2008 – Page 6 – Ewaso Lions

Mating Elephants

Over the past few weeks I have spent so much time looking for lions and rarely took the opportunity to sit and watch the elephants. It is such a fantastic time to be in Samburu with elephants absolutely everywhere. I had a guest last week and decided to try and show him some of the big bulls who were around. We drove to Wire Bridge in the core area of Samburu and I saw many elephants. As we approached a family, I saw one of the big musth bulls who was also present. We watched for a few minutes and the bull suddenly went close to a female and started to follow her intently. She was in oestrus and with her head held high and tail up, she walked away quickly. He followed her round trees and bushes as we watched. He suddenly mounted her and it was less than 20metres away from us. This is only the third mating that I have seen and quite an incredible sight as you can see from the photo.

Nashipai at last

Sorry for the delay in writing this post! The good news is that Nashipai is finally back! Last week, whilst out lion monitoring, I was in Buffalo Springs when I got a radio message that 3 lionesses had been seen in Samburu hunting an elephant calf (they did not succeed). I drove over to Samburu and as I approached “Lion Highway” (one of the main roads where I see lion tracks and sightings often) I suddenly saw them walking down the road. I stopped the car and waited for them to walk down. I recognized her immediately. Nashipai was back and she was together with Nabo her sister and Uni, the older female in the pride. They walked past me as I had a big grin on my face.

I stayed with the lionesses for a few hours. They settled down at the river and watched everything that came down to drink. Nashipai went down and drank in the river, but jumped back on the riverbank and by noon, all 3 were sleeping in the nearby bushes.

The girls are back, looking healthy and I am thrilled.

News from the Reserves

A lot has been going on in the reserves over the past 2 weeks. Elephants are still here in their hundreds. All the big bulls are in musth and following the oestrus females keenly. The lions are trickling back with regular sightings of Nashipai and Naibor. Cheetah and leopards have also been seen. Yesterday I saw 4 hippos which was a real treat as they are almost never seen. They were lurking in the swamps at Maji ya Chumvi and I got a brief glimpse of them. And this morning I saw a caracal run across the road with a squirrel in its mouth!

Some more special moments:

– 48 reticulated giraffes in the river a few days ago. This was such a beautiful sight as you can see in the photo.

– 20 Somali ostrich – mama in the lead, followed by 18 young ones with the male bringing up the rear. Ostriches are only seen in a few places in the reserves and at times I go through weeks without seeing them.

– Mt Kenya has been visible and clear over the last 2 weeks. I have had spectacular sights of Mt Kenya (shown in the photo below with elephants in the foreground), the Nyambene Hills and Ol Lolokwe (the Samburu sacred mountain) every morning.

– 105 Beisa oryx on the plains in Buffalo Springs!

The Ewaso Nyiro is drying up quickly and all the animals are beginning to congregate along the river once again. I think there will be a long dry spell this year…

Dead hyena

Whilst I was in Shaba last weekend attending the management plan meeting for Isiolo County Council, I heard that a striped hyena was seen dead in Samburu National Reserve. As soon as I returned to Samburu I went to check it out. Unfortunately, by the time I saw the hyena, not much was left apart from some hair and a little bit of skin. It was not easy to establish the cause of death. There were patches of hair scattered everywhere with blood as well. But that was pretty much it. I could tell that the hyena had been dragged around quite a bit. I am not sure whether it was dragged later after it died or was actually killed by something.

Collecting hair

It is quite hard to see hyenas here. Striped hyenas are more common then spotted and I see them maybe 2 or 3 times a month. Tracks are quite common on the road, and the striped hyenas are seen mainly at dusk and dawn. Since 2003, I have only seen spotted hyena 3 times and we almost never hear them at night.

I recently supplied the wardens and management of the reserves information on wildlife poisoning so they are aware of how it is affecting wildlife in Kenya. Not much has been documented in this part of the country on poisoning and the more people are aware, the better.

Lastly, we are participating in WildlifeDirect’s business strategy. Please help us by taking this user survey, thank you.

Or click on the link below: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB227RWVDZXHW

Gypsy

Hello all! I am so sorry for the long silence on my side. I have been in the field for 10 days non-stop and have sooo much to report on.

I was in Shaba last weekend taking part in a workshop for the new management plan for Shaba and Buffalo Springs National Reserves. I am currently in the biodiversity taskforce and we are working towards setting up objectives and activities for the management plan, including how to deal with tourism pressure on animals, vegetation degradation and much more.

I have also spent a few days in the West Gate community area. I’ve recorded a lot of conflict over the last week and Raphael will write more about this soon. News from the reserve– you will be happy to know that Nashipai is back! More on this soon!

However, for now I have an appeal to put out. In January this year I purchased a Suzuki Maruti Gypsy vehicle for the fieldwork in Samburu. Named “Gypsy”, she really is a tough little car and does an enormous amount! At times, I cover more than 100 kms a day on rough roads monitoring lions, driving to conflict sites, conducting prey counts, transporting trees for planting at schools, driving scouts from one place to another and sooo much more. Gypsy is perfect in this kind of terrain and sails through the luggas, drives over rocks and soldiers through mud and water.

