Lion Guardians

The on-going human-wildlife conflict in Amboseli moved a notch higher yesterday with a complete show of bravado never seen in the recent past. Monday in the middle of the night a lioness, Amyjane, had jumped into a boma adjacent to the park, killed a donkey and cow, and was speared in the front left leg. The morans responsible for the spearing wanted to follow her into the park, but were persuaded not to by elders and village leaders. The morans heeded their advice, but continued to monitor the movement of the lioness inside the park. The following morning we were called in to track and assess the situation of the lioness. She was deep inside a small thicket when we found her and it was clear that she was experiencing a lot of pain. She didn’t move when we drove close with the vehicle and she exhibited a lot of aggression which is unlike her normal behavior.

One of the last photos of Amyjane alive

Then as fate would have it, the veterinary officer that was supposed to treat her was summoned very early in the morning to attend to a rhino that had died due to a gun wound from poachers in the Chyulu Game Reserve. While awaiting the vet to arrive, we responded to another depredation report we received from Lion Guardian Jackson in a nearby zone.

During that time, a herder brought livestock inside the park for water very close to where Amyjane was hidden. When she saw the herder, she growled and the livestock scampered for safety, thus prompting the herder to summon the morans from the nearby cultural boma. They responded immediately and tracked the lion within 10 minutes and speared her ten times till she succumbed to death.

At this time we had just finished verifying Jackson’s report and were on our way back to check on Amyjane, with five Kenya Wildlife Service rangers we picked up on the way. As we were approaching the site where we last saw her (about 50 meters away) we found a lion paw freshly cut. We immediately started to fret, but we also thought that maybe it belonged to another lion that might have been killed earlier that morning.

Worried, we rushed to the site where we had last seen Amyjane just an hour ago, but she was nowhere to be seen! We immediately reached for the receiver to track her collar, but unfortunately after five minutes of searching we came up empty handed. At this time we returned with the KWS rangers to where the paw was found and started tracking the perpetrators foot prints. Using my traditional tracking skills we followed their fresh tracks for about five minutes until we reached Amyjane.

Her body was dismembered; specifically the torso was cut in half and placed 50 meters apart likely to conceal the killing. Her head and all of her paws were missing. This was proof that her killers were in a hurry to leave the site, accompanied by their intentions to sell the fresh trophies to the nearby tourists who visit the park. Interestingly, the tail which is the most important part of traditional lion killing celebrations was still intact: meaning that the killing was not traditionally motivated. It was a ghastly site to see, especially given the fact that we had just seen her alive a few hours ago. I was horrified and heart broken at the same time.

Amyjane’s dismembered body

After joining Amyjane’s torso to verify it was one lion that was killed we decided to follow the fresh tracks of the warriors, which led to the nearby cultural bomas. What was interesting is that the cultural boma, which is always a bee-hive of activities (especially during the high season), was so conspicuously silent that one could hear a pin drop!

Amyjane whose pride has known misfortune over the last few years is the latest victim. Her sister mysteriously died two years ago and left her the duty of bringing up nine small cubs. She successfully brought six of those cubs to maturity, while one was killed by an elephant.  Another was killed by a pair of resident male lions and the third was speared at the gate of the same cultural boma in which her mother’s killers live. Currently, she has three very small cubs whom she left with her companion, who also has three cubs of the same size. We hope that she will be able to bring up all six cubs, but it will be a very difficult feat.

Amyjane’s companion will have a difficult task in trying to raise all of the cubs to maturity. The cubs pictured here are from a litter she had in 2010.

During the past week in Olgulului Group Ranch, lions have gone on a rampage and killed three cows, three donkeys and seriously injured six cows, all resulting in three lion hunts. Lion Guardians managed to stop all the three lion hunting parties in the respective zones. This is due to our diplomatic and non-accusatory approach. But, unfortunately Amyjane was hunted inside the park (outside of our jurisdiction) where existing tensions between the community and KWS has lead to a decrease in tolerance.

Eric used his tracking skills to locate Amyjane’s body and track her killers to the nearby boma.

