Lion Guardians

Category: Community work, Lion Guardians work | Date: Jun 01 2009 | By: lionguardians

After months of waiting, we have finally been able to conduct interviews for three positions as Lion Guardians on Eselenkei Group Ranch. With the drought really affecting the area, the Maasai murrans (warriors) have been travelling huge distances throughout southern Kenya in search of better pastures for their famished cattle herds. Now after a little rain, the murrans are returning to their home area, allowing us to finally hold some interviews! Here are some of the prospective Lion Guardians awaiting their interviews!

We are very excited by this initial step into the new area of Eselenkei. In each of the three areas we had up to 10 eager murrans keen to show us their tracking skills.

Over three consecutive days we interviewed a total of 27 murrans, of which we have selected half to go forward to the next stage - one step closer to becoming a Lion Guardian!

We have been extremely impressed by the eagerness of the murrans we have met. It is exceptionally difficult for young men in Maasailand to find work, particularly as many of them have never attended school and are mostly illiterate, so the opportunities the Lion Guardians program provides makes a huge to their lives.

Hopefully the potential new Lion Guardians will continue to impress us over the next few stages of selection until eventually we have three brilliant Lion Guardians working to protect their once immortal enemy, now turned provider of work - the lion.

Tags: community, eselenkei, interview, job, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

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Category: Meet the Lion Guardians | Date: Jul 28 2008 | By: lionguardians

As usual at the end of this month we will be holding our Lion Guardians monthly meeting. This is where all the Guardians come to camp and discuss what has happened in their area over the past month - if there have been any problems with carnivores, and what they have done about it, how they have helped their communities to prevent conflict and any other news from their zone.

It is also a chance for the Guardians to raise any points they may have about the program - they are involved in all the decisions that are made about how the program is run. They also get really excited about looking at the blog and all the comments and donations that have been made over the month.

This month, we would also like to interview a few of the Guardians and post the video clips on the blog. We thought it would be a great idea to ask you, the blog readers, if you have any questions you would like us to ask the Guardians, now that you have met them all.

If you have any questions for the Guardians please leave your comments below. If you have a specific Guardian in mind for your question make sure you tell us too! We are looking forward to hearing your questions!

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

8 responses so far