1st lion collared on new ranch!
We are sorry the blog has been quiet for a while. We’ve been having some problems with our internet but I hope you will be pleased that we are now back and reporting on the work of the Lion Guardians here in Maasailand!
Kamuna, one of the promising volunteer Lion Guardians in our new area Eselenkei Group Ranch, arrived at our new camp late one evening last week reporting some exciting news. He had found fresh lion tracks and was eager to show us where they were. We were all really excited about this news, and soon he had re-located the tracks and found where the lions were resting – one large male and two adult females.
One of the females was distinct because she didn’t have a tip to her tail; we have been hearing stories of this ‘tipless’ lioness for months now. She has been seen around these areas for the past few years so we know she is a resident lioness. It was the perfect opportunity for a collar to be put on.
As with the Lion Guardian project tradition, whoever finds a lion for collaring acquires the honoured responsibility of giving the lion a Maasai name. Kamuna now had this honour and decided to call her Nosieki, which is the name of the area where the lions were found, and also the name of a bush with beautiful red berries.
The wonderful news is that Nosieki is pregnant! This means there will be new cubs arriving soon to the group ranch. The new Lion Guardians have also discovered that the female with Nosieki has three small cubs herself. So we are now monitoring this wonderful little family composed of a large beautiful male, three young cubs with their mother, and our pregnant Nosieki!
Nosieki is the first lion to be collared on Eselenkei Group Ranch after many months of searching. Without Kamuna’s assistance, it would have been very difficult to locate these lions – a perfect example of how the Lion Guardians project works!
We’ll report back soon with more news from our new and growing project on Eselenkei. And thank you all for your continued support of our work! We could not do this without your help!
How exciting. And welcome Nosieki. We look forward to more news of the family.
can’t wait for the babies to be born. and pictures of the cubs belonging to the other female. what’s the name of this pride?
Beautiful lioness and a well done to Kamuna for tracking and finding her, I wish them all the best for this growing little pride and looking forward to see further updates, thank you for the work you all do !
How do you be sure the collars are not too tight as the lion grows — are they checked frequently? — thanks.
i am curious also about the collar and growing lions. but this lioness seems like a full grown one. and i doubt she will ever get fat or too fat for her collar. there is no such thing as an obese wild lion, i don’t think. if there were one, what a lucky lion she/he is.
What great news!! Great job Kamuna! I hope you can get pictures of the babies when they are born.
Is there any way we can send a little money to Antony, while he is at school in the big city?
Hi everyone and thank you for your comments. Collars are not put on lions if they are still growing a lot, so they do not get too tight. They are checked regularly too, to make sure!
We don’t have a name for the pride – perhaps our Lion Guardians blog readers can have a naming competition!
Hashi – thank you so much for your offer! I know Antony is busy working extremely hard at Oxford, but I will see if he can fit in a blog in between his studies to update you all on his progress. If you would like to give him some money to help him while he is in England I’m sure he would be very grateful. We will email you about how!
Thanks again to all our supportive blog readers!
The Lion Guardians team.
How about the Dawn pride, or Alfajiri Pride? Dawn of a new Lion Guardians area, first lion to be collared, new family about to be born? I think dawn may be alfajiri in Swahili.
oh yeah! how’s antony doing? Dawn pride is great. not good with names at all. what about a name in the Maasai language? she is a Maasai lioness after all.