Lion Guardians

Category: Community work, Donations received | Date: Jul 18 2009 | By: lionguardians

Thank you for your concern about the ongoing drought here and for your donations over the past few months. We would like to thank Cass N, Brian M, Black C, Richard V, Lois C, Anne C, Loki Q, Diane K, Jessica F, Pirjo I, Sheri H, Katherine J, Samantha V, Scott R, Jace A, Sauwah T, Hashi H and Jide A for their support of the Lion Guardians and their help conserving the wild lions of Maasailand and the other wildlife that is struggling to survive here. Here is a photo of some of the members of our new Tara pride, that you are helping with your donations.

The boma (livestock enclosure) fencing by our voluntary potential Lion Guardians on new ranch Eselenkei is going very well. The Guardians have shown total commitment to their community work. A perfect example is Melita, who selected a boma which needed to be re-built very urgently, as the owner was having problems with his livestock being attacked by predators that were able to get through gaps in his boma.

Amazingly Melita completed the work in one day - a very impressive achievement! Members of the community have quickly embraced boma fencing as a way of preventing human wildlife conflicts.

Speaking of our new Lion Guardians on Eselenkei, we have a request for you. Are you, or is anyone you know getting rid of an old laptop? The new Lion Guardians team are starting to collect data now, and need to enter this into a computer so that we can measure how the project is doing.

The computer would need to be able to run Microsoft Office (Word and Excel), but do nothing more complicated than that! Do you think you can help? If so, please add a comment below! Thank you!

Tags: boma, eselenkei, fencing, human wildlife conflict, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, predator

7 responses so far

Category: Community work | Date: Jul 10 2009 | By: lionguardians

At the workshops we held recently with the new potential Guardians, we asked them to each pick the weakest boma  (livestock enclosure) in their area - one that had been recently targeted by predators or that they thought needed the most urgent re-building.

We wanted them to find bomas that would benefit most from being given the Lion Guardians predator proofing treatment! A boma wall like this for example, would certainly not stop a lion or a hyena attacking the livestock inside!

Yesterday we set out to verify that each Lion Guardian had chosen the weakest boma and to give them the go-ahead to start improving it. With three zones to cover, we set out early to check the ten bomas. In the first zone we found three well chosen bomas all needing to be re-built, and were honoured to have the presence of the local area chief.

At the second zone we found that the three Lion Guardians here were so eager to start helping their local community that they had already started work on re-building a weak boma! The owner was very thankful for the hard work of the warriors. It might have taken him a week to complete this work himself. We left zone two knowing that the Guardians here had already made a great impact on the life of one family in the community.

The four Guardians in zone 3 had all chosen wisely, with one of the warriors selecting a boma which had recently experienced an incident where a hyena broke in and bit two people as well as killing two goats. 

We were very pleased with all the work we had seen and made our way back to camp satisfied that the new Guardians were beginning to make an impact in their communities. We’ll continue checking on their progress in the upcoming weeks and let you know how they all progress!

Tags: boma, Community work, conflict, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Livestock, Maasai, masai

2 responses so far

Category: Community work | Date: Jun 01 2008 | By: lionguardians

It was yet another tiring day for the Guardians, working in the scorching sun fencing bomas. A hyena has attacked in the same area again, killing one sheep. The community was very angry and told us that they wanted to kill the hyena, and that they did not want us to work on their boma to make it stronger. There were also reports that a leopard was in the area, which jumped over a boma fence, and killed a goat too. Here I am with Lenkina, pulling branches to the boma.

After some discussions, the livestock owner allowed us to try again to strengthen the fence where the hyena broke through, and we did our best to make it as solid and strong as we could. Our fingers are crossed as we wait out another long night of uneasiness with the community. This may be the last chance for the hyena now. It sounds like the community will not tolerate any more livestock attacks from it. Mokoi helps by dragging branches to add to the fence.

Tags: boma, hyena, Kenya, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, warriors

3 responses so far

Category: Community work | Date: May 27 2008 | By: lionguardians

In traditional Maasai culture, a boma (kraal) is used to keep livestock away from raiders, and to an extent to provide a safe place for livestock away from predators. A boma is an enclosure made of thorn branches. We especially like to use branches from Acacia mellifera because it is very strong, and has hooked spikes that hold on to animals tightly. Livestock owners keep their shoats (sheep and goats) and cows in bomas at night time, and then let out to graze during the day.

 

In the past people did not think that carnivores were a big deal because if a carnivore broke into a boma, the owner would follow it and kill it. But since the introduction of conservation to this area people have seen the need to protect their livestock away from carnivores since they do not want to kill them due to the incentives they are getting to have wildlife around.

Since the introduction of Lion Guardians, they have been educating the community on the importance of having a good boma; not just a boma. Although cases of carnivores breaking into bomas is not that high compared to lost livestock, it is still a persistent problem in some areas, like Oldoinyo Wuas where a hyena has killed more than six shoats from inside a boma. The hyena apparently has taken livestock from two different enclosed bomas striking at several times of the night two to three times a week. Here is a goat left by one of the attacks, and behind it you can see the boma, which is very weak.

Yesterday the fencing team which includes Ernest, myself, the local community and Lion Guardians Lenkina and Mokoi, and the volunteer Lion Guardian for that area, Solonka, started work on the first of the two bomas to make it predator-proof. Solonka has been volunteering for more than a month just to earn the prestigious position of a Guardian in his community. The work involves cutting down big thorny Acacia branches, dragging them to the boma, and then piling them on the fence of the boma to make it taller and wider. It is really hard work! Here is Lenkina building up a wall of the boma.

And here is part of the finished wall of the first boma.

Today we are going to the second boma to reinforce it. I would like to thank Dana for her donation. We feel very encouraged for our second day of work, knowing we have the support of the Lion Guardians blog readers. Thanks once more - the guys are really happy.

Tags: boma, Kenya, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Livestock, Maasai, masai

One response so far