After the training with the NRT scouts, where we all learnt a lot about lions three Lion Guardians; Mokoi, Olubi and Lenkina slaughtered a goat for our guests. We had to give them a chance to slaughter the goat in their traditional Samburu way so that they could take the goat blood while it was…
Maasai
Learning about lions
Today was the end of our two days of lectures with the Northern Rangeland Trust. They had come all the way down from the North of Kenya to learn all about lions, and wanted to visit the Lion Guardians to find out how we deal with the conflicts between people and carnivores. This made us…
Panthera visits Lion Guardians
Last week we had the pleasure to host Jessica Craig at camp, who was representing the UK division of the Panthera. She came to find about the Lion Guardians program, and how we conserve lions by employing murrans who have hunted lions in the past to work with their communities to conserve them. And we…
Building better bomas
In traditional Maasai culture, a boma (kraal) is used to keep livestock away from raiders, and to an extent to provide a safe place for livestock away from predators. A boma is an enclosure made of thorn branches. We especially like to use branches from Acacia mellifera because it is very strong, and has hooked…
Bomas and lions
Antony, Ernest and our new Lion Guardian volunteer Solonka, along with Lion Guardians Mokoi and Lenkina have been out all day helping to reinforce a boma that has been repeatedly attacked by a hyena over the last few days. The livestock owner, whose animals have been attacked was threatening to kill the hyena. I hope they manage…
Lion tracking with the Guardians
A few days ago we went out to track lions with two of the Lion Guardians Olubi and Mokoi. We drove for hours, regularly stopping to try and pick up radio signals from the roof of the car. We were trying to find the large pride of 10 lions (with collared lion Nempakai) that we…
Mambo, the bush man
Here in camp we have a very interesting friend who occasionally comes to visit us; a strange old man who lives in a cave in the Chyulu Hills. His name is Mambo, and although we don’t know his exact age we are sure he is over 78 years old. When he was a young murran…
Lion Guardians Top Brass
I woke up this morning feeling full of energy. Yesterday I was wearing my traditional Maasai clothes – brightly colored cloths called shukas, and adorned with beautiful beads. Â I thought of my important position as Assistant Director of the Lion Guardians program… and that gave me an idea. I put on some smart trousers…
Kapande and birds!
Thanks everybody for your prayers and support for Kapande. I met him last week when I went to collect Lion Guardian forms, and I am pleased to report that he is feeling healthy and fit and is now back on duty to provide his service for the lions and his community. He is very glad…
Maasai warrior meeting
I have been away from the blog for a few days as I had to go out to collect weekly forms from the Lion Guardians. I still had three different places to go before evening fell, so I thought I should start by visiting Koikai. When I arrived at Koikai’s neighbourhood, Olbili, I found there…