Lion Guardians

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: 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

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 23 2009 | By: lionguardians

After successfully starting up the Lion Guardians program on Eselenkei Group Ranch, we are now expanding to yet another ranch in the Amboseli-Tsavo Ecosystem! The new ranch, Olgulului is on the border with Amboseli National Park, and experiences a lot of conflict with wildlife. We can’t wait to start work there! Here is one of our collared lions Nempakai, who is currently residing in Amboseli.

The interview process for possible Lion Guardians on Olgulului is now complete. The Group Ranch was divided into 8 zones, and each was represented by 9 traditional morans, eager to conserve carnivores and lions in particular, as well as serve their community. In fact, the ravaging drought did not inhibit their attendance. A total of 72 morans attended the interviews!

During the interviews, the selection panel looked at many different criteria, including poverty levels, physical fitness, leadership qualities and tracking skills, as well as general wildlife knowledge and lion killing history. A total of 16 morans were short-listed and will now start a 1 month volunteering period. During this voluntary process, the Guardians will help reinforce bomas to predator-proof levels, assist their communities in finding lost livestock, as well as tracking and monitoring lions.

What exciting news for the project!

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

4 responses so far