..and this morning the lion camp had even more animal visitors in the kitchen - this time it was mice in the oven!

We haven’t quite worked out how these two mischievous mice are getting into the oven yet, but they will certainly get a shock when we start cooking!

Any ideas for a humane way to remove these pesky little guys from our kitchen?

You MUST make a written order for the cards by posting a comment on the blog after you have donated. This is the only way that we can get access to your email address, and find out the postal address you would like the cards to be sent to. For security reasons we do not have access to any of the details you use to donate to us.

Delineations, Joyce N, Cindy C and Sarah A (and Ruth K if your donation was for Christmas cards) please add a comment as we need your email address in order to send you the cards!

THANK YOU!

There are 3 designs, one is of Lion Guardian Olubi tracking lions, the second is a female lion in Nempakai’s pride with her cub, and the third design is a young Maasai girl from one of the communities that the Lion Guardians program works with. The cards are high quality glossy laminated and the message inside reads ‘Season’s Greetings’.

The cost is $22 (that’s approx £13) for 12 cards (4 of each design), and this includes airmail postage and packing of the cards (and envelopes) to your address. Just put a number in the QTY box next to ‘Christmas card pack’ to say  how many packs you would like to purchase, and click on DONATE.

Please Note
As well as making your donation for the cards, you MUST also write a request for the cards on this blog by adding a comment so that we can trace you to obtain your address for postage. We cannot trace you from the donation box alone. Thank you!

We hope you like the designs, and we hope we can raise a lot of money for the Guardians, so please buy some now, and spread the word!!

THANK YOU! Your support is helping save the remaining wild lions in Kenya.

We mobilized several Lion Guardians and together with some game scouts from nearby Amboseli Porini camp (Selenkay Conservancy), they were thankfully able to prevent the agitated community members from any revengeful attacks against the lions. After successfully calming the community, the Lion Guardians team proceeded to get things ready for a potential collaring later in the evening, and started the process by doing a ‘call-in’ near to the place where the attacks had happened. This involves playing the sounds of lions roaring, or other noises that might attract lions, such as a dying prey, through loud speakers. Out of the darkness came the lions. They strolled past the car and disappeared again; this marked the start of a long game of ‘hide and seek’!

After a search that lasted more than 3 hours, one of the lions was finally collared, and the Lion Guardians that were present named the male lion ‘Sikiria’, a Maasai name meaning ‘He of the donkey’. This is the first male to be collared on Eselenkei Group Ranch. Young, big and very strong, Sikiria comes from a group of 4 lions that seem to be moving far and wide searching for everything from prey and territory to females. Here I am with Sikiria, at his collaring.

Now that the Lion Guardians can keep close eye on their locations, we hope that they will be able to prevent any more disasters from happening, by alerting community members of their whereabouts as a way of preventing human-wildlife conflicts. We will keep you posted on the activities of these rambunctious male lions!

I insisted that their tracks revealed 4 lions, rather than just 3, one of which must be a big male. We then conducted some ground tracking and after following his tracks for a few kilometers, we found the male lion. A closer look revealed his unmistakable identity - it was Lomunyak. The beautiful male lion from Eselenkei Group Ranch was probably up to something none of us knew, but he kept the secret to himself and kept a great distance between himself and the females, thinking really hard. He was probably deciding his schedule for the next few weeks before the rain comes. Respecting his decision-making process, we headed back to camp for our Lion Guardian meeting.

Tracking using telemetry equipment a few days later, we headed towards the direction of the signal and found Lomunyak with Selenkay doing some serious business! With snow-capped Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background, truth be told, Lomunyak is clearly a beauty to behold.

Another visit a few days later and we found him again seriously mating with another lioness, Elikan!

Lomunyak seems to have a great vision of the Tara pride Empire. He has carved up a territory spreading across three Group Ranches bordering Amboseli National Park. No other male lion seems willing to risk coming into this territory or else! With a pride comprising five cubs and five females to boot, one does not have to be a rocket scientist to see Lomunyak’s expansionist dream, given the right conditions. It’s these right conditions that the Lion Guardians team is trying to facilitate. We went back to camp strongly convinced that Lomunyak’s schedule before the onset of the rains will yield good results in the future.

The honey badger wasn’t terribly bothered by the torchlight from a distance but soon retreated into the shadows when Kylie moved in closer, disappearing before a photograph could be taken. However, here’s some shots of what he did to the beehive!

Every donation made through this blog goes towards helping the Lion Guardians project conserve wild lions.

Thank you for your support.

Thank you Reuters, for bringing the important work of the Lion Guardians to the attention of the world. We hope this publicity will bring in some much needed donations, to help the project!