Lion Guardians

Category: Lion Guardian reports, Meet the lions | Date: Sep 30 2009 | By: lionguardians

A few days ago Lion Guardian Pilenanka came across a zebra that had been killed by lions not far from camp. We went down to see the carcass, and found that not very much had been eaten, and realised the lions would probably come back to the kill that night. We decided this was the perfect opportunity to put up the camera trap, and see whether the lions came back to their kill!

We carefully set up the trap by a nearby tree, and left it overnight to see who arrived at the scene of the kill. When we came back to the site the next day we found the trap had been opened up and was hanging off the tree, and covered in hairs, bite marks, blood and saliva!

The camera was switched off, and we feared that it had been completely destroyed, by what looked from the tracks to be a huge male lion!

We rushed back to camp to see whether the camera had been able to take any photos before it was attacked. It was then that we found out who the culprit was - our collared male lion Kesayou!

Unfortunately he was on the wrong side of the zebra to get a very good photo, but we have got 2, which we can recognise him from. Kesayou is extremely camera shy, and obviously did not want to be photographed while eating the zebra!

Luckily the camera still works, and once it is cleaned up it should be perfectly fine again. Next time we will have to put the trap out of his reach!!

Tags: camera, camera trap, Kenya, lion, lion attack, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

6 responses so far

Category: life in camp | Date: Jan 30 2009 | By: lionguardians

Thanks for your concern for the young herder who was attacked by a lioness protecting her cubs. We have heard that he is doing fine, which is really great news.

I also wanted to remind you all to watch us on BBC2 this Sunday at 9pm. The programme is called Explore: The Rift Valley and we feature right at the end (as the grand finale)! So make sure you stay tuned until the end!

The Lion Guardians are all arriving in camp today for the end of month meeting tomorrow, so it is very busy here, with warriors everywhere demanding cups of tea! One of them has been walking since 4 in the morning to get here!

I’ll let you know how the meeting goes after tomorrow.  

Hope you all have good weekends!

Tags: BBC, explore, Kenya, lion, lion attack, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, simon reeve

7 responses so far

Category: Lions killed | Date: Nov 04 2008 | By: lionguardians

We are sad to report that another lion has been killed on our neighbouring ranch Olgulului, where we are soon to start the Lion Guardians program. The lion killed a big expensive bull, and in doing so injured its paw. A week later it killed a goat close to where the bull was attacked, and apparently was still limping. About 10 days after that it killed yet another goat in the same area and chased the young herder. It seems the lion was attacking livestock because it was weak, following the injury.

The lion’s carcass was found close to the area where the bull was killed, south of Amboseli National Park. It had been speared, and all the claws were missing together with the 4 canine teeth. We are so sad about this news. We hope that when we start the Lion Guardians on this ranch, attacks like this will stop.

Tags: dead lion, Kenya, lion, lion attack, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, speared

5 responses so far