Lion Guardians

Category: Community work, Lion Guardians work | Date: Aug 13 2009 | By: lionguardians

The one month voluntary period by the new Lion Guardians on Eselenkei Group Ranch is now over. During this period the volunteering Lion Guardians have helped reinforce more than ten community bomas (livestock enclosures) to predator proof levels, found lost livestock herds in the bush and been tracking lions across the length & breadth of the ranch. Here one of our new Guardians takes a photo of a collared female from the Tara pride.

Because of our funding constraints we have had to pick only the four best Lion Guardians from our 10 volunteers. The four Lion Guardians that have been selected are Kamunu, Kutata, Melita and Lopono. Here they are receiving training from our new Lion Guardians Coordinator in Eselenkei, Eric.

We chose the warriors that were the most honest and hard working, and who had shown dedication and skill at lion tracking and community work, particularly in helping to upgrade local livestock enclosures. The constant flow of gratitude and appreciation, the positive facial expressions of community members and the instant embracing of boma reinforcement as a way of reducing human-wildlife conflicts means that this kind of community assistance will be a strong component of the Lion Guardian project here on our new ranch.

Keep reading the blog for more news of these four hard working warriors who have successfully gained employment with the Lion Guardians project.

Tags: conflict, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Livestock, Maasai, masai, masai warrior

5 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: Donations received, Lion Guardians work | Date: Aug 14 2008 | By: lionguardians

Lion Guardian Koikai has reported two lions close to Olbili, where he lives and works. When he passed on this information to the office, he said he thought they were a new pride. Our collared male Lentim is at Olosira, a hill close to Olbili, but Koikai think the ones he came across are probably new lions. Wouldn’t it be great if new lions like this had moved into the area?

I will deliver a receiver to Koikai soon so that he can track these lions, and find out if they are collared, or new individuals as he suspects. The good news is they have not caused any trouble to livestock owners. We really hope this continues, but as ever Koikai and the other Lion Guardians will be ready to try to dissolve any conflict that may arise between livestock owners and carnivores.

It would be great if we had the funds to buy each of our Guardians a receiver. This would make the program much more efficient as they would know for certain which lions they were tracking. As always, your donations are really appreciated, and are vital in order for us to continue the program.

Thank you to everyone who has made donations recently - Edward M, Dave B, Black C, Wanda H, Peter P, Caroline T, and Loki Q. We would not be able to continue our work without your support.

Tags: collar, conflict, donations, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Livestock, Maasai, masai

5 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardians work, ways you can help | Date: Jun 16 2008 | By: lionguardians

I thought I would tell you a bit more about the news story that has been on the internet and in a lot of the newspapers worldwide recently. The story is about the crisis in lion numbers, especially around Amboseli National Park, near where the Lion Guardians program is located.

It explains that big cats are declining at an alarming rate and may even be extinct in the region within a few years. There may be less than a hundred lions in the area. The main cause of their drastic decline is that the lions have been hunted by the Maasai because of the conflict between the lions and their cattle.

The story talks about the Lion Guardians program and how we employ Maasai murrans, who used to hunt lions themselves, but are now helping to conserve them. The Guardians track collared lions, and warn herders if they are grazing their livestock in an area close to where a lion has been spotted.

They also help herders make their bomas stronger so that predators find it harder to get in, and help them to find lost livestock, as well as educating their communities about how important it is to have carvnivores around. One of their main and most important tasks is to persuade their contemporaries not to hunt lions.

The National Geographic has started a new fund to raise money for big cats, which we hope will help conserve lions in the area. But the Lion Guardians also need your donations to allow us to continue with our important work with the local community.

Tags: conflict, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Maasai, masai, natinal geographic, news, tracking

5 responses so far