Ewaso Lions

Category: Reserves | Date: Oct 22 2009 | By: ewasolions

Samburu is transforming!  Every day the landscape changes colour.  Trees are the greenest they have been this whole year and its amazing to watch the animals come alive.  All the animals seem more energetic and excited with the new greenery and water.  Impalas, oryx, waterbuck and buffalo who managed to survive through the drought are now feasting on the green shoots.  I watched an oryx the other day - in the morning he was in a mini green paradise eating all the grass - 6 hours later he was in the same spot, still eating.  Even the monkeys are happy.  Its such a thrill to see the place come alive this way and so quickly just after a few rain showers.  Below are some photos of some happy drought survivors taken 2 days after the first rain:

Impalas graze with the Samburu sacred mountain, Sabache, in the background

A thin impala finds some new grass 2 days after the first rain

Almost all the buffaloes died in the drought.  Here is one survivor who just managed to stay alive…

A dikdik a few minutes after a rain shower

Happy monkeys

A thin oryx makes the most of the new grass

Numerous waterbuck also died in the drought.  This male made it.

A not so happy lion cub in the rain!

Here are photos taken exactly 1 week after the first rain:

Grass!!!

Lots of grass for the Grevy’s zebra

Finally - some happy warthog!

Tags: Buffalo, drought, Impalas, Monkeys, Samburu, Waterbuck

5 responses so far

Category: Lions | Date: Oct 19 2009 | By: ewasolions

Amidst this terrible drought, the lions have done great!  Together with the other predators, they are probably the only animals to have benefited from the arid conditions.  The Koitogor pride came together a few months ago and started bringing down larger animals - giraffes, buffalo, zebra - which became their main prey.  Nashipai and Nabo’s cubs have grown and often leave their mothers, hunting alone.  I have been fortunate to have a number of great sightings of them; feasting on giraffe, climbing trees, or sleeping and playing out in the open.

Happy, healthy lions

One of the cubs on a fallen Acacia tree

The pride in Ngare Mara have also done well.  The two young females in that area, Jabdu and Korti, have not ventured far from Ngare Mara River and the swamps.  A few weeks ago, Jabdu gave birth!  I saw her the day after she gave birth - she had blood all over her legs and she was quite nervous.  It will be weeks before we see her cubs as she has them hidden well.  Kofafeti and her 2 cubs have also done well over the past few months, and Loirish and Lguret, the 2 resident males, have been moving between the 2 prides.

Jabdu, a day after giving birth

Loirish and Lguret feast on a giraffe

Lastly, Magilani. I have not seen her since August.   There is no sign of her at all. I haven’t seen any tracks or heard of any sightings from either the community or the scouts.  It has been long and I worry about her safety.  With lion numbers in Kenya declining in most areas, each and every individual lion is so important.  I have monitored Magilani for months as she wanders through West Gate Community Conservancy alone.  I hope she is still alive.

The rains have now begun and things will begin to change for the lions and other predators.  They have had an easy year so far, however this will now change as the prey moves away from the Ewaso Nyiro river and into the hills.  The lions will follow and leave the safe confines of the reserves.  I hope they survive this crucial period.

Tags: Cubs, drought, Ewaso Nyiro, Kenya, Lions, predators

3 responses so far

Category: Other news | Date: Oct 16 2009 | By: ewasolions

The rains are finally here!!! This is the worst drought that most people can remember.  Livestock and wildlife have died in large numbers over the past few months and the river remained dry for most of the year.  It has been desperate and the most difficult period that I can remember during my years in Samburu.

One of the last surviving warthogs died a few weeks ago

Arid landscape

Digging waterholes in the river for the wildlife

A few weeks ago, we began to see signs of rain.  Dark clouds were forming daily and the days were scorching.  It eventually began to rain all around us but never quite reached Samburu.  The Samburu ladies sang in the river, throwing milk and praying for rain to come.  Each day we would look at the river and wonder if today was the last day we would be digging.  This went on for days.

Rains in the distance

Finally on the 10th of October, the river flowed!  This was such an exciting moment.  We had seen signs of rain all around us and knew that the river had to flow soon.  We got word that the river was seen flowing 20 kms upstream from camp and there was a buzz in camp as we knew that we would see the great Ewaso Nyiro River flow very soon.  At 2 am, we heard it! We rushed down to the river at 5:30 am and saw the river flowing – it was amazing to see large volumes of water come past us.