Currently, the situation in Amboseli is tense and the relationship between the community and KWS is at its lowest ebb and we fear for the future of the local wildlife. The previous conflict resolution meeting on Aug 6^th, failed to arrive at an amicable consensus between KWS and the Maasai community. The Maasai community gave KWS 21 days to respond to their petition requesting a fair distribution of the park revenue.  If the morans are bold enough to hunt in the park in broad daylight and kill a collared lioness now, I shiver to think of what will happen if the trust between the community and KWS is severed over revenue-sharing. The parks wildlife will not survive without communal support and Amboseli National Park will be no more than a glorified zoo!!

Hopefully KWS and the local Maasai community can come to an amicable agreement in order to stop more senseless killings like that of Amyjane.

Olamayiani – the blessed one, Mingati – one who is fast and doesn’t lag behind, Miterienanka – one who is quick to claim (win) glory by killing a lion. These are just some of the most popular lion names a moran (a Maasai warrior) can receive from spearing a lion.

In Maasai culture the first warrior to spear a lion in a successful hunt is given a name that represents the characteristics of both the warrior and the lion he speared. A lion name conveys upon the young warrior recognition and prestige amongst his community and peers. A warrior with a lion name feels that something great has happened to him. When the successful warrior brings the lion’s mane and tail back to his manyatta (his home in the community) to be put on display, he is treated and celebrated as a hero. Other warriors who don’t yet have their lion names yearn to have this same recognition and so dream about the day that it will be their turn to bring home the lion trophy.

Young warriors such as these two spear lions in order to gain a lion name

When a Maasai boy is born, he has two names. One name reflects his father’s family. He also has a given name, which is usually chosen to honor a family friend, or someone respected by the family. If for some reason this given name becomes tainted, the boy’s father can give him a new name, but the family name never changes. Once a boy has been circumcised (usually between ages 16 to 18), he stops being called by these names. He is from that point on addressed with the generic name “Moran”, unless he has somehow already killed a lion, in which case he is called by his lion name. So there is more pressure than ever for a young Moran to distinguish himself from his other nameless peers and get a name that recognizes his strength, fearlessness and ability to protect his community.

The Lion Guardians are giving young warriors lion names in recognition of the work they do as lion conservationists

However, the Maasai communities are beginning to discourage lion killing, due to the rapidly dwindling lion population; therefore many new warriors are not being given the opportunity to earn themselves a lion name, which is something that they have been dreaming about since childhood. In Eselenkei group ranch, just as a passing experiment, Lion Guardians started calling a few young Moran by lion names, even though they had not yet killed a lion. We found that the younger boys and girls of the community began addressing these young Moran by these lion names, and soon thereafter, the older members of the community did so as well. The idea caught on like wildfire and soon their peers in their age-set also wanted to have lion names. But we also found that there were still several warriors who felt that they wanted to prove themselves and their bravery in order to earn their lion name. For these warriors we have been assigning them Lion Guardian tasks, and if they are able to show that they understand conservation and are able to protect a lion, then they get a lion name that reflects the characteristics of the lions they are protecting. So it is a win-win situation for all. They are now earning the respect and admiration of their community for having protected a lion. This is just yet another example of how the Maasai are willing to adapt their culture to changing times while still holding on to the core principles and the essence of being a Maasai Warrior, a Moran.

For survival reasons, lions outside protected areas hang out in groups of between two to three. By splitting, they stand better chances of survival from persecution after depredation of livestock. However, for the first time in the history of Eselenkei conservancy, a pride of eleven resides in it. Our female lioness Selenkay, has had two cubs from the previous litter graduate to sub-adult status and now has four little cubs. Her sister Elikan has two cubs as well. The resident male lion called Ndelie, makes the total number of lions an impressive eleven.

Selenkay and cub

This is a new record number of lions outside the Amboseli National Park. These lions have moved from Mbirikani to Eselenkei because of the ideal and favorable climate. There are plenty of prey species and Lion Guardians are doing daily monitoring in and across the conservancy. Tourists from the nearby Amboseli- Porini camp are having a field day with such a big number of lions. Traditional lion hunts have been prohibited and the community MPT game scouts are present to enforce the rules. Thus the existing climate gives lions plenty of reasons to stay, hunt and mate as well as nurturing their little ones to maturity.

