Ewaso Lions

Category: Community | Date: Nov 09 2009 | By: ewasolions

This blog post somehow got lost and although it took place a few months ago, it is still very relevant and links in well with Part 2 which is coming soon!

Visiting renowned human-wildlife conflict expert from the US, Nina Fascione and her husband Steve Kendrot and I, decided to take 6 students from Lpus Leluai Primary School in West Gate, on a game drive in Samburu National Reserve.   The headmaster Johnson selected 3 boys and 3 girls who he said deserved a special treat for doing really well academically.  I am glad Johnson made the selection  -I would have really struggled to chose the children  -hoping to take them all!

We entered Samburu and after about 20 minutes or so, we began to see giraffe, tons of elephants close-up and were fortunate to see one of the Samburu lionesses, walk in the middle of the Ewaso Nyiro River.  The students were thrilled.  For most of them, they have never really seen animals close-up.  They may have seen the tail of a lion disappearing when they were young children herding livestock, or elephants running away from villages.  This time, the students got to see the animal’s behaviour and what they actually look like.

Edward and Moses learn how to use a camera with Ricila’s help

We stopped at about 10 am for some chai (tea) and a break.  I also gave the students a talk on the lions of Samburu - why they are important and the need to conserve them.  I also showed them how each one is identified individually and we went through the various lion IDs of the reserve.  The students had many questions.  One good question was had the numbers of lions changed over the years in the area.  Our question and answer session went on for about 30 minutes by which time we headed back.

Explaining about the importance of wildlife

Showing the students lion IDs with Steve’s help

The students were really excited to have gone out on a game drive with us.  We stopped at the Save the Elephants research camp on the way back and they were given a talk on elephants by the researchers.   It was a fun time for them all and they chatted animatedly all the way back to school and relayed their experiences to the other students.

A few weeks later I happened to be reading some wildlife essays that the students of West Gate had written when I came across one written by Scholastica.  She had written about her experience when she saw a Samburu lioness for the first time!  It was a great essay and a step forward in getting the students to know some of the Ewaso Lions.

Tags: elephants, Ewaso Nyiro, Lioness, Samburu, Save the Elephants, wildlife

One response so far

Category: Other news | Date: Mar 12 2009 | By: ewasolions

A few weeks ago, whilst we were in camp we heard that a bull elephant had died about 1 km away.  This big bull is a known individual, called Esidai, and has been studied for many years by the Save the Elephants researchers.

I used to see him often here in West Gate, hanging out with other big bulls.  The bulls like this area; there is plenty of shade, food and water.  When the bulls come into musth, they leave the area and head for the reserves, where they look for females to mate with.

Esidai fell on the river bank and died a few hours later.  We went to see him, together with the researchers from Save the Elephants.  The cause of death could not be established and to this date, we do not know what happened to him.  There were no visible wounds on him.  This is now the second elephant to have died in the area for unknown reasons.

Esidai’s death attracted a lot of interest from the local people

Researchers from Save the Elephants measure his tusks and take various samples

I have gone back a few times to see Esidai after his tusks were removed by the Kenya Wildlife Service.  The hyenas have eaten a small part of him and dragged his trunk to the middle of the river.  But he is pretty much still there, sloped on the river bank…

Esidai - A great loss to West Gate

These are tough times for the residents of Samburu. The local communities, their livestock and the wildlife are struggling now.  The area is terribly dry and there is not much food remaining.  The Ewaso Nyiro river has been dry for months now and elephants are digging into the dry river bed for water, helping the other animals too.

We are all hoping for rain soon.  We did have a huge thunderstorm last night.  I hope this is the beginning of the much awaited for and desperately needed rains…

Tags: elephants, Ewaso Nyiro, hyenas, Samburu, Save the Elephants, West Gate Community Conservancy

3 responses so far

Category: Lions | Date: Feb 16 2009 | By: ewasolions

We have our first radio-collared Ewaso Lion!  On Thursday the 28th of January, I managed to locate Lguret at 6:36 am.  Lguret was one of the Real Lions – a maneless male who I first saw in July 2008 in West Gate Community Conservancy (WGCC) with 2 other males.  The coalition of 3 moved to Samburu National Reserve (SNR) in September 2008 and have been resident in the reserve since then.

Lguret was spotted in the Ewaso Nyiro river with the other male – Loirish.  I stayed with them until the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) vet arrived, Dr Stephen Chege.  The two males did not move much from the dry river-bed and only stood  to drink from a nearby elephant waterhole and to change position each time the sun was on them.