The Kipsing lugga flowed into the Ewaso Nyiro

Clear views of Mount Kenya and the Ewaso Nyiro the day after the river flowed

All signs of rain then vanished and we had clear skies for a few days.  The river was also beginning to disappear again and dropped to low levels.  People were getting very disappointed and some were beginning to lose hope that it would ever rain at all.  But, on the 14th of October at 4:00 pm, it finally began to rain – properly!!! We rushed around camp, packing everything up and throwing stuff into Gypsy (project vehicle) and sat under our shade and watched the rain fall.  It was amazing.  We recorded our very first rainfall amount with our new camp rain gauge.

Rain close to camp

Jeneria, Ewaso Lions scout, excited after feeling rain for the first time in a year

The Ewaso Nyiro flowing on the 15th of  October

A warthog family walk down to the flowing Ewaso Nyiro to have their first drink of water from the river in months

A dikdik drinks from the small waterholes that have filled many of the roads in the reserve

After months and months of dryness and death all around us, everyone is so excited.  I just hope this is not temporary and the rains will continue over the next few months.  It needs to rain pretty much everyday.  Eventually the area will recover and the wildlife and livestock will come back.  Samburu is a stunning area when its green and lush  - its been so long since I have seen it that way and I can’t wait to see what the area will look like in December.

In the meantime, I am heading home to Nairobi very soon.  It has been a long long field season – and a very difficult one because of the conditions here.  We will be packing up camp over the next few days and I will then be in the reserve watching how everything will respond to the new rains, including how lion movements will begin to change after they have spent months and months along the river.

Speaking of the lions; they are doing great and have had an easy time over the past few months.  I’ll be writing about them soon but in the meantime, here is a photo of Nanyiro, that I took a few days ago.

Nanyiro looking great a few days ago

Its raining all around me and I can hear thunder everywhere as I post this blog!

Tags: drought, Ewaso Nyiro, Lions, Livestock, Samburu, wildlife

8 responses so far

Category: Donors | Date: Sep 17 2009 | By: ewasolions

Dear Michael, Heather and Katherine,

Thank you SO much for your donations to Ewaso Lions.   Things are currently very difficult in the Samburu region -  see my previous blog on the drought.  Your donations will really help us enormously with continuing our conservation efforts.

Thank you again.

With my best wishes from Samburu,

Shivani & the rest of the team

Here is one of our new cubs in Buffalo Springs

Tags: Conservation, drought, Ewaso Nyiro, Lions, Samburu

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Category: Other news | Date: Sep 09 2009 | By: ewasolions

The drought is continuing. This has been the worst drought that most people can remember. I have been in Samburu for 7 years and I’ve never seen it this bad. People working and living here for more than 30 years say they have never seen it this bad. Here is an update of the current situation.

The last few months have been very difficult in the area. The local people, their livestock and the wildlife have all really struggled to survive during this ongoing persistent drought. The rains totally failed in April and the river has barely flowed this whole year. In most places, the Ewaso Nyiro River is the only source of water and the drying of the river has greatly affected the local people. They struggle to find enough water for their livestock who have begun to die daily. They now need to move further in search of pasture and water including inside wildlife areas. But now even these wildlife areas have reduced to nothing. There is not a blade of grass or vegetation cover. Only dust, sand and soil.

Jeneria, Ewaso Lions scout,  gives water to goats from a dug hole with the Samburu elephants in the background

Unfortunately, due to the lack of water, waterbuck, impala, buffalo, warthog, cattle, donkeys and sheep have begun to die everyday. Large groups of close to 20 warthogs that were around in April and May have now reduced to 1 or 2 warthogs and even they have begun to die. I watched a crocodile die the other day. He had come out of hibernation and literally dropped dead outside his hole. More animals will die over the next few weeks reducing the species numbers and diversity within the area. Pressure on the reserves from livestock will continue. Animals are dying; every week, every day, every minute.

Crocodile dies in the Ewaso Nyiro

Vulterine Guineafowl search for water in the dry Ewaso Nyiro

The animals that are still alive are weak and some barely able to move. They traverse through this arid landscape in search of whatever pasture they can find. We have seen animals walking in the river Ewaso Nyiro in zig zigs searching for water and trying to dig.

