Lion Guardians

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

Recently, we have received several reports from our Lion Guardians and the Selenkay Conservancy game scouts of a male lion calling.  Our Lion Guardian team decided to do a “call-in” in an attempt to identify the lion. To do a call-in, we  play a variety of animal calls over a loudspeaker at night such as lion territory calls, buffalo distress calls, and a cacophony of excited hyenas.  If we are lucky, nearby lions, curious about the sounds, will come to investigate.  To keep them in the vicinity long enough for us to get pictures and identify them, we usually tie some sort of bait to a nearby tree or bush for them to snack on.

A curious lion shows up to see what is going on

The male lion that replied to the call-in turned out to be Ndelie, one of our collared male lions, who generally likes to spend his time between Kuku and Mbirikani Group Ranches.

Ndelie mugging for the camera

Curiousity...

We were surprised to find him there due to the fact that Selenkay Conservancy is quite far from his normal stomping grounds.  His presence reconfirms what we have been finding out this year; lions living outside protected areas have massive ranges.  We have also been finding that they hang out in groups of 2 or 3 but never in larger prides. This is their strategy for survival in areas that saw several past generations of lions being persecuted. Talk about survival instincts!  Ndelie was very nervous, and after spending a little time with the bait, he left the scene.

But what made the call-in even more interesting was the number of additional visitors it attracted. The first to respond was a serval cat.

A serval cat shows up

It took her a while to get comfortable with our car and she was also nervous from having just heard a lion roar at that particular spot not so long ago (she didn’t know that it was just a recording). But eventually she took her rightful share of the bait and thereafter left the scene. Then in the morning, when it is easier to see any enemies lurking about, it was time for another regular visitor to call-ins, the black back jackal.

A free meal!

It too took its share of the bait and then left, albeit reluctantly.

When the sun was a bit higher, another interesting visitor came; it was a pale chanting goshawk.

The Pale Chanting Goshawk eats mainly lizards, as well as large insects, small mammals and birds.

It first assessed the bait then did just what the other predators before it did, it began feeding.  Obviously, this late visitor made our long overnight vigil worthwhile.  But my question is, is this a normal occurrence or is it because the festive Christmas spirit is in the air?

Happy Holidays to all from the Lion Guardians!

Yesterday Lion Guardian Leparakou reported that the male sub adult lion Managop has been spending a lot of time near to the Eselenkei Lion Guardians camp, which is close to Porini Camp in the Selenkay Conservancy.

Managop usually associates with his companion, another sub adult male called Loosiron, but it seems they are spending a little time apart at the moment.

Both Manangop and Loosiron were born in late 2007, and are from the pride of two collared females who often reside in Amboseli National Park, but also go into community land outside the park, sometimes causing problems by taking livestock. 

Manangop and Loosiron split from this family in July 2010 and have been mainly found together since then, often in the Selenkay Conservancy, though we think they have ventured far and wide. Manangop’s Maasai name means he who has travelled to many places. We hope he will stay around this area for a while!

We told you a while ago that with the help of Lion Guardians Mokoi and Kisimir we had finally found male lion Sikiria, who likes to wander far and wide. We were able to download his movements from his collar and we are pleased to tell you we now have the results mapped out for all to see!

Project biologist Stephanie Dolrenry has added Sikiria’s previous movements to the map so that you can see where he has been from September 2009 to the end of October 2010. And what a journey he has been on! He has visited 8 different Group Ranches and 2 countries!

It is amazing to see how far he has travelled, and it really shows you how our conservation efforts must be widespread in order to protect lions like Sikiria who live outside protected areas, in community lands.

So far the Lion Guardians cover three Group Ranches – Mbirikani, Eselenkei and Olgulului. With more funding we would like to expand the project to even more Group Ranches, and every single donation will bring us closer to this goal. And all you have to do is CLICK HERE! This link will take you to our partners Panthera who will pass on 100% of your donations to the Lion Guardians project. Please make sure you allocate your donation to us in the drop down menu.

Thank you very much from all the Lion Guardians who have been protecting Sikiria and the other lions that live in these conflict-prone community lands. Asante sana!

The other day our Lion Guardians team went out to respond to a report from several Lion Guardians and members of the public, that a male lion has been constantly heard roaring within the Selenkay Conservancy.

The team, which included Lion Guardians Kamunu and Lopono did ‘call in’ (playing sounds to attract the lion with a loud speaker) with a view to identifying the individual lion. Soon, out of the gloom appeared a male lion, and it was with both surprise and excitement that we found out his identity. He was very wary of the vehicle, but despite his shrewdness, his identity was clear.  It was Ndelie, a lion who has been known by the project for some time, but has been very elusive recently, and usually resides in Kuku and Mbirikani Group Ranches.

His name Ndelie is derived from the size of his tracks that were once compared to the size of a cooking pot by the Lion Guardians on Mbirikani. But today on closer inspection the Lion Guardians present thought that his footprints seemed much smaller than most male lions from either Eselenkei or Olgulului Group Ranches.

His roaring however was absolutely high class and probably very intimidating to other lions. What we did not know is why he was roaring without end. Was he marking a new territory? Or was he looking for a female companion? He has no doubt travelled many kilometres to come to Selenkay Conservancy and nobody knows how long he will be around but we are certainly very happy to see him again!

We were called yesterday by Lion Guardian Masarie who had just come across a huge eland kill, and the tracks of a big male lion. He reported that it was a fresh kill and that not much had been eaten, so we rushed to the scene, hoping to find out who had made this massive kill!