The vehicle company I purchased Gypsy from, were very kind and allowed me 6 months to pay for the car. I have been fortunate to secure funds for part of the car payments however I am still short of $3000. I need to complete the car payments very soon (I keep getting small polite reminders from the car people!) and kindly request you to please make a donation towards Gypsy. Each contribution adds up and I am so grateful to all of you for whatever assistance you can give.

I will write again very soon with news from West Gate, the reserves and more…!

On a last note, we are participating in WildlifeDirect’s business strategy. Please help us by taking this user survey, thank you.

To access the survey, click here:

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB227RWVDZXHW

Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders Training

White Oak Conservation Centre, Florida
31st March-4th April 2008

I recently returned from the 2nd Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders (EWCL) training session at White Oak Conservation Centre, Florida. Our group comprising 21 individuals, gathered at White Oak for four days of intensive skills and leadership training, as well as mentoring and discussions about our professional choices and future direction. The training is a collaborative project between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Defenders of Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN), and the Howard Gilman Foundation. The first session was in April 2007 and this second one took place between March 31st and April 4th 2008.

The mission of EWCL is to facilitate cross-organizational networking for emerging environmental leaders while conducting training and guiding concrete innovative conservation projects on a bi-annual basis. Wildlife conservation benefits from the nurturing of future leaders, information sharing and idea exchange amongst conservation entities, and the tangible conservation products generated as part of the group campaign exercise.

The training during this second session included sessions and exercises on Leadership, Environmental Literature, Corporate Partnerships, Public Speaking, Work/Life Balance, Negotiation, Cultural Sensitivity, the Endangered Species Act, Land Conservation, Collaboration and Working in Coalitions, Managing Staff & Volunteers, Monitoring & Evaluation, International Law, Networking, Scholarships & Awards, Tools to Successful Introductions, and Maintaining Optimism. In addition, Dr. Karen Eckert, Executive Director of WIDECAST, gave our group a very inspiring guest lecture on sea turtle conservation in the Caribbean. We also had the opportunity to gain advice on career goals and next steps during one-on-one mentor sessions with EWCL Board Members and EWCL Alumni from the previous class.

As part of our individual EWCL projects, I have worked on the Okapi Education Project together with 3 other ladies from the US over the course of the year. This project is in collaboration with Gilman International Conservation (GIC). After EWCL 1 in April 07, we worked together to develop a suitable project for the benefit of okapi conservation in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve (OWR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After many discussions with representatives at White Oak and GIC local staff in the DRC, we agreed that the way forward would be to seek funding to produce a video on the importance of the OWR, using the okapi as the flagship species. This video would be made by the GIC Education Director in DRC, where he would travel to Congo, Brazzaville, and be trained on how to edit footage (trained by a local partner we have established contact with) and produce a film which he can show in the villages surrounding the OWR. We also aim to make an accompanying booklet to the film containing maps, zoning information; thus highlighting the importance of invaluable, and increasingly exploited, wildlife and natural resources in the OWR.

In 2007, we applied for funding to various organizations and zoos to try and get funds for this project. We have been very fortunate to receive funding $7500 to date. We are now in the process of arranging the logistics and details of sending the Education Director, to Brazzaville, where he will begin his training.

Kate, one of my Okapi project colleagues, and myself

It was another fantastic training session and I learnt so much during the 4 intensive days. Everyone at White Oak and the Howard Gilman Foundation was amazing as always and so hospitable. I am very grateful to WCN for supporting EWCL and sponsoring me to attend the EWCL training.

Donation of laptop

From Gamewatchers Safaris (Director Mohanjeet Brar – pictured in photo with Shivani)

On March 27th, Gamewatchers Safaris kindly donated a second hand laptop to the Ewaso Lion Project. I am immensely grateful for this donation as the laptop was much needed for the project. Raphael has already begun to work on it and has been learning how to type. He will eventually begin to enter data.

If you’re looking for an excellent safari away from the crowds, with high quality guides and a real safari experience, I highly recommend the Porini Safari Camps, or one of Gamewatchers other safaris. Visit www.porini.com <http://www.porini.com/> for more information. Gamewatchers work closely with the local communities and are making a significant contribution to conservation through their conservancies.

Workshop and training in Samburu

Training on lion and cheetah ecology with wardens, drivers & scouts…

On the 19th of March, I arranged for a workshop in Samburu on “Lions and Cheetahs of Samburu National Reserve”. 45 participants attended the workshop comprising of rangers and wardens of the reserve, and a number of resident tour drivers.