A thin warthog struggles to stay alive

I have never experienced such a difficult field period and I apologize to everyone for not having written a blog in so long. We are so busy in the field, trying to help in whatever way possible to ease the pressure of the drought on the local people and the wildlife. Every day we are talking to people to try and ask them to tolerate the predators. The local people are losing everything – livestock to the drought and also all remaining livestock are weak and lethargic and get lost, often becoming prey to the roaming predators. We speak to the herders daily, assisting them to find lost livestock, informing them of predator locations and giving advice on where to graze and where not to graze. We are digging waterholes daily, but even this does not appear to be enough, but we are trying to do as much as possible. Each day I drive around and smell death and see carcasses littered all over the landscape during my drives.

Ewaso Lion Scouts digging in the dry river bed

A waterbuck carcass in the Ewaso landscape

On a positive note, the Ewaso Lions are all doing pretty well. They have not really moved far away from the river over the past few months. As the Ewaso Nyiro is one of the only water sources in the area, the lions lay along the river and wait in ambush for prey to come down to drink from the few waterholes that have been dug. They are doing well currently in this dry season as there is lots of food around. With many animals dying, the lions have plenty to choose from. However, due to the drought and the river drying up, there is more pressure on the reserves from livestock, increasing the human threat to lions and we are working hard to try and monitor all individual lions inside the reserves.

Loirish, Kofafeti and her 2 cubs healthy and happy in July after they fed on a giraffe for a few days

I hope to catch up with writing more blogs soon. In the meantime, I hope you can all bear with me as we get through this difficult period. Please do help anyone working and living in a drought stricken area. We need your help as I am sure my fellow bloggers do who are also working hard to help the situation. You can help by making a donation to allow us to keep going with our efforts in helping the people, their livestock and the wildlife.

It is now the middle of September. Everyone is saying rain is on the way and we also see a few signs of clouds building up. Lets hope the rain comes soon. We need it NOW as things are so desperate. I’ve almost forgotten what the river flowing looks like… but believe me, when it does flow, I will be amongst many in Samburu, celebrating.

Tags: crocodile, drought, elephants, Ewaso Nyiro River, Lions, rains, Samburu, wildlife

8 responses so far

Category: Lions | Date: Mar 26 2009 | By: ewasolions

It was just after 4 pm yesterday when I came across Nabo and Nashipai, the 2 main lionesses from the Koitogor Pride, in the middle of suffocating an adult male impala, in Samburu National Reserve.  Nabo held onto her prey’s throat with her jaws whilst Nashipai started eating.

Two lionesses from Samburu, Nabo and Nashipai, kill an impala

Nashipai only ate for a few minutes, stood up and walked off towards the Ewaso Nyiro River.  She went for a quick drink at a nearby waterhole and then disappeared from sight.  Nabo continued to eat but constantly looked in the direction that Nashipai had disappeared to.

Nashipai leaves to get the cubs

Nabo continues to feed on the impala

About 15 minutes later, I turned around and saw a beautiful scene.  Nashipai had gone to get the 5 cubs (2 cubs are Nashipai’s and 3 are Nabo’s).  They were all walking in the middle of the river heading our way.  They came close and suddenly the cubs saw Nabo eating the impala.  They ran towards her and pounced on top of the impala.

Cubs feast on the impala

All 5 cubs ate and ate together with Nabo whilst Nashipai sat nearby waiting and licking the blood off herself.  They fought over small pieces of meat and played tug-of-war with the bones and legs.

I watched them finish every single piece of the impala for more than 2 hours.  Loirish one of the males eventually showed up. He let them eat for a while before heading to the kill and getting a small share.  Nashipai eventually stood up and picked at some remaining scraps.

Loirish, the resident male in Samburu, watches and waits at a distance

Loirish joins the rest of the pride on the impala kill

Kills are hard to see in Samburu because of the thick bush and the lions here are often hunting at night.  It has been a long time since I have seen a kill.  The lions are doing really well these days.  Most of the other animals are struggling in this drought, but the lions just lay in wait along the river and ambush whatever comes down to drink at the waterhole.

This was a great scene and fantastic to watch the 5 cubs of Samburu tear away at an impala together with Nabo and Loirish.  Nashipai, my favourite lioness, was amazing.  She didn’t each much, left the kill to go and fetch the cubs and even upon return, allowed the cubs to eat.  It was a very special few hours…

Tags: Cubs, drought, Ewaso Nyiro, impala, kill, Lion, Lioness, Samburu

One response so far