Archive for the ‘Other news’ Category
So here is a little about myself! I was born and brought up in Nairobi the capital city of Kenya. I attended primary and secondary school in Nairobi, and it was whilst in secondary school that I developed a passion for wildlife conservation. Occasional school camping trips and safaris organised by my parents confirmed my passion in wildlife. I remember spotting my first cheetah in Samburu when I was 9 years old and that memory has always remained with me! I left Kenya for Lancaster University, England, in 1996 to undertake a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Environmental Science, that included a year’s exchange to the State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA. Upon successful completion of my studies, I returned to Kenya where I worked with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), which included a strong involvement in the CITES conference in Nairobi in 2000 where I campaigned for the continued ban on the ivory trade. The more I immersed myself in wildlife conservation, the more passionate I have become working towards saving Africa’s fauna. My work within KWS subsequently enabled me to gain employment as a wildlife biologist and education officer with Save the Elephants (STE) in 2000. However, I soon developed a greater interest in lions, especially in 2002, when a lioness named Kamunyak adopted a baby oryx antelope in Samburu. In December 2002, I moved to Samburu National Reserve, Northern Kenya, where I still reside. I worked with students and schools in the area as part of my position with STE, including liaising with the local communities on the establishment and maintenance of environmental and wildlife conservation programmes. During my time here in Samburu, I have completed a Master of Science degree in Wildlife Biology and Conservation by Distance Learning with Napier University, Scotland. The focus of my Masters research was on the population size, structure and movements of lions within the reserves in the area. I have since commenced my PhD with the University of Oxford in 2007, where the focus of my research is a continuation of the lion study I initiated in 2003. And this is how Ewaso Lions started! Below are a few photos in the field - collecting lion scat, identifying lions, measuring manyattas and working in the mess tent at the Echo Lima camp
I often spend time under Gypsy trying to fix something or placing the jack to change a tyre… but more often am sitting on the top of the hatch!
I have had many memorable moments during my years in Samburu. One being in 2003, when I witnessed the death of an elephant matriarch and watched how other elephants reacted to her death and also saw a pride of lions feed on her for a week. I have also participated in many elephant radio-collaring operations as well as assisted with the treatment of 2 cheetahs with mange in 2004. I also took part in 2 district wide cheetah censuses in 2006 which was a fantastic experience. However, the highlight of all my years in Samburu has definitely been this year as I have worked on my own project with a fantastic team (see previous blogs) and also a great group of volunteers; Paul Thomson from the African Wildlife Foundation, Shane Dallas a public servant from Australia, Nilanga Jayasinghe from Defenders of Wildlife in the US and Shalini Bhalla from SB-Management in the UK. I have had great support from various organizations who have funded my project to date and from readers of WildlifeDirect. It is thanks to you all that my project is able to continue and I am able to work in this region doing what I can do to conserve the Ewaso ecosystem’s lions. I have enjoyed every minute of working in the Samburu region and I look forward to many more years to come working in this beautiful area. And now I think I have given you the full picture of the Ewaso Lions team. For more information and photos, please click here: www.ewasolions.org/aboutus If you have any questions on the project, the Ewaso Lions team or anything, please feel free to ask!
The Ewaso Lion Scouts have been working in the West Gate Community Conservancy since March. The 3 scouts cover daily routes where they record information on lion sightings and tracks, wild prey and livestock locations and also collect any predator scat that they see along the way. They monitor the lion population within the conservancy and keep the local communities informed on predator locations so as to prevent them from grazing their livestock in these areas. They also provide information to the local people about how to improve ways in which to protect their livestock. The scouts work closely with Raphael on all these aspects.
The Ewaso Lion Scouts The scouts are equipped with hand-held radio sets for communication and security, GPSs, binoculars, waist bags, solar panels for charging their radios and uniforms. Jeneria Lekilele
Jeneria taking a GPS point after seeing hyena tracks
Jeneria in full uniform scanning the river Jeremiah Letoole
Francis Lendorop
Francis with Nagut Photo below: Francis (right of photo) in his village
Joseph is Echo Lima camp cook and general manager! He is a Samburu warrior, originally from the Kipsing area. Joseph learned to cook for the first time on June 6th – our first day in camp. He has since become brilliant at cooking and surprised us all one day when he baked bread! He is first to wake in the morning and immediately begins to make camel milk chai (tea). Joseph looks after camp; including the solar system, our tree project, the kitchen, tents and pretty much everything.
Joseph making tea in the Echo Lima kitchen Read about the Ewaso Lions Scouts in tomorrow’s blog!
Raphael is a young Samburu warrior who started working on the project in September last year. He is the Community Liaison Officer and is my right-hand man. He networks with the community, records conflict, maps manyattas, supervises the scouts and much more. His home is West Gate itself, however he often spends time at the Echo Lima camp. Raphael getting news from the scouts via a hand-held radio
Raph networking with the community Read about Joseph, Echo Lima’s camp cook in tomorrow’s blog!
Many of you have asked me “who is the Ewaso Lions team”. This is my chance to tell you about the great team of guys that I work with.
The Ewaso Lions team Ltalesi Lekuraiyo is a warrior from Ngare Ndare. He helps me track and spot lions and is brilliant at doing so. Often Lekuraiyo, as he is known, tracks lions to a small area and says “they are in these bushes”. I have learnt not to argue with this cheerful warrior as he is always right. There is never a dull moment when I am with Lekuraiyo. I have explored all the corners of West Gate with him and we have shared many laughs during our adventures.
