Archive for May, 2008
Phase 4 of the Ewaso Lion Tree Project. Last week I traveled to Attan Primary School, which is South of Buffalo Springs National Reserve. This was the 4th school in the area where trees would be planted. 10 teams were formed with 4 students each. Each team of 4 is responsible for planting, protecting and watering their tree. I provided each student with notebooks and rulers to measure their trees weekly and to write any notes about their tree.
The students began digging their holes. There are goats everywhere in Attan! And whilst digging was going on, the goats even ended up in some of the holes as you can see in the photo below.
Eventually the holes were dug, fertilizer collected from the nearby manyattas (homesteads) and planting began. We had a problem with rocks in some areas and we had to relocate the sites. However, eventually all 10 trees were planted, watered and protected with chicken wire.
To date 51 trees have been planted in the area (4 schools and manyattas). I am really enjoying this project and it has been such fun working with the students on this. After each tree-planting, Raphael gives the students a talk on the importance of trees and why they are crucial to a healthy environment. I visit the schools weekly to see the progress and to check that trees are being watered. So far, out of 51 trees, only 4 have failed. 3 were eaten by goats (who crawled under the chicken wire!) and one was chopped off by a student who was trying to sabotage another student’s growing tree! However, all that has been sorted now and with the support of the school committees, the head-teachers and communities, the trees are doing well. Please do have a look at the project website field diary for entries on the tree planting in 3 other schools (between January and March 2008). Click here: http://www.ewasolions.org/diary.php
Two days after I saw Nashipai, Nabo and Uni, I was leaving camp at 5:45 am when I suddenly heard lions. I drove out of camp quickly knowing that lions were nearby. I saw tracks immediately and followed in pursuit. I drove round a corner and 5 metres ahead of me was a lioness sitting on the road. I had my intern at the time, Jerenimo, who whispered “she is so white”. And that was exactly it. This was Naibor (meaning white in Samburu), the new young female. Naibor was staring intently in one of the bushes at the side of the road and that’s when we realized that there was another lioness there.
Naibor stood up and at the same time we saw another female walk through the bushes. It was Nashipai. This was only the second time I had seen Naibor and I don’t know where she came from. The Koitogor Pride females (Nashipai, Nabo and Uni) all returned recently and I did wonder whether Naibor would show up with them? Nashipai walked off into the bushes quickly. 15 metres away, Naibor followed in pursuit. Each time Nashipai stopped, Naibor stopped and would peer through the bushes at Nashipai. This walk-follow-stop went on for a few minutes. Naibor did not approach Nashipai too close and Nashipai did not turn around. Eventually Naibor began to run towards Nashipai who turned around and growled her at. Naibor retreated and sank back into the bushes.
There were many impala around at the time. Both females disappeared then and over the next hour tried to hunt the impala. At one point, Naibor (still 15-20 metres behind Nashipai) sat in some grass and waited. Nashipai saw impala in the distance and went round but in the process went running and clashed into Naibor. She jumped over her and disappeared.
Both females disappeared (again!) and I couldn’t see them for hours. I headed back to camp and returned a few hours later to find both females sitting together (side by side!) along the river. It was a beautiful sight to see both girls together.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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
I was driving in the reserve yesterday when I saw some lion tracks which I started to follow. After a while, I turned round a corner still following the tracks, when I saw her. I turned off the car engine and immediately grabbed my binoculars to see which female this was. I knew at once. This was a new female. She was quite wary of me and watched me keenly. I started to draw her whisker spots and photograph her. I aged her at approximately 3 years. But what struck me immediately was how white her face she was! I decided to call her Naibor – meaning white in the Samburu language.
