Lion Guardians

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 04 2008 | By: admin

Hello, Amy here. I am writing my first post while Antony is taking a well-earned few days off work. I have already been introduced by Antony, but I thought I would tell you a bit more about what I am doing here with the Lion Guardians, and why I think their work is so important.

I have been associated with the Living with Lions project for a while now, having made their website as part of my Masters project three years ago. Since then I have been updating the site and helping out the project in my spare time, while working as a producer.

Now I have swapped my London office, for a tent in the beautiful Chyulu Hills region of Southern Kenya, and am working as a volunteer for the Living with Lions project, which includes the Laikipia Predator Project, Kilimanjaro Lion Conservation Project, and of course the Lion Guardians. Although I am not getting a salary, there are a few major perks to the job - here I am with a male lion, which was darted by the Laikipia Predator Project last week for a collar change.

I think the Lion Guardians is a fantastic program. It is so great to see the Maasai warriors, who once used to spear lions, have now changed their attitudes towards carnivores, and have also helped to change those of their communities. It is extremely encouraging to see them bringing about real differences to the environment around them.

I am hoping to help the Guardians raise more much-needed funds through this blog. The project is always in need of donations, which among other things, go towards the costs of equipment, for example telemetry equipment so that the Guardians can track collared lions, and mobile phones, so that they can report their findings to us at camp. And of course we also need money to pay their wages! We are also desperately in need of a vehicle, as Antony’s bike is not a satisfactory form of transport, especially in the rainy season!

We know that everyone gives what they can. The problem is that we need to make more people aware of what we are doing, and the work that still needs to be done. Soon we will be starting a Sponsor a Lion Guardian campaign, and we hope that our loyal readers will help us by sending our blog address to anyone who might be sympathetic to the cause.

Thank you so much for all your donations. It is inspirational that so many people are interested in lion conservation and are willing to helping the Lion Guardians in their goal to conserve wild carnivores in Maasailand.

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Category: Meet the Lion Guardians | Date: Apr 26 2008 | By: admin

I know you are interested to hear more about my trip to Nairobi. I will write more about this after my journey back to camp, which I’m sure will be full of events too! Right now I want to tell you about how Lion Guardian Kapande is doing, as I think you will also want to hear about him. You may know he has been ill with appendicitis, and the readers of this blog have given very generously to support him with his medical expenses. I was so happy to visit him last week, just to see him and how he has been since I left him last in Nairobi hospital. Thankfully he was doing just fine, and his wound is healing. His wife is still at the clinic and according to Kapande’s mother she is doing ok. She delivered a baby girl.
The family is so proud of us all - the readers of the blog who helped raise funds for his hospital and expenses to Nairobi, and of myself for my little help I was able to give his family, especially his mother.

He is still weak- that is why I did not want to take a photo of him, but maybe in the next week he will have gained some health and I will be able to take a recent photo of him. In the meantime, here is Kapande before he became ill.

We would also like to say welcome back to Wildlife Direct to Seamus, who is now writing about his lion research with the Kilimanjaro Lion Conservation Project. He will be giving you information about his fieldwork and research, and the biology of the lions that the Guardians are helping to protect.

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Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Apr 19 2008 | By: admin

Our collared lioness, Nempakaai, that usually lives in Amboseli has been located with cubs. The lioness was collared early last year with the help of Guardians Olubi and Mokoi, to the West of Mbirikani. She then moved to Amboseli National Park with a pride of two females. Here is a photo of Lion Guardians Olubi and Mokoi with Nempakaai.

This lioness got her name from the location she was collared, a place called Empakaai Oolaiserr. Empakaai Oolaiserr used to be a Manyatta (a boma where warriors stay for many years) for the Ilkishumu age-group. Close to the boma was a big dam known in Maasai as Empakaai. Ilkishumu are now elders and an equivalent of my dads age, and he is 52 years old.

Nempakaai was with 8 other lions including these two cubs. It seems these lions have moved out of the park and are now on Mbirikani Group ranch close to where she was collared. Look at these beautiful little cubs, with fine handsome spots, uh! they are just amazing. It gives me the courage and pleasure to attain any limits to conserve them.

Thank you all so much for your donations to the Lion Guardians. We are so grateful for your generosity, and happy that we can continue conserving these amazing animals.

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Category: Lion Guardian reports, Meet the Lion Guardians, ways you can help | Date: Apr 15 2008 | By: admin

I went out to collect forms from Lion Guardians as part of my end of week work. I met Melubo and Ritei and we had some talk about their work, and had a look at their forms where they write down their weekly observations. I started heading back to camp but before I got to Olbili, where Guardian Koikai works, it started raining. The only way to camp became flooded and the area has black cotton soil, very sticky. I was forced to spend a night at Olbili. In the morning I got some reports that a murran had been attacked by an elephant at Oltiasika community. I know the area very well, so I knew that they have only one car and it is broken down, so they have no means to take him to the clinic.

I got on my bike and headed to Oltiasika see if I could help. The murran was lying on the ground, helpless. I offered to put him on my bike but he could not sit, he had to lie down and his right leg was so bad that he couldn’t bend it.

He suffered injuries on his right leg, arm and chin.

Later the game scout came with a car and helped him to the clinic. I wish I had a car, he would not have had to wait for long to be taken to the clinic. The community seems fine and they were not going to revenge by killing elephants. Earlier in the year several elephants were speared around Amboseli in a revenge attack. Here in Kenya lions attack people very rarely. In other places, like Tanzania, lion attacks on humans are increasing (http://www.lionresearch.org/main.html) but here we are not worried about being attacked by lions and we try our best to conserve them. If you can, please help us to continue to conserve our lions. Thank you to Peter P E and an anonymous donor for their kind donations which will help us to do this. Here is a photo of a real warrior, Lion Guardian Melubo.

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Category: Community work, life in camp | Date: Apr 11 2008 | By: admin

The rainy season normally comes with different things in Maasailand, one of the most important things is milk, because cows are healthy and there is enough pasture and water for them and so they produce a lot of milk. Milk is one of the most nutritious foods we have. When have a lot of milk we don’t need to buy any other food like maize flour or beans and other agricultural products.

If you don’t have cows one is regarded as oltorroboni (Dorobo). These are people in Kenya who are hunters and gatherers. They collect nuts and hunt for bush meat, and are looked down upon by other Maasai clans. But to us here in camp; the rainy season is sending us elephants. Here is one I took in the morning outside my tent.

In Maasailand we have two rainy season in a year, one starts in November and ends in late December, this is referred to as the short rains. The long rains as we are experiencing right now are from mid March to late May.

The evenings are so beautiful that I don’t want to get dark.

I have been giving you a weather report where I live, what is the weather like in your country?

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