Lekuraiyo, in his famous red shirt and with me, looking for lions Read about Raphael Lekuraiyo on tomorrow’s blog!
On the 11th of July, I was driving to camp from Samburu National Reserve when I noticed dark clouds form and surround us. I drove quickly to camp to consult with the guys to see what they thought. Joseph, camp manager and cook, said that if it rained it would come from the direction of the reserve and not Wamba. This reassured me slightly. However, with time it became clear that it would rain soon as we were surrounded by black clouds. We made quick plans to remove all the things that would need to be protected. The mobile film unit equipment, food boxes, solar panel, battery, etc were packed quickly into Gypsy. We put on our rain jackets and waited as it thundered all around. Prepared for rain
Rain on the way The wind picked up and some of the chairs and solar panel boxes started flying away. We frantically ran around picking things up. We huddled together under the kitchen tarp, which was sagging under the weight of a growing puddle of rainwater. It then came pouring down and our little kitchen succumbed to the heavy rain. One of the dead tree branches that served as a wall got blown over, bringing down the tarp. There was little we could do except sit and get soaked. We managed to cook some food and eat in the rain. At 9pm, we ran into our leaking tents and tried to get some sleep. It eventually stopped raining late at night. We woke early the following day to assess the damage. The bathroom, loo and kitchen had collapsed from the weight of the water on the hessian material. Everything was soaking wet and our camp looked like a bush laundromat as we hung everything out to dry. My tent and Lekuraiyo’s were ok, however the other 2 tents were soaked. One of the food boxes had leaked and water had got into the ugali. We’re rebuilding Echo Lima camp, but we could use your help and donations to improve camp to survive any more rain. The rains were completely unexpected and unusual for this time of year (hence my camp wasn’t built to be waterproof). I can’t help but think this is a sign of global climate change. The upside to this mess is that I saw the Kipsing River flow into the Ewaso Nyiro. It was beautiful. The brief shower brought relief to the dry parched landscape, with new growth and it was good to see the Ewaso Nyiro flow once again. Pools of water on top of Ndonyo Nanyeke
Kipsing flowing into Ewaso Nyiro
Sorry for the long silence. I have been away from Samburu for 2 weeks, and today, I am breaking away from lion news to write about an amazing experience I recently had. I have recently returned from Rwanda, “the land of a thousand hills”, to fulfill a dream of mine – to see the mountain gorillas. Mountain gorillas are endangered and approximately 700 remain in the wild. Rwanda is a tiny hilly country (slightly larger than Samburu District!) with 9 million people crammed into it. Every space available is cultivated, except what falls in National Parks, including the Volcanoes National Park, home to some of the last mountain gorillas in the spectacular Virunga mountains. After spending a night in Kigali, I left for the Virunga volcanoes which straddle 3 national borders -Congo, Uganda and Rwanda. After spending the night at a small guest house at the foot of Mt Sabinyo, I trekked Mt Bisoke (see photo below) the following day to visit the Amahoro gorilla group. It took us more than 3 hours to find them and it was a pretty hard trek towards the end. Mud, stinging nettles, buffalo dung and steep slopes covered the mountain sides. We found them eventually and got to see a silverback, a few babies, including a 3 month old baby, some females and juveniles. The gorillas moved off and we followed them. At one point I was balancing on one foot, a steep crevice on one side and a gorilla on the other (3 metres away from me)! It was fantastic. A black back gorilla then decided he wanted to pass us and walked right next to me and disappeared into the bush. Seeing the mountain gorillas was an amazing experience.
I truly believe we would have fewer gorillas today if it had not been for the efforts of Dian Fossey in the 70s. I have had a great interest in Dian Fossey since I was a child after I watched films and read books about her and the work she did to protect mountain gorillas. It was her passion and dedication that inspired me to become a wildlife biologist. So this trip to Rwanda was not only about seeing the gorillas but also to see where Dian Fossey worked. After the gorilla trek, the following day, I joined a group of trekkers to visit Dian Fossey’s gravesite and old research camp. The trek was stunning and exactly how I pictured it to be (see photo below). It was amazing to be walking in Dian Fossey’s footsteps. Huge hagenia trees covered the area as we followed fresh buffalo tracks and gorilla spoor as well. After a lot of mud sloshing, I got really excited as we approached her camp (Karisoke research centre). We saw the sites of her old cabins, the trackers home which was destroyed by rebels in 2000, and also the bamboo forest she planted to attract buffaloes near her cabin. We were very fortunate to have a guide with us who had been with Dian 25 years ago. He used to be her tracker at the age of 15. We then moved to her grave site, where she was buried with the gorillas that she tried so hard to protect. Seeing her grave, and the grave signs of Digit, Beetsme, Pablo, Kweli was an emotional moment for me as I have grown up learning about these names and their lives. It was a very special visit and one I will never forget. The work of the trackers, guides, rangers, anti-poaching patrol teams and researchers is amazing and inspires me to be a better conservationist.
I returned to Kigali that night and the following morning took a motor taxi to the Rwanda Genocide memorial. This was incredibly hard to see and learn what happened in this tiny country in 1994. It truly is remarkable to see how far Rwanda has come along in only 14 years. A great trip, one that I definitely hope to repeat some day. I am really looking forward to sharing my Rwandan adventure with the guys in Samburu. I return to Samburu tomorrow where I am setting up a new temporary research camp in West Gate Conservancy. I have spent the past week in Nairobi buying tents, solar panels, food and much more for the camp. Exciting times ahead! |
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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. 