Elikan after a kill

However, these lions are also showing a worrying trend. Since moving from Mbirikani to Eselenkei, they have killed seven cows so far, all of which are worth more than $4,000. This is cause for sleepless nights. It beats logic to understand why this pride is killing livestock in an area full of wild prey. It is our hope that they will stop killing livestock during the day and hunt what is rightfully theirs for the taking…wild prey. If they succeed in doing this, they stand a better chance of raising their second litter of cubs to maturity, which in turn will bring much joy to the Lion Guardian family.

Eselenkei pride cubs enjoying a cow

Two new lions have been spotted patrolling Amboseli National Park. Whenever these two brothers, Amboga and Companion, move into a new area, the resident male lions there move out. Amboga and Companion are now the new kids on the block in the park. They have made the northwestern side of the park their home and have managed to chase Kip, one of the resident lions known to Lion Guardians, out of the area and into the communal land along the Kenyan-Tanzania border. As a result, Kip has been terrorizing Maasai bomas and killing livestock frequently. He now resides in Kitirwa conservancy and makes occasional forays into Tanzania.

Amboga

Recently, he killed several shoats (goats and sheep) and cows in Tanzania and then crossed over to Kenya. On another occasion, he killed a cow and subsequently injured a Maasai warrior (murran) who was part of a group hunting him. Kip was able to escape. Several times the Maasai have hunted for him unsuccessfully. A few days ago, he was shot at with guns along the border in Tanzania, he luckily escaped again and crossed over to Kenya where he terrorized more bomas (Maasai livestock enclosure) along the boundary. He is currently a wanted lion in this area.

Kip

Clearly, even though he is alive for now, he is under the spot light and could be living his last days. What is hard to understand is why Kip, whom is not very old, doesn’t hunt the abundant wildlife that resides in and around the park. Why he has developed a soft spot for livestock meat is only known by him. If he consigns himself to Kenya he stands a better chance of surviving because there people are more tolerant to predators compared to their Tanzanian counterparts.

Kip

The Maasai, as a community, form a distinctive social unit sharing a culture, language and social structures. Structures such as age-sets and clans form the most important framework for both the social and political organization of the communities. Through them, every person has well defined roles, responsibilities, rights and obligations in relation to every other person in society. Traditionally, the Maasai’s social structure is based on a series of age-sets. Age-sets are the link that unites all the men and woman of a given age into a single comprehensive social institution.

Approximately every 14 years a new age-set (olaji) of warriors is initiated. When new generations of warriors are initiated the existing warriors move on to become junior elders. As each boy is circumcised between age 12 and 14, he is incorporated into a generational age-set. He and his cohorts pass through the stages of warriors to junior elders then to senior elders and finally to retired elders each lasting an undefined time frame. The senior elders have the primary responsibility for the traditional administration in Maasailand. Junior elders implement the instructions of their senior elders. The warriors (murran) are the defensive unit of the community and protect them against cattle-rustling neighbors and attacking predators. The warriors are well suited for this role. Members of an age-set must respect their sponsors/patrons (i.e. the senior elders to the warriors), but routinely experience tension and competition with the adjacent age-sets that immediately precede and follow them (i.e. the warriors to the junior elders).

Warriors singing

Currently a new generation of warriors has come of age. Many of them are now actively participating in the ‘meat eating sessions’ where Maasai traditional and cultural values are instilled on them. Tradition demands that the new warriors learn the art of survival, cattle raiding and warfare against neighboring tribes and attacking carnivores. This is where our greatest fear lies. In the past, killing a lion was a valuable act and proof of bravery. It carried with it prestige, status and respect in equal measure. The dwindling lion population within the Amboseli ecosystem cannot afford any more age-set related traditional killings. The two previous age-sets almost wiped out the lion population in the area.

