Lion Collaring Expedition - Day Three

As you can imagine by this point in the process... slowly the team started to get a little anxious, time was definitely running out. Two days without collaring a lion: the pressure was on with only a few more days left.

We decided to change our strategy so in addition to the sound playbacks, we used bait as well. We obtained two goat carcasses that were killed by lions the previous night in Oltiasika to attract lions, in addition to the call up sounds. More than an hour before dark we arrived at the calling station site close to where we saw the lion the previous night. The stomach of the goat carcass was punctured and the carcass was dragged behind the car in a 100 meter radius around the location of the calling station. After dragging, the carcass was hung high into a tree close by.

Carcass hanging in the tree behind the car of the vet

Even before we started playing the sounds, the first spotted hyena showed and we feared the area would soon be infested with spotted hyenas. Then a pair of jackals started barking in the distance and all the spotted hyenas left the area.

Night fell, and so we started playing the sound of a buffalo calf in distress followed by the pig squeal. After more than 3 hours of calling we started to worry that the lions would not come at all. Then suddenly a large growl of a lion was heard next to the vehicle. Everybody in the team that has collared a lion before knew what that meant... a lion was hit by a dart. A rush of adrenaline and excitement. We got it!

Spotlights were switched on and the cars drove around through the bush in search of the darted lion as it ran off into the long grass and dense bush for safety after being hit by the dart. Fortunately, the KWS team spotted the lion, 150 meters away from the darting site.

The KWS vet drove the car close to the lioness and poked it with the dart gun to ensure it was properly sedated before we got out of the car to start the collaring. Measurements of teeth, paws, nose-tail length, shoulder height was taken. Was had approximately 45 minutes to do the job white MWCT rangers and Simba Scouts were on the lookout for possible other lions in the area that might have come to the rescue.

Collaring team with Namunyak

It was a young lioness of about 3 years old in a healthy condition. She was named Namunyak meaning "lucky one". To further boost her condition Dr. Poghon injected some vitamins and antibiotics, and also treated her for ticks and lion lies. When everybody was finished, the antidote was given. A MWCT car was called to come with new Simba Scouts to monitor the recovery of the lioness to ensure she was not harassed by hyenas or other lions that may wish to take advantage of her vulnerable state.

Taking measurements: nose-tail length of Namunyak

After the collaring of Namunyak, the collaring team proceeded to another location where Simba Scouts had seen 5 lions earlier that day. The team stayed out calling up to 5:00 a.m. but no lions showed up, in which they decided to head back to the camp. At that time we received a message from the Simba Scouts that the newly collared lioness had fully recovered and moved safely into the lava bushland. A good sign, as this habitat is a safe hide-out for lions on Kuku Group Ranch.