Since returning to Samburu, I was anxious to try and figure out which lioness died mysteriously in October last year. Luckily, Saba gave me close up photos of her head which included her whisker spots. I sat down with my file, ID photos and drawings and was able to look closely at her ears and whisker spots. One side was covered in mud and was thus hard to see, however her left side was pretty clear – this was Sempei (I am about 80% sure this was her).
Sempei was one of the first females we identified in 2003. She was seen with the other main females in the Koitogor Pride and was aged at approximately 5 years then. One of my first memories of her was when I saw her near Samburu Lodge and she walked past the car and hissed at me. Her name apparently means “the fierce one” which I think was appropriate for her! I also saw Sempei often in October 2003 when Eleanor, one of the females in the First Ladies family (elephants!) died near Wire Bridge and the Koitogor Pride came to feast on her for a week. Sempei never left the scene and guarded Eleanor for the rest of the pride. She was a kali (fierce in Swahili) female and at one stage chased off a new male lion who came near the elephant carcass.
Sempei had many cubs during the years I got to know her. I saw her cubs often in Hippo Circuit. At one stage some of her older cubs got ringworm however they recovered quickly. She was a good mother, a slightly clumsy hunter, but overall a beautiful dominant female in the Koitgor Pride. I will miss Sempei’s hisses and her character in general.
The vet suspects that she may have been poisoned which is an increasing problem in Kenya. Poisoned carcasses are laid out to control predators and often hyenas and lions die as a result. I will be investigating more about this during my fieldwork and hope that with the community work I shall carry out, conflict between people and predators will be reduced in this part of Kenya.