Lions – Page 3 – Ewaso Lions

The Warriors Need You

On a dry and dusty night, the night sky of Kenya rises above Jeneria and his team of Samburu warriors on the banks of the Ewaso Nyiro River. They are relaxing after a hard day of tracking lions in their Landcruiser 4×4, collaring one, and checking on the health of two young cubs. Suddenly, the radio crackles with anger and panic. A lioness has killed a cow. The villagers are furious and heading out to kill her.

Jeneria, his fellow Warrior, Yesalai and others in the Warrior Watch team jump into the vehicle and head for the far away village. They are greeted by angry warriors who are ready to track the lion. As Jeneria tries to reason with them, shouts fill the arid landscape. Calmly, a few Ewaso Lions Warriors listen to the villagers’ story, and Jeneria assesses the strength of the cattle boma (livestock enclosure). The lion has taken a prime cow: money in the bank to her owner. The community is vengeful and fearful. The Warrior Watch team listens for hours. As the sun rises high, the team and the community discuss alternative solutions to killing the lion. The lioness lives. As the team returns to Ewaso Lions camp, victorious after saving another lion, and happy to have helped the villagers rebuild their cattle compounds stronger, Jeneria goes over plans for the next day: community meetings to attend, new areas to explore for lions, and a collared lion that needs tracking. There is no day off when saving lions.

This story is getting harder to achieve. The 4×4 vehicle that Jeneria and the other Warriors depend on is old. It breaks down frequently and cannot be relied on to get them to surrounding villages in a hurry. Even the daily work of tracking lions and exploring landscapes is proving difficult. More and more time is spent fixing the vehicle, rather than protecting the species they have dedicated their lives to save.

You can help them. Our goal to is raise $80,000—the amount needed to replace the vehicle and cover new collars and field costs for Warrior Watch—by the end of 2017. We hope you will help us reach this goal by supporting Ewaso Lions. The Warrior Watch programme is a formidable force in lion conservation in Samburu. The lions need the Warriors. And the Warriors need YOU.

Please DONATE today to help Ewaso Lions reach this goal.

It’s Raining in Samburu!

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We are very happy to announce that it is raining in Samburu! The rains began in October in a few locations and had spread across the whole region by November. The vegetation is finally growing bringing much needed relief to the wildlife in the area. As the heavy rain collects, dry river beds have flowed frequently, including the Pukur lugga near our camp. Although it is spectacular to see the rivers fill so quickly the frequent flooding is sadly a sign of severe land degradation in the area.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96yGodgI2FQ&ab_channel=EwasoLions”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGi31Jd7-40&ab_channel=EwasoLions”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]We have had some stunning sightings of the lions including the new males that arrived in April. Other wildlife are enjoying the new grass and vast open areas of water. This is a beautiful time to be in Samburu and we can feel the relief among humans and wildlife alike as everyone in the region is hopeful after what has been a severe drought this year. We have already received over 250mm of rain, and although more rain is needed to allow the land to heal and recover fully, this is a great beginning.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYQg-Uy-da4&ab_channel=EwasoLions”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”7185″ img_size=”full” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”7186″ img_size=”full” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1602274193872{margin-top: 25px !important;margin-bottom: 25px !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”7187″ img_size=”full” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”7188″ img_size=”full” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”7189″ img_size=”full” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”7190″ img_size=”full” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1602274230107{margin-top: 25px !important;margin-bottom: 25px !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”7191″ img_size=”full” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”7192″ img_size=”full” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”7193″ img_size=”full” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”7194″ img_size=”full” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Shivani & Jeneria Speak at Wildlife Conservation Expo

Shivani & Jeneria visited the US in October on their annual tour. Following a lovely visit with their friends and supporters in Newport, Rhode Island, they had the privilege of speaking at Goldman Sachs in New York, National Geographic and WWF in Washington DC.

