Lion Guardians

Category: Lion Guardian reports, life in camp | Date: Nov 20 2009 | By: lionguardians

After only a little rain, the devastating drought is still ravaging the greater Amboseli ecosystem. The drought is bound to completely change specialized pastoralism, the core of the Maasai’s cultural identity. It is like a wind that blows nobody good. Wildlife of all kinds despite their shapes and sizes are also susceptible to the drought. In fact, even ostriches which are considered to be extremely hardy in dry conditions are no exception.

The little showers that came to Eselenkei arrived just at the opportune time. Though not widely distributed throughout the area, the rain came as a big relief to many species. There has not been enough rain for much grass to come out, but there has definitely been a change in vegetation cover – the shrubs and trees are now becoming green. Here are some of the new Guardians on Olgulului, our neighbouring ranch – you can see how dry the ground still is here, but at least some of the trees are becoming green!

It was against this background that our Lion Guardian team came across a big ‘ostrich meeting’ attended by over a hundred of the birds. Adult males with black and white plumage, the white being restricted to the tail and the tips of the stunted wings, dictated the proceedings. With pink heads, necks and thighs and in the company of many females, the ostriches converged together in a manner suggesting a well convened meeting with a sensitive agenda on the table!

Clearly, the birds of feather wanted to discard the so called philosophy of ‘burying their heads in the sand’ and assuming everything is just fine. (Actually, I am yet to see any ostrich burying its head)! As opposed to this very wrong assumption, the ostriches in the ecosystem not only saw the devastating drought, they were experiencing it painfully.

Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, ostrich

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Category: Meet the Lion Guardians | Date: Nov 19 2009 | By: lionguardians

As we reported last week, we have now started up the Lion Guardians program on Olgulului Group Ranch too! Now we thought we should introduce you to some of the new guys who have started working there.. and our first new Guardian to be introduced is called Sumulei Ole Munke.

Sumulei represents the “Risa” zone and impressed our team of selectors during the interview and subsequent voluntary period with his many skills and real commitment to hard work. Though quiet and a good listener, his intermittent beaming smiles illuminate those around him on any subject of discussion. His impressive personality, wealth of experience and his general wildlife knowledge clearly put him above the rest. His tracking skills are second to none in this area, which is a busy wildlife migratory corridor.

Already, Sumulei has familiarized himself with the lions that are either resident or frequent his zone from time to time. Having participated in successful lion hunting parties in the past, Sumulei otherwise known by his age-mates as ‘Meingati’ is a valuable addition to the Lion Guardians team.  In fact, he has the luck of finding lions every time he goes out tracking! We think he will be a great competitor in the Lion Guardian Games too! Welcome Samulei!

Tags: , Amboseli, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, olgulului

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Category: Donations received | Date: Nov 18 2009 | By: lionguardians

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!

Tags: awards, competition, games, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

2 responses so far

Category: Donations received | Date: Nov 17 2009 | By: lionguardians

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!

Tags: awards, competition, games, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

5 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardians work, ways you can help | Date: Nov 16 2009 | By: lionguardians

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!

Tags: awards, competition, games, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

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Category: Lion Guardian reports, Lion Guardians work | Date: Nov 13 2009 | By: lionguardians

We are very pleased to announce that the Lion Guardians project has now officially expanded into Olgulului Group Ranch! The Group Ranch which surrounds the world famous Amboseli National Park is a huge area of communal land which also borders Eselenkei Group Ranch to the North, and Mbirikani to the East, where we already have Lion Guardians monitoring and protecting the lions.

The Lion Guardians team has been welcomed onto the ranch by the leaders of this expansive Group Ranch that holds almost half the wildlife population in the Greater Amboseli ecosystem. Together with both leaders and community members, we divided the Group Ranch into 8 zones. We conducted interviews within the zones and the turn-out was absolutely amazing! Despite the ongoing ravaging drought a total of 72 Maasai warriors (or morans) were interviewed for jobs as Lion Guardians.

