After receiving reports of lion tracks from our lion guardians, our team went to verify. Upon reaching the site of the tracks, we did call-in and awaited with excitement. After a brief period of silence, we heard some little meows that grew louder as time went by. It was clear that whichever lion was approaching,…
Amboseli
Lone lion kills a giraffe
We have seen lions bring down different prey species from A to Z – from aardvark, antelopes, elands ostrich, wildebeest to zebras. But two days ago it was a different story. A lone male lion jumped on the back of a mature male giraffe, devoured the tendons and was dragged on for over 500 meters…
Recent lion killings in Tanzania
For the past month, conservationist within the Amboseli ecosystem were jubilant following the arrest in Tanzania of an infamous elephant poacher who managed to escape with a broken elbow after two of his accomplices were killed in Kenya as they try to waylay a herd of elephants armed with an automatic rifle. The network of informers…
2010 in Review
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…
My most scary moment!
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…
Selenkay Conservancy full of life!
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…
Meet brave Ngida, another new Lion Guardian
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…
Meet our 2nd new Guardian Jackson
Jackson represents the conflict prone Imarba zone which has experienced several lion killing incidents in the past. This zone lies on the Southern border with Tanzania and apart from lion killing, poaching activities have also been reported, where different wildlife species have been snared and slaughtered on a large scale. In fact just last week…
New warriors blessing ceremony
The traditional blessings of the new moran (or warrior) age-set called Iltuati took place recently at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. This is a traditional blessing ceremony that must be undergone by every Maasai age-set at the beginning of its transition to the next stage of life. It was meant to have been held last…
Elephant chases lions and other animal activity!
During our expansion to Southern Olgulului, on the way back from a visit to Amboseli National Park’s headquarters we found a baboon acting like a traffic policeman! He was sitting in the middle of the road and stayed there for half an hour with vehicles passing right by him. It was a fascinating sight. You…