Today meet our youngest and newest Lion Guardian, Solonka

Solonka is the youngest of the Lion Guardians, and the newest to join the program. His aspiration to be a Guardian through willing volunteering has finally earned him this prestigious position among the Maasai warriors (murrans).

He spent time learning all the skills he needs to be a Lion Guardian. Here he is learning how to track collared lions.

 

He is a very quiet and unassuming character, and would not even complain if you stepped on his toe with spiked shoes! But whilst among his community we have seen that he has a good reputation. This was clearly revealed when the Lion Guardians were working on fixing a boma in his community. The owners of the boma had had livestock taken by a hyena on more than one occasion and they were fed up with it, and just wanted the hyena to be killed.

They did not want us to fix the boma, and were angry. However, with a few softly spoken words from Solonka, the community gave us the chance to protect their boma rather than kill the hyena. Here Solonka is dragging thorn branches to help fix the boma.

Solonka is in the class of murrans who have not killed a lion. In the past he participated in several different lion hunts, but has not killed one himself.

He grew up without a mother who passed away when he was young, and he struggles to support his wife. He has no children himself yet.

Thank you for the donations we have been receiveing over the past weeks. All the Lion Guardians really appreciate the support they are getting from the blog readers. Your donations are so important and much needed to keep this project running. Thank you!