Lion Guardians

Category: Lion Guardians work | Date: Oct 16 2009 | By: lionguardians

Steven from the Laikipia Predator Project came down to Mbirikani last week with expert tracker, Morani. Steven and Morani spent a week with the Lion Guardians developing their tracking skills even further for a new part of their work - spoor counting.

Although the Lion Guardians are all expert trackers, Steven and Morani helped them with counting large herds of animals, which they need to be able to do for their spoor counting work. Imagine how hard it is to see how many wildebeest have crossed a particular path, when there are over 20 in the group, just from looking at their tracks! It’s a difficult skill to learn. Can you tell what animal made these tracks?

Steven and Morani taught the Lion Guardians on Mbirikani a lot - we hope that they will be able to come down again and teach our new Guardians on Eselenkei and Olgulului these important skills too.

Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, living with lions, Maasai, masai, spoor

3 responses so far

Category: life in camp | Date: Oct 12 2009 | By: lionguardians

We were very happy to be visited by Mary last week, a GIS expert from Canada who came to help the lion researchers learn all about GIS (Geographic Information Systems). They are using GIS to map where our lions move, so we can see their patterns of behaviour and try and work out where they are going, when, and why! Mary was also able to get to know some of the Lion Guardians, and see the work they do, and even got to do a bit of lion tracking herself!

Thank you Mary for all your help! We hope to see you again!

Tags: gis, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, living with lions, Maasai, masai

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Category: life in camp | Date: Oct 07 2009 | By: lionguardians

The drought is still continuing here, and the animals and people are struggling badly. Everyone hopes rain will fall soon and bring back some life to the parched land. The water hole near to our neighbouring lodge Ol Donyo Wuas is constantly visited by many elephants, as well as very thin herbivores like these zebras, all looking for the scarce water.

There is no grass left to be eaten anywhere, and the wildlife and livestock are starving. These hills were once covered with long green grass - now there is nothing for the animals to eat.

The carnivores however are doing well. They have so many weak animals to choose from, they are able to feed regularly. Here is collared female Selenkay eating a zebra.

This drought is the worst anyone can remember and everyone in the community is praying for the rains to come soon. For their part, the Lion Guardians are doing their best to find lost and weak livestock, which is a particular problem during this time.

Tags: drought, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, living with lions, Maasai, masai

10 responses so far

Category: Community work, Lion Guardians work, ways you can help | Date: Aug 20 2009 | By: lionguardians

A report in the Telegraph on Tuesday suggested that within 20 years lions may become extinct in Kenya. This follows a press release from KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) which says that Kenya is losing an average of 100 of its 2,000 lions every year due to growing human settlements, increasing farming, climate change and disease.

According to KWS figures, there were 2,749 lions in Kenya in 2002 and their population dropped to 2,280 by 2004 and to roughly 2,000 today. They say that if the current decline rate continues, there won’t be a single lion surviving in Kenya in the next 20 years.

There is no doubt that the numbers are in freefall. I’d be surprised if they even last as long as 20 years, said Dr Laurence Frank, project director of Living with Lions, the umbrella organisation of the Lion Guardians.

Laurence said: When I first came here 30 years ago, you would always hear lions roaring across the rangelands at night and see their tracks in the morning. Now that is very rare. The reason is simple; lions eat cattle, and as the numbers of people grow, the numbers of cows increase. Alongside that there are ever more efficient ways, including poisoning, to kill lions. Click here to read the full story.

Living with Lions and the Lion Guardians are working to reduce the conflicts between lions and livestock, so that there is less incentive for people to kill them. By doing things like warning herders to avoid areas where lions are present, finding lost livestock and helping communities to make their livestock enclosures predator proof (as in the photo below) the Lion Guardians are helping put a stop to lion killing in the Amboseli-Tsavo region where they work.

Please help us with this important work before it is too late. You can support the Lion Guardians by making a donation through this blog. Any amount you can give will help the work of the Lion Guardians, as they reduce human-wildlife conflict in Kenya.

Tags: extinct, Kenya, kws, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, living with lions, Maasai, masai

2 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 05 2009 | By: lionguardians

We are very pleased to announce that Living with Lions, our umbrella organisation has a new look website, full of information about the project and the Lion Guardians. The address is http://www.livingwithlions.org.

Take a look and read about all the Living with Lions projects in Kenya, the Living with Lions team and how we monitor and conserve lions in Kenya. Have a look at our photos and videos and listen to interviews with the Lion Guardians.

The site has information about the conservation crisis of lions in unprotected areas in Africa, as well as news about lion poisoning. It tells you how and why we do what we do, and how you can help!

It also features the Mara Predator Project’s Lion ID database, which helps you to identify lions that you may have seen if you have visited the Masai Mara. You can get involved yourself by trying to identify lions or sending us in your photos of lions for us to identify. Check it out: http://www.livingwithlions.org/mara

We hope you like the site! If you do, tell your friends!

Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, living with lions, Maasai, masai, website

4 responses so far