Ordinarily, shortlisted candidates would go into a one month voluntary period before the final selection is made, but owing to the drought, which has been so destructive for the local communities, and the hard economic times they are facing, the Lion Guardians team decided to reduce the voluntary period to 2 weeks.

A total of 10 warriors who really impressed us during this period were finally selected as Lion Guardians on Olgulului Group Ranch. In a meeting attended by community members and all the Group Ranch officials, the Lion Guardians project was officially launched with leaders promising to give total support to the Lion Guardians team, and even inviting us to expand further south of the Group Ranch.

We are all extremely happy to be working in this new area, though our work is really cut out for us now, with 10 more Guardians working for the project! It also means we need your donations more than ever, with equipment to buy and wages to pay for 10 more Guardians, not to mention the extra administration behind running a project which has now more than doubled in size! Please wish us Good Luck!

Tags: , Amboseli, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, olgulului

3 responses so far

Category: Lions killed | Date: Nov 12 2009 | By: lionguardians

We were all shocked and saddened to read that a child recently died in Kenya from eating Furadan. We, along with Wildlife Direct and many many others have been trying to raise awareness about the poisonous affects of Furadan for a long time now.

Visit the Baraza blog to watch their video about the poisoning of lions in Kenya, and our Living with Lions poisoning crisis website page, which has more information.

Tags: furadan, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, poison, poisoning

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Category: Donations received | Date: Nov 11 2009 | By: lionguardians

The Lion Guardians would like to thank each and every one of you that has donated on our blog recently. We are sending out our deepest gratitude to:

Aleta W
Amy B
Anne C
Black C
Brenton H
Bruce L
Cindy C
Delineations (Kate A!)
Hashi H
Jacqueline H
Jessica F
John R
Joyce N
Katherine J
Lois C
Michael L
Pirjo I
Richard V
Ruth K
Samantha V
Sarah A
Sauwah T
Scott R
Sharon M
Sharon S
Sheri H
Susan C

What a long list of wonderful people who are all helping to pay the wages of the Lion Guardians, and keep this project running. The Lion Guardians on all 3 ranches are phoning in their lion reports daily, and helping their communities by finding lost livestock (Mokoi found over 40 lost goats recently!) and calming angry herders whose animals have been attacked by predators.

In this way, the Guardians are protecting the remaining lions, like the one in the photo above, in unprotected Maasai land outside national parks here in Southern Kenya.

Please help us by telling your friends about the Lion Guardians project, so they too can help conserve lions. It might take 5 minutes to send the link http://lionguardians.wildlifedirect.org to 10 of your friends, and it takes even less time to make a donation!  

THANK YOU to all of you for reading and supporting our work!

Tags: donations, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

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Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Nov 09 2009 | By: lionguardians

Lion Guardian Olubi reported that lions had killed a giraffe in his area of work, but he had not found a signal when using radio telemetry to track for collared lions. We went over to investigate, and Olubi and Mokoi guided us to the carcass.

The Lion Guardians could easily tell it been killed by a lion – they located some tracks and you could even see the scratch marks on the skin.

We used our telemetry gear to track from a hill in the area again, and could not pick up a signal. We hope that this means there are some new lions in the area! Olubi and Mokoi will keep track of any kills or lion tracks that they come across, so we can try to find out who these unknown lions are. And of course all our news will be reported to you on the blog!

Tags: giraffe, giraffe kill, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

6 responses so far

Category: life in camp | Date: Nov 06 2009 | By: lionguardians

Last night the Lion Camp received yet another visit from some naughty elephants, though they didn’t cause too much destruction this time, only knocking over the water container. We are also still getting regular nightly visits from our friend the genet..

..and this morning the lion camp had even more animal visitors in the kitchen - this time it was mice in the oven!

We haven’t quite worked out how these two mischievous mice are getting into the oven yet, but they will certainly get a shock when we start cooking!

Any ideas for a humane way to remove these pesky little guys from our kitchen?

Tags: Kenya, kitchen, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, mice, mouse

6 responses so far