When we arrived at the scene we were indeed impressed by the size of the eland that he had brought down and wondered who this strong and powerful lion could be. Was it Lomunyak, who has been evading us for some time, or was it an unknown male lion?

With the help of binoculars we spotted him in the bushes not far away, and on closer inspection we found that it was familiar Mbirikani lion Kesayou. He often associates with Lormanie, a younger male, as well as females including Nemasi and Nimaoi. But today he was on his own, and it looked like he had received an injury to his face while killing this massive beast. As night fell, he went back to the eland and continued to eat the kill he had obviously fought hard to bring down. What impressive animals both the lion and the eland are!

Throughout my life as a moran and as a conservationist, I have had close encounters with many different species of wildlife. Most encounters especially with lions have been very serious. But I have never really felt both scared and defenseless at the same time. I always had a plan B, but not yesterday. First, after the onset of the short rains that we are currently experiencing, our vehicle got stuck in the mud in our new Southern Olgulului camp for two days. Eventually, we summoned several morans from the nearby villages and after several false attempts, we managed to get out of the mud. We rejoiced and were happy that at least we were now mobile. We decided to try and make it to our main camp in Ol Donyo Wuas. The road there was drivable which made us believe everything was now okay.

Then two scary things happened. First, a lone buffalo confronted us out of the blue. He looked very strong and agitated. We stopped and he ran a few meters before starting to charge at us. Though it was a bit scary, we enjoyed his agitation and at the same time pitied him, thinking that his loneliness probably contributed to his aggression.

We proceeded without a problem. But not for long! A big almost fully grown elephant stood on the road. We slowed down, thinking it would soon give way. But to our utter surprise, it came at us, charging menacingly. The soil being wet because of the rain, there was no way out, but to stick to the road. Given the distance between us and the elephant, reversing was out of question.

Knowing the behaviour of elephants when close by, we decided to stop and remain completely still and absolutely silent. Actually, you could hear a pin drop. The only noise was the elephant’s ears flapping. Standing tall, it raised its head and tail with its ears spread out. It turned its head and approached us while nodding with ears half spread. It then shook its head, twisting it from side to side and making its ears flap against its face. Then it came straight to the car threatening to gore it to pieces.

For what seemed like a whole ten minutes the elephant stood still, practically on the bonnet of the car examining at close range what was inside it. I had never felt this scared before. I actually felt totally defenseless. We were completely dependant on the reaction of this massively built animal acting unprovoked. On realizing we were immobile, it stood in front of us and flapped its ears before threatening us once more. After blocking the road, getting agitated and getting no reaction, we knew it would go away. Eventually it did, albeit reluctantly moving at an angle. We missed a clash by a whisker. It was a very close shave. I have never felt like this before. Was this a demonstration charge or a real charge we wondered as we slowly and cautiously drove to the safety of camp.

After a brief dry spell which began around June this year, some areas within the Amboseli ecosystem are now experiencing rain. The dry spell was very mild and in contrast to the devastating drought experienced in the last two years, very few pastoralists moved their livestock to temporary settlements as there was still plenty of grass available. No livestock deaths were experienced through starvation.

Here in the Selenkay Conservancy where one of the Lion Guardians camps is based, the grass is green and the animals are plentiful. Due to the rains, the movement patterns of the animals have changed, making the usual animals we see like plains game, kudu, ostriches, elephants, giraffes, bat eared foxes, jackals, civets, servals, striped and spotted hyenas, porcupines, lions and cheetahs more abundant, and meaning that we are also getting special sightings such as toroises and honey badgers too! It truly is alive with wildlife!

With some wildlife species especially zebra and wildebeest heavily pregnant and expected to calve soon, the level of depredation is also expected to reduce drastically. Livestock have already begun calving and this will also result in pastoralists’ happy faces as they will be able to milk their cows for the first time in two years. What a sigh of relief!

The forthcoming age-set transition and the entry of the new moran age-group has been in our minds for some time now. While wanting to combine both experience and youth together we have been trying to identify hard working youthful morans who will gel very quickly with the new moran age-set.

One of the new youthful Lion Guardians in Southern Olgulului is Parkepu. He represents the Mbaringoi zone which is situated centrally within the Kitirua concession area. Being a young, honest and hardworking moran, he has impressed us with his willingness and ability to learn within no time. Though he is a man of few words he has been good in monitoring one of the biggest prides in Southern Olgulului, a pride of 12 lions.

One of his strong traits is his respect not just for his immediate seniors but also to any community member around his age. Being almost of the same age as the new morans we expect to use him to stop them from any lion killing in the future. Karibu Parkepu!

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Kenya Wildlife Trust (KWT, part of Ker and Downey Safaris) for sponsoring all the Lion Guardians in Southern Olgulului and allowing us to share their base camp. Their support is invaluable and we would like to say a big Asante Sana to them from all the Lion Guardians!

Of all the new Lion Guardians in Southern Olgulului, the most likeable character is Ngida. Being a past lion killer, his bravery is reported far and wide beyond his immediate zone. He is a leader in his own right, largely due to his ability to read and write in a zone that is situated in the middle of nowhere!

His complete honesty is revealed when he is not sure of something – he will always ask what you mean and seek your advice. He is very clear and understandable. Every time our Lion Guardians team have been out to verify his lion reports, they have been verified exactly as he gave the reports.

Nicknamed ‘Kitashu’ by his age-mates because of his bravery, we expect him to play a critical role in his conflict-prone zone of Emerua-Oldule which will also act as the base for the new moran age-set manyatta. His influence will come in handy during the forthcoming transition period when the new morans will start their journey into warriorhood. Welcome Ngida to the Lion Guardians team!