Lion Guardians

After the sad news about the lion killed in Tanzania, we thought we would bring you some good news… We have finally reached out target of $1000 that we need in order to hold the Lion Guardian Games! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated! We are thrilled that we will be able to go ahead with the Lion Guardian Games, which will be happening between Christmas and New Year on Mbirikani Group Ranch.

The different games that have been selected by the Lion Guardians from the 3 Group Ranches are Singing, Stick throwing, Spear throwing and Football. Each ranch had to choose their two favourite ‘Warrior Games’ that they wanted to compete in (i.e. the ones that they thought they would have the best chance at winning!) Though football doesn’t really count as a traditional Maasai Warrior activity, we thought it would be a great team game and lots of fun!

Mbirikani chose to compete in singing and football, Olgulului have chosen singing and spear throwing and Eselenkei have chosen singing and stick throwing. Obviously all three ranches think they are the best singers, so that will be a very interesting (and wonderful) competition! Click here to hear the Mbirikani Lion Guardians singing!

Here are the Eselenkei Guardians with their sticks at the ready!

We are very lucky that 2 film makers will be coming over to visit us and will film the Games, so we hope you will be able to see them and feel all the excitement of the Games in the future too!

Again, thank you so much for your donations, and we will keep you posted on how the plans develop!

Thanks to some recent donations from Diane K, Gary L and Sylivia K, we now only have $150 to go to raise enough money to hold the Lion Guardian Games!!! This is fantastic news, and the Lion Guardians from the three ranches – Mbirikani, Eselenkei and Olgulului are all now very excited!

Although the Eselenkei team is only small (with only 4 Guardians on this ranch), their numbers will be bolstered by the addition of Coordinator Eric, lion and hyena researcher Stephanie’s assistant Lenkai and others who work with them at the Lion Guardians base camp.

Thank you to all our donors, and please help us raise this last $150!!

Thank you Sauwah, Brenton and Anna! You have now raised our Lion Guardian Games total to $250! Only $750 more to go! The Lion Guardians are all talking about who will win which event, and which ranch has the better singers, jumpers and stick throwers!

All the Guardians from each ranch are deciding on the top two games they would like to compete in. For example, the other day at the Mbirikani Lion Guardian meeting, one of the Guardians Kapande, stood up and said that they should definitely NOT choose singing because the guys from Eselenkei ranch will embarrass them! Other Guardians from Olgulului said that they shouldn’t choose spear throwing because they are just so good at it that there will be no competition, and thus no point! We can’t wait to see who will win the different competitions!

Thank you for helping us make it happen – and please spread the word!

We are delighted that Owen and Sheri Hogle have donated $100, and started the climb up our Lion Guardian Games thermometer! Thank you so much!

Let’s try and spread the word about the first ever Lion Guardians Games and Awards, and get to the top as soon as we can!

The Games will involve competitions in all the skills of a Maasai warrior – tracking, spear throwing, singing, stick throwing, jumping and even maybe football! There will also be awards given out to Guardians who have performed well in their different lion conservation and monitoring duties over the year. All the Guardians are talking about the Games and who will win which event and award! We can’t wait!

As you may know we now have Lion Guardians monitoring and conserving lions on three Group Ranches across the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem – Mbirikani (where the project started), and now Eselenkei and Olgulului Group Ranches. These ranches combined are about 4000km², and hold key habitats for the last remaining lions of southern Kenya.

The Guardians are all Maasai warriors, working in the own communities to monitor their lions and reduce any conflicts between the local people (and their livestock) and carnivores. The guys work extremely hard 6 days a week, and thanks to YOUR donations they are getting their wages paid, and tracking equipment, GPS units and supplies bought for their work. Here are the Mbirikani Lion Guardians.

To celebrate the hard work of the Lion Guardians and the success of the project, this December we will be holding the first ever LION GUARDIAN GAMES! This will involve the coming together of all the 25 Guardians from the three ranches, to meet and compete and celebrate their work together. Here are the Eselenkei Lion Guardians, with Co-ordinator Eric, ready to compete!

The Games will involve competitions in all the skills of a Maasai warrior – tracking, spear throwing, singing, stick throwing, jumping and even maybe football! This will not only be a fun way for the Guardians to relax after a hard year of successful work, but will be a way for those from different ranches to meet each other, and gain a sense of ‘brotherhood’, to tell stories of their work and collaborate with each other.

As lions range far and wide across ranch boundaries it is important that the Guardians on neighbouring ranches get to know each other so they can communicate about when lions are roaming into each others’ zones. This collaboration is essential for lion conservation to happen successfully across the ecosystem.  Here are some of the Lion Guardians playing football on the Mbirikani plains.

As well as awarding prizes to the winners of the various games, we will also be giving awards for the best work over the year, for example for the most lions reported, the highest number of lost livestock found, or the Guardian who stopped the most number of lion hunts. This gives something for each Guardian to work towards at the end of each year.

So now we need your help! We need $1000 to make the Lion Guardian Games happen. This will be spent on prizes, food, transport, and accommodation for 25 Guardians at our Mbirikani camp. Please help us by making a donation by adding a number in the ‘Lion Guardian Games’ QTY box, so we can raise the $1000 we need to hold the Games. Our suggested donation is $50, but if you would prefer to make a donation of a different amount, please do! You just need to let us know that your ‘open donation’ should be put towards the Lion Guardian Games by making a comment on the blog. Thank you!

The Games will be a celebration for the Lion Guardians, for the lions they have saved so far, and those they will save in the future.

A very big THANK YOU from all the Lion Guardians!