They were very excited to attend the annual Wildlife Conservation Expo in San Francisco in October and for those of you that missed the talk, it can be watched here. This was Ewaso Lion’s 6th annual attendance at the Expo.

Thank you to all our friends and supporters in the US who looked after us, hosted and fed us, travelled with us and supported our conservation and research programmes in Samburu. We are very grateful!

Mama Simba on safari in the Mara – Ewaso Lions

Warrior & Mama Simba Adventures

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In September, our team of Warriors visited the Maasai Mara in southern Kenya – for some – this was their first time leaving Samburu. The objective of the trip was to learn about conservation in a new landscape. In the Mara there is less human-predator conflict than in other areas because of the larger amount of grazing land available to support large wild herbivores. The presence of these populations of herbivores means lions have enough natural prey and do not turn to killing livestock out of desperation.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7629″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Our team drove down across Kenya and spent 1.5 days in the Mara. The team saw over 30 lions in that short period and new animal species they hadn’t seen before such as topi, rhino, hippo and thousands of wildebeest who were moving through the Mara. Lebasha, one of the warriors said, “I wish I could bring my lioness Nadala here for a week so she could get healthy and fat, and then take her back to Samburu“. The lions seen were very healthy and hunting daily, sometimes twice a day because of the availability of food everywhere. It was a real eye -opener for the warriors to see plentiful prey for lions everywhere!

Our Mama Simba ladies also had an adventure of their own in September. They travelled to Samburu Reserve on their first ever “Bush Bus” safari together with other women from the village, followed by an exciting team building adventure to climb Lolokwe, the Samburu sacred mountain north of Samburu. This was the first attempt to climb the mountain for our entire group of ladies and they completed the climb in less than 5 hours, and sung their way to the top.

We are very grateful to the Whitley Fund for Nature for the funding for our Warriors to visit the Maasai Mara and World Women Work for all the support provided for the Mama Simba programme. Thank you for enabling the Samburu communities to experience new landscapes and wildlife.

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Lions Move Through a Challenging Landscape

Loeku comes close to Isiolo town

Since the arrival of the 4 new males in April, we have seen a marked change in the movement patterns of Loeku and Lguret.

Fortunately, Loeku – the four-year old son of Nashipai – was collared in February and, as a result, we have been able to closely monitor his movements through daily collar downloads. This data showed how Loeku moved out of Buffalo Springs, where he had been resident for a while, and headed south to Isiolo town. Unfortunately, he then became stuck inside a farm and was forced to move back towards Buffalo Springs and the community conservancies south of here. Eventually, Loeku moved around the big hills and headed to Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. However, his time here was also short-lived; after just 48 hours he headed straight back towards Westgate Conservancy.This is the first time that we have been able to accurately document this vital corridor connecting Lewa to the north.

Whilst in Westgate, Loeku united with Lguret (who was captured on our camera trap a few times!) and both males have remained together since then. The two males have been staying very close to the Ewaso Nyiro River, hiding in thick Salvadora (toothbrush tree) bushes inside the Core Conservation Area.

The next few months will be critical for these males. We are especially keen to see how 4-year old Loeku tries to find a new home with females, and how 11-year old Lguret will survive in this challenging landscape, surrounded by people and with a limited food source.

The collaring work is part of a study looking at dispersal in young male lions, and is being done in partnership with Lion Landscapes.

Naramat Has 4 Cubs

Naramat and her cubs – a few weeks after they were born in Westgate

We are really excited to announce that Naramat gave birth to 4 cubs in Westgate. This is the 3rd time she has had cubs (in different areas), and also the 3rd time in the past 10 years that a lioness has given birth and successfully raised her cubs in this community area. This has not been easy – it has taken years of community engagement, meetings, wildlife safaris with community members, daily patrolling by our team of warriors and scouts, quick response to conflict incidents and round the clock lion monitoring. Most of the community in Westgate have now embraced lion conservation and everyone knows Naramat and her cubs.