I stayed with Naibor for a while to “get to know her”. She eventually moved off into the thick bush on the side of the road. As I watched, I suddenly saw her jump and leap up into the air. She had killed something! I could not tell what it was initially, but she kept leaping up and appeared to be “playing” with her prey. I then realized she had killed a slender tailed mongoose. She continued throwing it around and then finally sat down in the bush and started eating. I could not see her at this stage as the bush was so thick but could hear her eating. I realized then that her nature reminded me of Nashipai 5 years ago. In 2003, when I first saw Nashipai, she was alone, and was seen playing with a tortoise! I don’t know where the lovely Naibor came from; most likely Kalama Conservancy as the area I found her in was not too far away. I hope I see her again soon. The Ewaso Nyiro is still flowing and although the landscape is beginning to dry up slowly, pink and white flowers are still everywhere. On the way back to the camp after seeing Naibor, I was fortunate to see some elephants drinking in the river and a very cool white-bellied go-away bird eating some pink flowers!
Meanwhile, the search continues for Nashipai. Many thanks to you all for your comments and interest in the Ewaso Lions. I wanted to answer a few questions I’ve received over the past few days. Ntito moved out of the reserve with her cubs at a time when it was raining and most of the prey had dispersed. In most cases, the lions come back when it dries up and the prey begin to congregate along the Ewaso Nyiro. However this time, Ntito did not return. There is still water in the hills currently, and the animals are not back yet. However, I anticipate that over the next few weeks, the prey and predators will be back along the Ewaso Nyiro. Killings camels – I’ve recorded many incidences of lions killing camels outside the reserves. A few lions can easily bring down a camel, and they find it much easier to kill livestock then wild prey. Due to the small size of the reserves (Samburu and Buffalo Springs are approximately 300km2), fencing would not be a viable option as the animals need to be free to roam within their range, including the elephants who move frequently between Samburu and Laikipia Districts. Other wide-ranging animals such as wild dogs and cheetahs also use the reserves. A few differences between lions here and lions in for example the Maasai Mara; it is rare to see more than 2 or 3 lions together here. Most of the time, the lions are seen alone or in pairs. I have seen the Koitogor Pride all together on only one occasion during the drought a few years ago. Females, males and cubs were all together, bringing down larger prey like buffalo and giraffe. However, normally one or two females are seen together and their main prey in the area is impala. Male lions here don’t have very large manes. This male below, Lnchurai, was around a few years ago and he was the main male in the area. Maneless males have been recorded here too. However almost 2 years ago, 2 big maned males migrated to Samburu from the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (South of Buffalo Springs). This was the first time that we have had such huge lions in the area.
More information coming soon! Also, there are a few stories from earlier in the year on the project website: http://www.ewasolions.org/diary.php
Samburu is so green and lush at the moment. It has rained quite a lot here and the reserves have transformed. There is grass everywhere and the shrub Indigofera is covering the area. Elephants are back in their hundreds, full of life and energetic after the lull during the dry season in February and March. Ewaso Nyiro (meaning the Brown River) is flowing and the elephants bathe and splash around in it as if it’s a huge jacuzzi… such fun to watch. This is a real contrast to a few months ago when the river was dry and the earth bare and brown. It is beautiful now, with flowers everywhere. The photo below shows 2 lionesses chased by some elephants in the dry river bed in March.
