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…
Conflict increases between lions and livestock
Hello to all our readers, and sorry the Lion Guardians blog has been quiet for a while. We are all extremely busy right now, as conflict between lions and livestock owners is at an extremely high level at the moment, especially on Eselenkei and Olgulului Group Ranches. The Guardians and Coordinators are working hard to calm angry…
The return to normality
Lion Guardians coordinator Eric writes about the return to calm and normality after what has been a hectic and difficult time for all of us: After the recent tragedies on Mbirikani Group Ranch with the deaths of the lionesses Narika and Mbeuti, we are proud to announce the return to normality in the ecosystem. Stakeholders…
The limping lion
For a few days, we kept on receiving reports about a problematic limping lion. He has been sighted several times and is known to have an appetite for livestock meat. Not good news! His story is very interesting though…. Many years ago, before conservation moved into the area, a pride of lions killed several goats…
A blog from Antony – the tough task ahead
This is my first month back in the office and a lot is happening. I have heard that lots of lions are being killed in the south of Olgulului. This area has no Lion Guardians to monitor lions and other carnivores presently. Partly because we are looking for funds to expand the project to this…
Another angry lion hunting party is stopped
Eric, the Lion Guardian coordinator on Eselenkei and Olgulului group ranches gives us the latest news from what is still a battlefield between lion and Maasai: In what has become a daily occurrence over the last two months, our Lion Guardians team has yet again worked together with our conservation partners to stop a lion…
New Lion Guardian stops potential wildlife killer
Samanya is our new Lion Guardian representing the Oloilalei area of Olgulului Group Ranch near Amboseli National Park. He lives and works in this low lying swampy area which is ideally home to several wildlife species. Samanya is quite young and shy but enormously friendly. The eagerness with which he undertakes his community work is…
Lion Guardians see rare python attack!
The Lion Guardians team over in Eselenkei group ranch was out looking for a group of 2 unknown lions that had been reported to us, when we heard strange noises from afar. A few more kilometers further and the noise was suddenly clear, loud and close! With the help of a spotlight, we saw some…
First green shoots!
Finally the Lion Guardians, Maasai communities, wildlife and livestock that live together on Mbirikani, Eselenkei and Olgulului Group Ranches have experienced their first showers of rain. Everyone is very excited and thankful that at last there are a few green shoots appearing from the ground. Though the wildlife and livestock are still very hungry, at…
Kenyan lions face extinction in 20 years?
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.…