Mary Wykstra from Cheetah Conservation Fund was here to present on cheetahs. We started at 10 am and I began by giving an outline on lion ecology. This went on for more than an hour as there were tons of questions from the participants. Following this, I went into details of how to age and identify lions and gave specific information on the resident lions of the reserve. By the end of the training, the drivers and rangers knew all the names and ages of the lions! I concluded by giving my findings of lion numbers and distribution over the last few months. Mary took over with her talk on cheetahs. I briefly spoke about cheetahs of Samburu and the issue of the disease mange that our Samburu cheetahs have suffered from. By the end of the training it was past 1 pm! We all had tea, sodas and biscuits and the guests left by 2 pm. Overall, it was a very successful workshop and exhausting too; I had totally lost my voice by the end of the few hours!

In the evening, I went out on a game drive and saw a male lion. A few minutes later, some of the resident drivers and rangers who had come to the workshop drove by. They looked at the lion and discussed amongst themselves before announcing with confidence that the male lion was Baasi. I was thrilled; the workshop was definitely a success!

On the 21st of March, Mary and I drove to West Gate to do some one-on-one training with the Ewaso Lions scouts. Mary went through all the different predators and prey. I continued with how to collect data and went through the individual data sheets. I then supplied the scouts with their equipment; binoculars, GPSs and radios and showed them how to use everything. The training ended in a hurry as a huge wind storm almost blew us away! We rushed through, packed up and drove back to the reserve quickly as I was worried that we would not be able to cross Kiltamany lugga. We were just in time!

The scouts are doing very well and have been collecting data for a month now. I recently got them solar panels to charge their radios and bags for their equipment.

Many thanks to the Rufford Small Grants Foundation for funding the workshop/training, the Oregon Zoo for all the scouts equipments and to Stacey for the cool waist bags to carry the equipment.

Update on the tree project

More trees planted at Ngutuk Ongiron and Kiltamany Primary Schools

In early March, I bought more trees from Isiolo forestry, which were planted at two more schools. I first went to Ngutuk Ongiron Primary, out in the middle of West Gate Conservancy. This is a very hot, dry area with no water at all and I thought it would be a real challenge for trees to grow here. The holes had been dug when I arrived and the teams ready. Each team had a name; from Gamia (camel in Swahili) to Simba (lion in Swahili), comprising of students of mixed ages. This was a very different experience to the one at Lpus Leluai primary. Here, students are much younger and live a very remote life. They were all terribly excited to plant their trees and it was great fun. I gave them the chicken wire and they started protecting the trees from the goats who were already moving around in the school compound. We discussed the water situation and agreed that every day when the students mothers would walk 7 kms to the river, they would collect a small amount for the school trees. Each small amount would add up to about 20 litres which would be enough for daily watering. I was pleased with the solution they had come up with and knew it would work. I have not been able to check up on the trees since they were planted on the 3rd of March, however the headmaster has informed me that all trees are doing well.

On the 10th of March, I delivered 10 trees to Kiltamany primary school, North of Samburu National Reserve. Again, I was met with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement. The kids all dug their holes, went dashing around to the villages to collect fertilizer and small sticks to protect their trees. It all went well and tree tags were made and distributed to the students. Rulers and books were also supplied and the students have been measuring and taking notes ever since.

To date, 33 trees have been planted by 98 students. Out of the 33 trees, 1 was cut by another student (Sabotage! This issue has since been resolved) and I replaced it with another tree, and 1 tree at Lpus Leluai was eaten by goats who had crawled under the chicken wire. So far all the others are doing well and were planted just in time prior to the April rains. I now have the next 20 trees which I shall plant in early May in 2 more schools. back to all news

KWS Lion & Spotted Hyena Strategy Workshop

The way forward for lions and spotted hyena in Kenya

I traveled to Nairobi mid-February to attend the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) lion-hyena strategy workshop held at the KCCT training centre in Karen. The workshop was held between the 18th and 20th of February and was sponsored by USAID, the IUCN Cat Specialist Group and KWS.

It was great to meet everyone at the workshop -many friends and familiar faces who I had not seen for years. The workshop was opened by senior staff from KWS and was followed by presentations given by lion/hyena ecologists and the senior scientists of the KWS conservation areas. It was a really good opportunity for me to meet the Assistant Directors and Senior Scientists of the Mountain Conservation Area (Samburu falls under this) and the Eastern Conservation Area (Buffalo Springs and Shaba fall under this area).

During the meeting, I assisted with providing distribution data on lions, spotted and striped hyena for Northern Kenya. Using data gathered during the two cheetah censuses I did in 2006 and my Masters degree results, I was able to help in this mapping process. There were many knowledge gaps in certain areas, however great progress was made as new information was supplied.

The facilitators from the IUCN Cat Specialist Group gave us cetain tasks to work on to assist with developing a strategy for lion and spotted hyena conservation. This took 2 days and was very useful as we were able to really look into and discuss the issues and threats that lions/hyenas are currently facing in Kenya.

Overall, it was a very useful and successful workshop. I am very grateful to the Kenya Wildlife Service for organising this important workshop and for bringing in key participants to help facilitate the process of writing a strategy for lion/hyena conservation in Kenya.

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