Ewaso Lions

Category: Community | Date: Nov 12 2009 | By: ewasolions

Our first Kenyan Kids on Safari trip in Samburu was a huge success followed by another one with human-wildlife conflict expert, Nina Fascione.  We recently took 11 school kids out on another drive in Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves.  Sasaab Lodge kindly provided their large vehicle and guide, Innocent, for the drive.  The children come from Lpus Leluai Primary School in West Gate.  Johnson the Headmaster struggled yet again to choose the kids however students that took part in the Simba Stories competition were all selected.  I was amazed at how some of them had drawn fantastic pictures of lions, yet had never seen a lion.

The game drive was fantastic.   I had driven around for 2 days prior to the student drive and had not seen lions or any of the cats.  But this time, we were soo lucky!  About half an hour into the drive, we saw Lguret, the collared maneless male lion.  Soon after that we bumped into more of the lions from the Koitogor Pride - Nashipai and her cubs.  And about 10 minutes after that, the students got to see a leopard!  The kids were thrilled!  They had 4 small digital cameras to use and take photos with - I will be giving them copies of their photos soon so they can remember their experience.  They watched and learned about the big cats.  At the end of the day, they even sat an exam which had questions on some of the topics they were taught.  The kids did great and it was clear that they had benefited tremendously from the drive.  One of the students, Samson, said to me “Now I will find it much easier to draw lions”.

Jeremiah and Legenas watch giraffes in the distance

James watches Lguret sleeping under a tree

Legenas and Jeremiah learn how to take photos

Watching a leopard

Group photo - some very happy kids!

Here are some of the photos that the students took themselves:

A male gerenuk browses

Lguret, the maneless male

Leopard sleeping on an Acacia tree

Jeremiah had this to say after his safari:

“I say thank you for the great tour we had with you yesterday.  I was very happy to use cameras and binoculars and to see many animals like lions, giraffes, gerenuk, and much more.  Thank you also for the biscuits and milk you brought us!  I learned so much from your tour and I was so excited because it was the first time for me to see the above animals. It was so enjoyable”.

Cynthia had this to say:

“We were 5 boys and 5 girls when we went on a drive.  We started seeing animals when we entered the park.  One of the animals I saw was a lion and it was interesting because we were told his name was “Lguret”.  I was very happy to see so many of these animals.  I wish again one day we will go again and see many others.”

A huge special thanks to Kenyan Kids on Safari for donating the cameras and starting this programme and to Sasaab Lodge for being so enthusiastic about the drive and providing their vehicle.  I am really looking forward to more drives with the students  -hopefully over Xmas!

Tags: Leopard, Lions, Samburu, School, Simba, wildlife

2 responses so far

Category: Community | Date: Nov 02 2009 | By: ewasolions

Ewaso Lions has recently joined hands with Lpus Leluai Primary School in West Gate Community Conservancy.  To increase awareness of the importance of lion conservation, we are working with students and teachers at the school.  Students are requested to write and/or illustrate stories about lions in English/Swahili/Samburu.  The best stories and artwork will be put together and printed in the form of a booklet.  These copies will be distributed locally and internationally to increase awareness of lions.  Using these Simba Stories booklets, funds will also be raised for the school’s educational needs.

All art material has been donated by Shalini Bhalla of SB Management. Lindsay Morency, from Canada, has sponsored editing of the Simba Stories booklet and the Panthera Foundation has sponsored production and printing of some of the booklets.

The students have already begun working on their artwork and have produced some great drawings.  Some of them had never painted before until they received boxes of paints and brushes.

Jeremiah working on his drawing

Samson learning how to paint

Some of the completed drawings

I will send an update on their progress soon!

Tags: artwork, awareness, Community, Conservation, Lions, School, West Gate Conservancy

3 responses so far

Category: Community | Date: Mar 19 2009 | By: ewasolions

I have worked with Lpus Leluai Primary School in West Gate Community Conservancy for many years.  It is a school I believe in greatly which has a lot of potential and some smart kids.  The school struggled for many years with food shortages, strong winds blew the classroom roofs away, lack of teachers and many more problems.

The roofless classrooms

However, over the past year and a half, the school is on its way up!  The new headmaster Johnson is fantastic and has not only revived the school (together with a brilliant volunteer teacher from England, Euan), but he has given it hope once again.  Four new classrooms were built, solar panels put in (this is the only power in the entire area!), and now a new girls dormitory is currently under construction. The children have flooded in from all over the area and unfortunately some have to be turned away because the school has exceeded the maximum number of children they can have.

I have always liked this school and have helped in small ways such as giving posters for their classrooms, donating desks and mattresses (through my previous work with Save the Elephants) and more recently, teaching the students about wildlife and taking them out on game drives.  I am focusing all my efforts on this school now and want to help it as much as possible.

Thanks to a donation from my mum and her friends, Ksh 40,000 was raised (USD 530) for school books for Lpus Leluai.  With the influx of new students, Johnson the headmaster was struggling with the few books they had and often 4 or 5 children would share one book.

But not any more! We have donated enough books for the entire school; Science, Maths, Geography and more.  We visited the school a few weeks ago and donated the books to the school together with some brown wrapping paper to cover and protect them from wear and tear.

Johnson the Headmaster receiving the donated books

Johnson doing an inventory of the books with the deputy headmaster, Raphael

The students and teachers were thrilled!  They said this was the first time that they have ever seen so many books and now the children will be able to study in their own time.

Happy students with their new books

Head boy Edward with his new Science book

Students with their new books

Here is short excerpt of Johnson’s letter to my mum:

“Your support came at a time when our school is experiencing a lot of problems.  Madam, your support is of great importance to us as we try to ensure that the students of Lpus Leluai get enough instructional materials to improve their academic standards.  I once again thank you for the donation of the books and promise we shall take good care of the books to last longer and benefit many children in the future. ” Johnson Lenasalia - Headmaster Lpus Leluai Primary School.  

The school continues to need our help.  The new girls dormitory needs to be furnished, they need more classrooms, more books and stationary for the large number of students and much more!   If you would like to help this school, please do make a donation!

Tags: Community, Conservancy, Lions, School, Students

4 responses so far