The two males prior to darting

After Dr Chege arrived, we made plans and decisions of how the lion will be darted and from what position.  I drove into the Ewaso Nyiro and Lguret was darted a few minutes later.  Both males jumped up after Lguret was darted and moved up the river-bank into the saltbush.

Driving into the Ewaso Nyiro finding the right position to dart from

Approaching the 2 males (lions are on the right of the photo)

Lguret darted (see dart near shoulder)

Lguret eventually sat down a few minutes later and we were able to come out of the vehicles.  Dr Chege worked on the health of the lion and took necessary samples, Raphael (Ewaso Lions) and David from Save the Elephants worked on attaching the collar whilst I took all the required measurements.  Lguret was down for a bit under an hour.  Rangers from SNR kept an eye on Loirish, the other male and reinforced the security within the area.

Attaching the radio-collar

Taking required measurements

Eventually the antidote was administered and Lguret came fully round under an hour.  We stayed with him to make sure he was in good condition and not affected by the collar and the operation overall.

Lguret recovering well after the radio-collaring

The radio-collaring operation was a success and we now have the first Ewaso Lion collared! This is the first time that movement data from a lion in Samburu is being gathered and this information is crucial for lion conservation and the management of the ecosystem.  I hope that he will move to WGCC and we will be able to learn this key movement between the reserves and the community area.

Many thanks to Paul Thomson for these great photos

Special thanks to the team from Save the Elephants and Paul Thomson from the African Wildlife Foundation for their assistance with the radio-collaring operation.

Tags: Conservation, Ewaso Lions, Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Kenya, Lions, Samburu, Save the Elephants, wildlife

6 responses so far

Category: Other news | Date: Jan 11 2009 | By: ewasolions

A few days ago, I was in camp mid-morning when I received a radio message from the community scouts informing me that an elephant was dying and had lay down.  Two days prior to this I had seen a young female elephant looking very thin in the Conservation Area of West Gate Conservancy.  Her 2.5 year old calf was with her at the time and was happily feeding whilst her mother stood in the sun without moving, looking very thin and unwell.

Sick female elephant a few days before dying

I couldn’t help but think that maybe this was that very same young female who was dying.   I had alerted Save the Elephants a few days before that and their researchers came out to look for the female.  The female was not found then and the urgent radio message about the dying elephant was received the following day.

I rushed out of camp and headed towards the end of the Conservation Area.  After communicating with the community scouts about the elephant’s location and the scouts whereabouts, we drove into the dry river bed of the Ewaso Nyiro River.  I left Gypsy here and we proceeded on foot and crossed the river.

The female was laying down about 30 metres away from the river bank.  Her calf stood by her, wandering into the bushes at times to feed.  This was indeed the very same female I had seen a few days ago.

We sat with the elephant for sometime waiting for the security personnel and Save the Elephants researchers to arrive. The scene attracted many Samburu warriors who were herding their livestock and bathing in the river.  They were curious to know what had happened to this poor elephant and also worried about what would happen to her calf.

Warriors watch the elephant

The young female didn’t move much but we knew she was alive because each time many flies irritated her eyes, she would blink slowly to remove them. She was very thin and her face was sunken in.  It was unclear as to what had affected this elephant to make her so sick before she lay down to die.

The sick female

By 4 pm,  the scouts and researchers arrived.  They decided to wait a while to see if the female would eventually stand up.  She could not be approached too close because of her young calf and we did not want to scare the calf away.

Calf stays with dying mother

I left after 6 hours of watching this poor female.  The community scouts stayed with her during the entire night.  I arrived back at the scene at 6 am and the scouts informed me that the elephant had died during the night. We could hear the calf somewhere in the bushes nearby but I didn’t see her.

During the day, the rangers and security personnel arrived to remove her tusks.  I returned in the evening but still had no sighting of the calf.  I visited the carcass again the following morning and found hyena tracks all around her but strangely, the hyenas did not touch her.  I will be heading back there later today and will keep you posted.

It was unclear as to what killed this elephant.  No obvious wounds were seen and she most likely died of an illness.  Her calf has not been seen since then.  It is my hope that she joined other elephants who were in the vicinity of the area.

Tags: calf, Community, Douglas-Hamilton, elephants, Ewaso Nyiro, hyenas, Samburu, Save the Elephants

7 responses so far