Shivani Receives PhD From University of Oxford

We are very excited to announce that Founder & Executive Director of Ewaso Lions, Shivani Bhalla, received her PhD from the University of Oxford in July.

“This has been a long journey and I am very relieved to have finally completed my PhD (known as a DPhil at Oxford). This was only possible thanks to the enormous support I received from my family, friends and the Ewaso Lions team who gave me so much strength, space and time to finally wrap it up. My thesis focuses on lions in community areas and what they need in order to survive with people. The findings of my thesis have already helped lions in Samburu and will continue to do so. I dedicated it to Jeremy Lucas, who passed away a year ago and loved Samburu, its lions and people so much, and supported me immensely throughout the process.

I was thrilled to graduate in Oxford in July, with my family and Jeneria who represented the entire team. Thank you to everyone who supported me along the way. It is now finally official!”

Shivani graduates at Oxford in July

New Male Lions in Samburu – Photo credit Robbie Labanowski.

New Males Arrive in Samburu

We are excited to report that four new males (who have manes!) have arrived in Samburu. This is the first time since 2008 that we have had new lions here. When they arrived, Lguret, our old resident male crossed the river in to Buffalo Springs and has remained there mainly. Loeku, another young 3 year old male, also went to Buffalo Springs. The new males have been mainly seen in Samburu with the Koitogor Pride. Nabulu lost one of her cubs after the males killed it the day after they arrived. Infanticide is common when males take over a pride although it is the first time we have encountered this.

Since the males arrived, they have been mating with the pride females. We are excited about this recent event as it means the lion population will not only grow, but the new blood is a welcome boost to Samburu’s lions.

We are yet to confirm where the males have come from, so stay tuned! Here are some recent photos of Samburu’s newest arrivals.

Here is an update on the 4 new males in Samburu: Thanks to our partners at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Mary Mwololo and her research team confirmed that these 4 males originated from Lewa. They left Lewa in February and headed towards Ngare Ndare before moving to Borana and the Mukogodo Forest when they were last seen. Three lions were born in November 2013 to the same mother and 1 born in February 2014. And they have names – Brand, Bick, Mwack and Sakilenye

In January a new male lion had been seen for a few days but disappeared quickly. We are grateful to all the guides in Samburu who have kept a close eye on the males and keep us informed.

Human-Lion Conflict Increases During Drought in Samburu

Elephants cross the drying Ewaso Nyiro River in February

The Ewaso Nyiro River dried up in early January causing immense challenges for the wildlife, the local people and their livestock in the region. Wildlife and livestock congregated at small waterholes, and human-lion conflict increased during this time. Our team remained extra vigilant and responded quickly to conflict incidents. Carnivores stayed close to the river and were seen frequently -including lions, cheetahs, leopard and the endangered wild dogs.

Wildlife congregate at the waterholes in Samburu

Together with our partners, we dug waterholes in the dry river and set up camera traps at night to see which animals came to drink from them. In early April, some rain arrived and the normally dry river beds flowed for the first time in years. The Ewaso Nyiro River also started flowing which was a huge relief. The rains have been localised and in very low quantities. Much more is needed to allow the land to recover and the grass to grow.

Watch this video to see more:

Digging waterholes for wildlife

Chalisa Moves to Lewa

We are thrilled to report that a young male lion who we last saw in Buffalo Springs National Reserve in November 2013, has been sighted in Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. The Lewa lion research team led by Mary Mwololo alerted us that a new male had appeared in Lewa in January and sent us photos. We looked through our lion database and through whisker spot identification, we confirmed that the male in Lewa was indeed Chalisa – the Buffalo Springs male.

Chalisa in Lewa in 2017 (Photo by Lewa)

Since he was found in Lewa, Chalisa has been collared as part of a wider dispersal study (with Lion Landscapes) across the landscape. We are keeping a close eye on him and grateful to work with our partners in Lewa, Lion Landscapes, and the local communities, to ensure continued movement of lions through this landscape.

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