Ewaso Lions

Echo Lima camp

ewasolions — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:15:18 +0000

The Ewaso Lions (known as Echo Lima ) camp has been set up! After doing a lot of running around in Nairobi last week buying solar panels, food, tents and more, I finally made it to Samburu a few days ago. I packed up all my stuff at the elephant research camp where I used to live and drove off to West Gate Conservancy where I would be setting up base for the next few months. After some discussions, a base was established approximately 100 metres away from the staff houses at the stunning Sasaab lodge. We found a suitable site which was relatively flat. Two tents have been put up, one for me and the other for the guys. A little makeshift mess tent as well and a kitchen too pretty much made out of dead trees and branches and a bit of canvas. I am getting water from the staff area of Sasaab Lodge and also they have kindly allowed me to use their internet which is brilliant. The camp is great and already feeling like home!

I have taken a loan out to buy a solar panel, enough to charge my one computer, a rechargeable spot light and a light in the mess tent. Its working really well so far and I am very pleased with the solar set-up. This has all been a learning experience for me and up until a few days ago, I didn’t know how a solar panel, battery, inverter, charge controller all worked! But now I do and its great. I would be so grateful to receive any donations for the solar panel – the entire set-up cost $700.

This will be home for the next 3 months and although it was pretty scary setting this up, I am also excited too. We have heard hyena every night since being here and have seen tracks pretty close to camp. I also went out to drive around and discover West Gate Conservancy and found perfect lion areas where the scouts have been seeing tracks and sightings too. Kudus are around, hyrax everywhere (there is a kopje right next to camp with beautiful views!) and camels too!

My plan for the next few months is to work closely with the scouts, radio-collar some lions and hold some community workshops and also to try and provide an estimate for lion numbers in this community area. Every 2 weeks I will return to Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserve for 2 nights to keep tabs of the resident reserve lions.

Below are a few photos of the camp… on the way to West Gate, unpacking the car, the mess tent, solar set-up, working on my laptop, view of the whole bush camp.

More news from West Gate in the next few days….

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Ashe oleng Jan, Sauwah, Ana & an anonymous donor

ewasolions — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 07:04:07 +0000

Thank you so much Jan, Sauwah, Ana and an anonymous donor! All of us at Ewaso Lions really appreciate your donation to the project and will contribute towards payments for Gypsy, the project vehicle.

Ashe oleng (thank you in Samburu!),

Shivani and the rest of the Ewaso Lions team

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The land of a thousand hills

ewasolions — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:51:28 +0000

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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Goat in a hole

ewasolions — Thu, 22 May 2008 09:55:04 +0000

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

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Walk-follow-stop

ewasolions — Thu, 22 May 2008 09:32:19 +0000

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.

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Mating Elephants

ewasolions — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:52:50 +0000

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.

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Nashipai at last

ewasolions — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:38:56 +0000

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.

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News from the Reserves

ewasolions — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:51:29 +0000

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…

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Dead hyena

ewasolions — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:07:42 +0000

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.

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Gypsy

ewasolions — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:50:06 +0000

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

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