Newly initiated warriors dancing

The Lion Guardian program, is working to create awareness and community mobilization against the current killing of lions. We incorporate the warrior age-set into lion conservation and research: in the process we inculcate them with values that allows the traditional warriors to hold on to their cultural practices of proving their strength and endurance by spending days in the bush tracking lions while at the same time, discarding retrogressive practices such as the spearing of lions, which is detrimental to the declining lion population in general and tourism as well.

Our program has already begun undergoing a slow transition in line with the current warriors to junior elders traditional transition. We have been honored that a few of our older Lion Guardians have been recruited into the ranks of MPT’s community game scouts. In their places, we have taken on board a few promising fledgling warriors belonging to the newly initiated age-set. One of our new recruits has just been elected by his fellow age mates as their age-set leader.

Our newest Lion Guardian(far right), and leader of his age-set

We are thrilled to be teaching these young, newly minted warriors about lions, conservation and hope for the future. The new Guardians are being trained by the senior Lion Guardians in a multi-faceted approach aimed at minimizing the issue of traditional lion killing. This is of particular concern because many of the newly initiated warriors are waiting for the coming of the rains when strong livestock return to the permanent homesteads. This is a time of feast and celebration as all the new warriors are together. Traditionally, it is during this time when warriors prove their strength and courage to the community, as well as woo young women by spearing lions. In the past decade, the most lions have been killed during the rainy seasons. The rains are just beginning now. In anticipation of this, we have, over the past few months, begun to hire and train as many of the new warriors as we can afford. We have now welcomed two new warriors to the Lion Guardians team and are actively trying to incorporate more.

My fears have now been validated. I regret to inform you that Nosioki, our motherly female lioness is no more! A few days ago, I wrote about the lion-livestock conflict in Osewan. This area has been of great concern to the Lion Guardians given the fact that it is just outside of Lion Guardian zones, on a neighboring Group Ranch, where the environment is rife with conflict. Lions have consistently been killing livestock in this thick area which was acting as a sanctuary for both livestock and wildlife. However, yesterday, 7 weak sheep that usually graze nearby got lost. They were found dead having been killed by hyenas based on the pattern of the killing. The carcasses were then laced with a white substance that is known to originate from Tanzania.

Poisoned sheep carcass

In the early hours of the morning, Nosioki and her cubs came across the carcasses and ate. The first female cub died instantly and our Lion Guardians found her and reported it immediately.

Lion Guardian Sitonik with Nosioki's dead cub

As they were relaying the information to us, Nosioki was kicking and taking her last breath. We found her dead shortly thereafter. Two vultures that had been perched on top of a nearby tree, later dropped dead, as well as countless flies. We assembled all the sheep, vultures and lion carcasses and burned them in order to prevent anymore death.

Sitonik with Nosioki

One male cub was still alive in the thicket and he ran away from us as we approached, a sign of being alert. Pua Mederi, the big male lion in the pride was fortunately not around and the cub might have been lucky. Our Lion Guardians are out today to look for his signal. However, with the male cub being barely a year, his fate is almost certain to be over.

The picture of Nosioki with her head facing down was clearly a sight to behold! I have never seen anything like this before. This was not just another lion to me. It was Nosioki, an individual that has been known to us for the last two years. She was part of the pride of Eselenkei community and owing to her good reputation of not killing livestock she was well liked. However, recently, since moving to a new area less tolerant of wildlife in general and predators in particular, she developed a trait of being a constant livestock killer.

Sitonik and Eric with Nosioki

Personnel from Kenya Wildlife Service later joined us but did not take any action saying the area is out of their Amboseli jurisdiction. The culprit is well known so we urge that action be taken against him- The killing has to stop. Without any action being taken against the culprit, many predators will disappear since this is the fourth lion to be killed in the area. Already, the future of Amboseli National Park hangs in the balance as animal migratory corridors and dispersal areas are being sold off. Add this to a continuous and systematic decimation of the dwindling lion population due to poisoning across the border in Tanzania and on the outlying Group Ranches, the fear of Amboseli becoming one big dust bowl will soon be real. God forbid!