But… with the rains and the new growth, finding lions has become really hard! I have spent the last week or so covering every corner of the reserves and haven’t yet seen a track. Some of the bushes are higher then my car and all I see is green! (I’ve also landed up in many ditches because I cant see the road!) It appears that the lions are on the edges of the reserves with many outside in the community lands. This is common at this time of the year. I have been getting reports that lions have been killing livestock in West Gate and also South of Buffalo Springs; the latest report coming yesterday where a camel was killed. Just after the rains…
A green Samburu
Some background to the main pride that I monitor in Samburu. Samburu (covering approx 169 square kilometers) has one main pride called the Koitogor Pride (named after the central hill in the reserve). The numbers of individuals has changed over the years with lions moving out. In 2003, there were 14 in this pride and this grew to 21 in 2005. However since then, many of the older cubs have left and unfortunately we haven’t seen new cubs in the area for a while. I am now trying to get a current estimate for the pride. I have known Nashipai for 5 years now since she was about 2 years old. She was always seen with her 2 sisters; Nabo (meaning number one) and Ntito (meaning young girl). Over the years, Ntito moved off with her cubs and I haven’t seen her for more than a year. In 2007, Nashipai would always be with Sempei (meaning the fierce one), however sadly Sempei died in October last year after it appeared that she was poisoned. This year, Nashipai has been seen with Nabo and Uni (meaning three), one of the older females in the pride. However, none of the females have been seen since the middle of March. Nashipai with Nabo
Each time it rains and the lions leave the reserves, I always worry that many will not come back as lions are being killed outside. Its always a huge relief to get the first sighting of the main pride members when they start coming back to the reserves after the rains and after it has dried up a bit. Last year I hadn’t seen Nashipai in 6 months and then she turned up in January; it was great to see her. Between January and March, she kept wandering all over the reserves and I would find her in places where I least expected to see her. The river was dry and the lions were crossing between Samburu and Buffalo Springs daily (the Ewaso Nyiro separates the 2 reserves). So, where is Nashipai now? I do wonder where she has wandered off to this time…
Hello everyone! My name is Shivani Bhalla and I am a wildlife biologist working in the Ewaso ecosystem in Northern Kenya. Ewaso Lions is a project based in the Samburu region. I have been working in this area since I moved here from Nairobi in 2003. In 2007, I started the Ewaso Lion Project focusing on the lions in Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Shaba National Reserves and their surrounding areas. I have also recently started working in the West Gate Community Conservancy, West of Samburu. I live in a bush research camp in Samburu National Reserve, but I am also a bit of a nomad and often set up temporary camps in Shaba and West Gate. The Reserves are spectacular - with the Ewaso Nyiro River forming the heart of the area. The river dries up every year between February and March and again in September and October. Most of the predators lie waiting at the river banks, waiting for prey to come to the dry river bed and drink from the waterholes dug by elephants. After the rains in April and November, the Reserves transform into a lush, green landscape. Lions, cheetahs and leopards are common here, striped hyena are also seen occasionally and elephants are everywhere! Combined with the dramatic scenery, this truly is a stunning place to be.
So, why is this work important? The Reserves and their buffer zones have been identified as highest priority areas for biodiversity conservation and research, and are critically important areas for lions and their dispersal within the whole Ewaso Nyiro landscape. These areas also have the highest potential for loss as lions are most abundant here. The resident lions are sources for lion populations outside the Reserves and should anything disturb these resident populations, the whole lion population within this part of Northern Kenya will become critically endangered. The major threat to lions here are people, and a study into the interaction between people and lions is essential. With Kenya’s lion numbers down to approximately 2000, and tourists from all over the world travelling to National Reserves such as Samburu to view these beautiful animals, lion conservation is now very much a global issue. Overall, we are conducting a lion identification study in the Reserves, looking at habitat changes and prey numbers and investigating the human-lion conflict in the area. Cheetah and leopard numbers are also being monitored. We have also started a tree project with the local schools and you will hear more about this in the future. Raphael Lekuraiyo works as the community officer for the project and 3 lion scouts, Jeneria, Francis and Jeremiah monitor lions and prey in the West Gate Community Conservancy. This photo below is of Nashipai on the banks of the Ewaso Nyiro river. Nashipai, whose name means ‘beautiful, happy one’ in the Samburu language, resides mainly in Samburu National Reserve. However, over the past few months, she has become a bit of a wanderer. Personally, I think she is the most beautiful lioness in the area. In the months to come, you will get to know more about her and the rest of her pride members including the elusive maneless male of Samburu.
So please do join the Ewaso Lions Team on this journey of discovery as we reveal the secrets of the yet unknown Ewaso Lions in this stunning, semi-arid part of Kenya. Through this blog we hope we can give you a feel for the lions, livelihoods and landscapes that make up this exciting and vibrant ecosystem. Karibu sana! (Welcome!) Shivani Project Leader |
|
Ewaso Lions is a project based in the Samburu region. I am working with the local people to enhance co-existence between lions and communities in this stunning arid landscape in Northern Kenya. 
