Marriage in Maasai culture is one of our most important traditional activities. A man has to be married as soon as he undergoes the circumcision ceremony. A Maasai murran is not able to choose whom he is going to marry. If a murran’s father has a good friend with a daughter, then the fathers will…
masai
The burden of a Maasai woman
 I think it is only here in Maasailand that women are the beasts of burden. They have a lot of responsibilities; land tilling, herding cows, collecting water and firewood and even building houses. Recently I came across a new house being built from local materials. In the photo you can see branches collected from the…
Community threatens to kill cheetahs
Today I went to visit a community that is complaining of cheetahs attacking and taking away their goats and sheep during the day. Livestock owner Melubo Nteke showed me one of his goats that had been injured by a cheetah when they were being herded during the day. I asked him who had been herding…
My beautiful land..
The other day I was traveling back to camp; I had been to the place where the lion was speared, to investigate what had happened there. I had to get a public bus and since it was full, I had to stand all the way. During my journey I noticed a group of non-Maasai people…
More sad news from the Chyulus
It seems that the sad loss of a lion on the neighbouring ranch is not the only bad news for us at the moment. Yesterday I visited the Lion Guardians to collect their data sheets, and found out that two of them are unwell. Both Koikai and Mokoi are not able to carry out their…
Tragic loss: lion speared to death
We have some sad news to report. A lion has been killed by murrans at Olgulului, the ranch bordering Amboseli National Park, and the neighbouring ranch to Mbirikani, home of the Lion Guardians. The reason for the killing was first unclear. Some rumors reported that the lion had killed two goats and that the murrans…
Lion Guardians in the news
I thought I would tell you a bit more about the news story that has been on the internet and in a lot of the newspapers worldwide recently. The story is about the crisis in lion numbers, especially around Amboseli National Park, near where the Lion Guardians program is located. It explains that big cats…
More skills for new Lion Guardian
Lion Guardians need to learn some new skills in order for them to carry out their work. Yesterday we showed new Lion Guardian Solonka learning how to track collared lions using radio telemetry equipment. Another of the new things they need to learn is how to use a Global Positioning System unit to mark the…
New Lion Guardian
All Lion Guardians have got their jobs by first volunteering for us for at least a month, sometimes for as long as three months. This shows us that they are committed to conserving lions, and we know that they will work hard to do this. We have a new volunteer called Solonka working in the…
Back in camp
I have just been at home visiting my family, and am now back in camp after spending six days away. It feels like I have been away for a whole month – especially because I don’t normally leave camp, not even for weekends, so now that I’m back in the office I don’t know where…