Lion Guardians urgently need  your help and support to expand into this critical area. Please take a few minutes to make a donation now, and help the Lion Guardians protect other lions from the same fate of Nosioki and her cubs.

Nosioki, a lion that normally resides in Eselenkei Group Ranch, has for the past year found sanctuary with her cubs in an area called Osewan. Due to its dense environment, it is an ideal area for any lion wanting to raise cubs to maturity. After giving birth to her cubs, Nosioki, a favorite lion for many given the fact that she rarely kills livestock, started portraying a different behavior. Now , along with her cubs who are approaching the one year mark, she has begun killing livestock that come to Osewan in search of pasture.

Nosioki

The killing spree has been so consistent that it has angered people a great deal. Just a few days ago, with the help of her two cubs and one male lion, 8 shoats (Maasai herd smaller livestock such as goats and sheep together, hence the term shoats) were killed in the area. In the past, people were unsuccessful at tracking her down and killing her, due to the thickness of the forest. This time the local people have decided to use a different tactic. They placed the carcass of a poison laced goat in an area where they were sure Nosioki would find it. They then threatened our Lion Guardians present and told everybody to go home. Thanks to our dedicated Lion Guardians, we were informed immediately. Under the cover of darkness, we took the poisoned carcass and burned it under the watchful eyes of the game scouts of MPT stationed close by.

Poison laced goat

The following morning, when the people returned and saw that the carcass had been removed and no lion was dead, tempers flared. After some discussion, they cooled down but still seemed determined to employ the same tactic in the future with the hope of eliminating these lions from their midst. The danger is not only in losing Nosioki, but in losing all five of these lions, who always stay together. Even now, as I finish writing this blog, we have just received a report that she has again killed another goat. The situation is under control because the goat was killed on our side of the border, but from the look of things, if Nosioki continues to kill livestock across the border, her days are clearly numbered.

Nosioki at sunset

Now, more than ever the Lion Guardians need your help.  By making a donation today you will help provide the funding the Lion Guardians need to expand to Tanzania and continue to protect these lions under their care.

The beginning of 2010 marked an extremely difficult time for our Lion Guardians. First, a prolonged devastating drought wiped out over half of the herbivore population – both domestic and wild. Livestock, which are the backbone of the Maasai economy, were drastically reduced by both the drought and the subsequent diseases which affected the survivors once the rains did come. The lions fared quite well during the drought, as they didn’t even have to hunt for their food – wildebeest, zebra and other prey species were dropping dead everywhere from starvation. This widespread loss of wildlife brought about an imbalance between predators and plains game. The few remaining primary prey species that were strong enough to survive the drought left the area as soon as the rains came. And those that stayed were strong enough that lions found it hard to find them and bring them down. As a result, the Lions therefore targeted livestock, as they were much easier prey. The Maasai pastoralists meanwhile vigorously guarded their remaining livestock, each of which had become tenfold more valuable as a result in the drastic reduction in herd size; conflict was clearly inevitable. Our Lion Guardians found themselves with a dual mission – they had to protect livestock from being killed by lions as well as defend lions from being killed by Maasai Morans in retaliation.

Even though their physical and mental strengths were tested to the limit, our Lion Guardians performed extremely well in 2010! With the help of other stakeholders within the Amboseli ecosystem, the Lion Guardians managed to stop over 44 lion hunting parties, most of which would have resulted in lion deaths had they not been stopped. Also, the Lion Guardians helped find 4,808 of the 5,635 lost livestock reported to them, most of which would have been killed overnight in the bush by predators if not found…deaths which would have no doubt resulted in further retaliation by the pastoralists. This translate to an 85% success rate, an impressive figure by any standard! The Lion Guardians also helped fortify over 100 bomas visited by carnivores at night, part of our effort to increase communal tolerance towards lions. In addition to creating lion protection “buffer zones”, the Lion Guardians also help create conservation awareness while acting as teachers of better animal husbandry within their communities.

Another major highlights of 2010 is that, with the help of our donors, we were able expand our Lion Guardians’ coverage to southern Olgulului, a conflict-prone zone that saw tens of lions being killed in the start of 2010. We recruited 5 new Lion Guardians and since they have started, not one lion has been killed in this stretch of land that is reknown for lion killing.

