During one of our weekly Warrior Watch meetings in Westgate Conservancy, I received a call from a sergeant at Buffalo Springs National Reserve that some tourists had seen a dead lion.We left immediately went to investigate, and I knew it would take us at least 4 hours to get to the location.
On the way, I spoke to the wardens and other rangers to get more news. The story was confusing – the dead lion was apparently near a dead oryx. We entered Buffalo Springs and drove to the area where the lion had been seen. KWS and Buffalo Springs rangers were in the area walking around trying to locate the lion. The details were so vague and we were not exactly sure what and where to find the dead oryx and lion.
Finally at 5:30 pm, one of the rangers spotted the dead lion. It was a young male lion of 2 years. Next to him was a carcass of an impala, not an oryx. There were few remains of the impala and it appeared that some jackals had already eaten parts of the lion.
I identified the male lion as one of the cubs from the Ngare Mara Pride; a pride I have followed closely over the past few years.
The 2 year-old lion was a member of the Ngare Mara pride.
We looked closely at the lion to see what may have caused its death. It was confusing seeing a dead lion with no obvious injury or wound next to a dead impala. Dr Mutinda, the vet in charge from KWS responded immediately to our request to attend to the dead lion and assess cause of death. He concluded that the lion had choked on the impala bone whilst feeding, leading to death.
Remains of the impala
Recording the death of the lion
I am relieved that this death was not caused by humans but it is unfortunate that we have now lost one more lion within our small lion population in the Samburu/Isiolo ecosystem.