Lion Guardians

Category: Lion Guardian reports, Meet the lions | Date: Nov 02 2009 | By: lionguardians

The Lion Guardians team was out on Eselenkei Group Ranch looking for the Tara pride when we received information that the wandering group of 4 male lions that we had been monitoring for the last week had visited several bomas the previous night and left death and destruction in their wake. They had killed 5 donkeys, and critically injured 2 and killed (but left intact) 4 goats that had got lost in the bush. What a disaster! Here is one of the young male lions that had carried out the attacks.

We mobilized several Lion Guardians and together with some game scouts from nearby Amboseli Porini camp (Selenkay Conservancy), they were thankfully able to prevent the agitated community members from any revengeful attacks against the lions. After successfully calming the community, the Lion Guardians team proceeded to get things ready for a potential collaring later in the evening, and started the process by doing a ‘call-in’ near to the place where the attacks had happened. This involves playing the sounds of lions roaring, or other noises that might attract lions, such as a dying prey, through loud speakers. Out of the darkness came the lions. They strolled past the car and disappeared again; this marked the start of a long game of ‘hide and seek’!

After a search that lasted more than 3 hours, one of the lions was finally collared, and the Lion Guardians that were present named the male lion ‘Sikiria’, a Maasai name meaning ‘He of the donkey’. This is the first male to be collared on Eselenkei Group Ranch. Young, big and very strong, Sikiria comes from a group of 4 lions that seem to be moving far and wide searching for everything from prey and territory to females. Here I am with Sikiria, at his collaring.

Now that the Lion Guardians can keep close eye on their locations, we hope that they will be able to prevent any more disasters from happening, by alerting community members of their whereabouts as a way of preventing human-wildlife conflicts. We will keep you posted on the activities of these rambunctious male lions!

Tags: amboseli porini, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, selenkay

8 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports, lion research fieldwork | Date: Oct 28 2009 | By: lionguardians

A few days ago, one of our Lion Guardians in Eselenkei was out on his lion monitoring duties when he saw the tracks of some lions. After following them a few meters, he found their kill; 2 zebras and a lesser kudu. He called Lion Guardians HQ immediately and we responded in no time. After following the tracks we found 3 female lionesses 2 of which are collared Selenkay and Narika. They were with Elikan, an un-collared lioness, and were all lying under a tree, oblivious of the new visitors. Here is Elikan.

I insisted that their tracks revealed 4 lions, rather than just 3, one of which must be a big male. We then conducted some ground tracking and after following his tracks for a few kilometers, we found the male lion. A closer look revealed his unmistakable identity - it was Lomunyak. The beautiful male lion from Eselenkei Group Ranch was probably up to something none of us knew, but he kept the secret to himself and kept a great distance between himself and the females, thinking really hard. He was probably deciding his schedule for the next few weeks before the rain comes. Respecting his decision-making process, we headed back to camp for our Lion Guardian meeting.

Tracking using telemetry equipment a few days later, we headed towards the direction of the signal and found Lomunyak with Selenkay doing some serious business! With snow-capped Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background, truth be told, Lomunyak is clearly a beauty to behold.

Another visit a few days later and we found him again seriously mating with another lioness, Elikan!

Lomunyak seems to have a great vision of the Tara pride Empire. He has carved up a territory spreading across three Group Ranches bordering Amboseli National Park. No other male lion seems willing to risk coming into this territory or else! With a pride comprising five cubs and five females to boot, one does not have to be a rocket scientist to see Lomunyak’s expansionist dream, given the right conditions. It’s these right conditions that the Lion Guardians team is trying to facilitate. We went back to camp strongly convinced that Lomunyak’s schedule before the onset of the rains will yield good results in the future.

Tags: eselenkei, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, lions mating, Maasai, masai, selenkay

3 responses so far

Category: lion research fieldwork | Date: Jul 28 2009 | By: lionguardians

Ever since she was collared 1 ½ months ago, our female lioness named Selenkay has been missing. We have searched for her practically everywhere but all in vain; it seemed she disappeared into thin air! The Lion Guardians both on Eselenkei and Mbirikani Group Ranches, conducted an intensive ground operation to look out for tracks or sightings of three lionesses, but all the searching was to no avail.

It was therefore with a great sigh of relief that we received the news that Selenkay had been found. The Director of the Living with Lions project, Dr. Laurence Frank, joined the search for Selenkay by flying around the greater Amboseli ecosystem.  He detected her signal from within Amboseli National Park. We immediately dispatched a team to verify the report and get visuals on Selenkay and her lioness companions. And here they are!

The outcome was very satisfying. A visibly pregnant Selenkay and her two sisters were found peacefully resting within the Park. Their movement patterns (which we get from downloading and mapping the GPS data from Selenkay’s collar) completely baffled our team. They have spent most of their time outside designated protected areas, visiting not only Eselenkei Group Ranch (where Selenkay was collared) but also spending a lot of time on Mbirikani and Olgulului Group Ranches.

Their beautiful, peaceful, and absolutely captivating nature marks them out from the other Amboseli lionesses. Their spots are distinctively clear…. there is no doubt that they are members of the Tara Pride! We will definitely be keeping a close eye on them, particularly as Selenkay prepares to give birth in the upcoming months. We can’t wait to find out where she’ll choose to settle down and bring her cubs into the world. Keep reading the blog to find out!

Tags: collared lion, eselenkei, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lion research, lions, Maasai, masai, selenkay

7 responses so far