Also in 2010, we successfuly held the first ever Lion Guardian Games. Click here to read about it and click here to see a video of the games’ highlights. And now, at the end of an extremely productive year, to show the Lion Guardians our appreciation of the hard work they have done, we are providing each Lion Guardian with a D.Light S 250 solar lantern/phone charger. They will be able to use their lanterns in their searches for lost livestock as well as to provide illumination in their homes at night – rather than having to use smoky paraffin lanterns.

Please help us cover this and other important project related expenses such as salaries, phone credit and fuel.  If each person that follows us via our blog or Facebook donated even  $10, we would be able to cover the annual salaries of 8 Lion Guardians!  Please help us to continue our work – your support makes the difference!  Click here to donate (make sure to specify Lion Guardians)!

We would like to take this opprtunity to wish all our friends a prosperous Happy New Year and we look forward to your continued support in 2011!

All the best from Eric and the Lion Guardians

Hello to all our readers, and sorry the Lion Guardians blog has been quiet for a while. We are all extremely busy right now, as conflict between lions and livestock owners is at an extremely high level at the moment, especially on Eselenkei and Olgulului Group Ranches. The Guardians and Coordinators are working hard to calm angry morans and livestock owners, find out which lions are causing the problems and tracking them to make sure we are aware of their whereabouts, to warn herders of their presence.

The Guardians, and scouts from Selenkay Conservancy have even been involved in calming a number of situations where morans have been angry at the loss of their livestock. We are very grateful for the hard work the Lion Guardians and the Selenkay Conservancy scouts are putting it in at this tense time.

We think that the reason that  there are so many attacks on livestock is that as the land is now drying up again a lot of the wild prey has now moved back to Amboseli National Park, meaning that the majority of prey left is cows, sheep, goats and donkeys. The lion families are also splitting into smaller groups, which means that there are more separate attacks, and more angry livestock owners. Often the lions are not having time to eat any of the animals they have killed before being chased away, so they must strike again in a different boma to find food, causing yet more havoc and anger.

We will keep you updated on the situation as well as we can. Thank you for reading and for your support.

The Maasai community is known all over the world as livestock keepers. This is their main source of wealth and it has sustained them since time immemorial. To a Maasai, eating meat is a very special thing, almost a preoccupation. And actually, if you pay a visit to a friend and he slaughters a goat for you, you know that your friendship is cemented forever. In the Maasai tradition of yester years, there was a special meat eating season which every moran had to undergo. All the morans in a particular neighbourhood or family would get together to plan this event. They would scout for a base camp, fence it and each of them would in turn donate a cow to be slaughtered until the season was over. Then they would decide whether to go for a second round or not! It was a very valuable tradition that served two main purposes.

These meat eating sessions acted as a school of some sort. Different important traditional and cultural aspects of the community were imparted to the young morans. Selected elders respected for their valuable experience and deep knowledge of culture always accompanied them and they would explain each aspect of the Maasai culture to an inquisitive audience who were allowed to ask as many questions as they wished.

The second purpose is that morans will mix different shrubs known for their effectiveness and make soup with it. They drink it when thirsty. Water is banned. They believe these traditional shrubs cleanse their digestive system and make them immune to many diseases and allow them to better act as the defensive unit of the community. The Maasai have done this for years without end.

However, due to the severity of the last drought, everybody has gone without this session. But now, it is on! It is meat eating season! Junior elders, senior morans, as well as the young moran age-set are all going for it! In fact, our own member of Parliament recently invited me to a meat eating session for a selected few. I enjoyed it for two days but had to leave after this time because of my commitment to the Lion Guardians.

Not to be left behind, our Lion Guardians are also undergoing the same in their own zones. They go for their daily duties and come back to ‘orpul’ as it is known, in the evening. They take this time to educate their age-mates on different aspects of conservation. And it seems they are doing this very well, as we have had many compliments from the junior elders who are very pleased with their training. Clearly, meat eating sessions are here to stay despite the different subjects the morans are now learning about.