Ewaso Lions

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.

I have just returned from a tough week in the field in West Gate Conservancy.  The rains have finally arrived in Samburu which is great.  I unfortunately chose the wrong time to move back to Echo Lima Camp for a week (its been sunny and blue skies since I left!).

I had scheduled to work at night during this week which meant ground-truthing during the day and driving at night.  During the day, most of the roads were washed away and we came across many road blocks – either elephants had knocked over trees or the Ewaso Nyiro river had brought in lots of debris.  We spent hours clearing away the debris to get through and driving through a lot of water!

Raphael and Ricila clearing away the debris

I am quite excited – I think I have just figured out how to upload my first video onto YouTube and on this blog. Lets hope this works. Click on the video below to see me driving through probably the smallest amount of water during that week.

After that, Gypsy was literally swimming through much more water.  I was especially proud of Gypsy when I was returning to camp one night at 11 pm and had to drive through the Pukur lugga (sand river) which was flowing and the sand was very soft. I walked across to make sure I could do it and decided to give it a go.  I drove through with no problems; sand and water covering the tyres.  I heard the next day that a Landcruiser had got stuck there a few minutes after I had gone through.  Very unfortunate for the Landcruiser, but Go Gypsy!!!  She continues to be a fantastic car for this type of terrain.

The rains were amazing. The Kipsing river was full off water for the first time in months and flowed into the Ewaso Nyiro.  However, unfortunately, our tents are not totally waterproof and every night, rain would leak into them.  One night, I woke to find my back totally wet after rain came through and soaked through the mattress.  We didn’t see sun too much during this week and if there was any sun, the mattresses and blankets would be spread out and our little camp looked like a bush laundromat.

The Ewaso Nyiro River is full

With just a little bit of rain, the Echo Lima Camp and surrounding areas transformed.  It is green everywhere and looks so different to when we left in August.

The Echo Lima camp in October – Gypsy and the tents are in the distance

The hardest part of the week was working at night (I have got very used to sleeping at 8pm!).  One aspect of my research is to estimate the density of lions and hyenas in the community areas, so this required me to work at night.

However, the recent arrival of the rains and using spot lights attracted an enormous number of bugs – the most I have ever seen.  All sorts of flying and crawling bugs and beetles flew into our faces, into the car and however much we tried to cover up, they ended up all over us.  Gypsy currently looks like a bug graveyard.  The beetles seemed to have an interest in my hair and often they would nestle in my hair, only to come crawling out over my face when I returned to camp and was asleep (or trying to sleep) in my tent.  I think I need a genet cat to sit on my head and sieve through my hair picking out the bugs. One thing is for sure – the genet cat would definitely have a feast:)

A rare dry moment  - Francis and I enjoying a cup of tea (trying to keep warm!) whilst out ground-truthing one day

So, although I had the toughest driving experience, was soaked 24-7 and am still removing bugs from my hair, I am glad the rains have finally arrived in Samburu.  It was a long, dry spell and the people, their livestock and the wildlife have really suffered over the past few months.  The cows are returning home, the Ewaso Nyiro is still flowing and it is green everywhere.

The reserve is green once again