, and is extremely hard working and enthusiastic. The eagerness with which he undertakes his duties strongly impressed our team during the volunteering period.

We hope we will be able to use his diplomatic skills to calm angry community members who may have lost livestock to predators and are bent on revenge attacks. His knowledge of the lion migratory corridor through the group ranch will also come in handy during the course of his work monitoring the location of lions.

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

3 responses so far

Category: Meet the Lion Guardians | Date: Sep 02 2009 | By: lionguardians

Now that the project is up and running on Eselenkei Group Ranch, we want to introduce you to the four new Guardians who are working here. The first Lion Guardian we would like to introduce you to is Kamunu.

Kamunu is the most experienced of the new Guardians. He is extremely articulate and very smart, but has never been to school, so is now learning to read and write. Though quiet and thoughtful when asked anything, his answers are always accurate and clear.

Mature and confident, Kamunu is one of the most highly respected morans in Eselenkei Group Ranch. He has participated in many successful lion hunting sessions in the past, and has a good knowledge of lion tracking.We hope to use his valuable experience to prevent further lion killing by his age-mates.

Having impressed our team of selectors during the volunteering period, we expect him to play a prominent role during the forthcoming transitional period when the new moran age-group is initiated, and the threat that new morans might go out and kill lions becomes more imminent.

Welcome Kamunu!

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

One response so far

Category: Meet the Lion Guardians | Date: Sep 01 2009 | By: lionguardians

Eric is our new Lion Guardian Coordinator in Eselenkei Group Ranch, where we have now expanded the project to. Fluent in Maa, Swahili and English, very eloquent and with a friendly and likeable character, Eric has so far proved to be a great asset to the team. He trained as a community development worker and worked for an NGO in Southern Kenya before joining the project.

A leader in his own right, Eric is highly respected by his community and is very influential both within his group ranch and outside it. Eric is an excellent tracker and has participated in several successful lion hunts in the past. Here he is training the new Guardians about their tracking forms.

Eric is also gifted at influencing the community and we intend to use these skills to help stop lion killing by the new warrior age-set, which will soon be initiated (some months after the rains come). He comes to the job with a pool of reconciliation and conflict-resolution skills that are absolutely necessary in the conflict-prone Amboseli ecosystem.

Eric will be writing posts from the Eselenkei Lion Guardians from now on - he will start with profiles of each of our four new Guardians.

Welcome to the team Eric!

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

2 responses so far

Category: Meet the Lion Guardians, ways you can help | Date: Aug 26 2009 | By: lionguardians

Pilenanka Sitiyo volunteered as a Lion Guardian in the Ilchalai area back at the start of the project in 2006, and showed great promise, but was just beaten by Lenkina who still holds the position in that area. Now we are pleased to see him again, and he has shown his dedication to the project by moving his family and boma all the way over to Old Donyo Wuas so that he can work as a Lion Guardian in this area.

There are often problems with hyenas in the Ol Donyo Wuas area, and Pilenanka has been working hard to improve the local livestock enclosures, as well as helping find lost livestock, which is a particular problem during the dry season.  Pilenanka can read and write well, and has been helping new KLCP biologist Kylie get to know the area, as well as translating for her, with his knowledge of English and Swahili.

Pilenanka needs a sponsor! If you would like to sponsor new Lion Guardian Pilenanka, please put a 1 in the QTY box for Lion Guardian sponsorship and make sure to add a comment so we know you would like to sponsor him. We need your help! Without your donations the project cannot afford to continue its important work conserving lions. Thank you for your support from all the Lion Guardians!

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

One response so far

Category: Meet the Lion Guardians, ways you can help | Date: Aug 25 2009 | By: lionguardians

We are pleased to announce the arrival of two new Lion Guardians on Mbirikani Group Ranch. Mushaga is replacing Melubo in the Oltiasika area and Pilenanka replaces Lion Guardian Solonka in the Ol Donyo Wuas area. We are sad to say goodbye to Melubo and Solonka who have both worked hard for the project, but are excited to welcome two new Guardians to the team!

Mushaga Kaika enthusiastically volunteered for the project for a month before starting work officially this month. His excellent tracking skills and eagerness for walking secured him his position even though he has never been to school and therefore can’t read or write. He is now actively practising his writing skills so he can fill in the lion monitoring and community work forms which he’ll be using.

Already he has been finding lion tracks almost daily, and has quickly learnt how to use radio telemetry to track collared lions. Mushaga is well known in his area and has already been helping with boma wall fencing and finding lost livestock. We hope he continues in this enthusiastic approach and finds some new lions in his area!

If you would like to sponsor Mushaga, he would be absolutely thrilled, and it will help the project considerably. Sponsorship of a Guardian pays for his wages, basic equipment like a backpack, pens, paper, and monthly costs such as phone credit (for making lion reports to the biologist), and administration costs like printing of his monthly data entry forms.

You can sponsor Mushaga by putting a 1 in the QTY box for Lion Guardian sponsorship. Please add a comment so we know which of the Guardians you would like to sponsor. Thank you for your support from all the Lion Guardians.

Find out about new Lion Guardian Pilenanka in tomorrow’s blog!

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

2 responses so far

Category: Meet the Lion Guardians, ways you can help | Date: Aug 24 2009 | By: lionguardians

Lucky Lion Guardian Koikai is being sponsored by blog reader Anne C. We are extremely grateful to Anne for her support of Koikai, and of the whole Lion Guardians project - she recently also donated a brand new laptop for our new Lion Guardians in Eselenkei Group Ranch, so they can fill in all the data they are collecting there! What a fantastic gift! Along with the laptop Anne also sent over a card for Lion Guardian Koikai, which we gave him last week.

Koikai was absolutely thrilled to receive the card. He was amazed to think that someone on the other side of the world is thanking him for the work he is doing, and even paying his wages and helping with all the other costs needed to run the program every month.

We would like to send a massive thank you to Anne, from the whole project, but particularly from Koikai, who was so touched to receive this note from the across the world!

ASANTE SANA ANNE!!

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

4 responses so far