Conservation Program Update - Quarterly Success

Our Conservation Team has compiled its' quarterly successes and accomplishments to share with you on our blog! Enjoy reading up on the following tremendous accomplishments from the past couple of months!

Community Rangers:

A deceased elephant was found by 2 school boys herding goats. The school boys immediately informed MWCT Community Rangers about the elephant. The rangers went to the site and found a fresh carcass of an elephant with its tusks still present. MWCT Rangers removed the tusks and handed it over to KWS in Komboyo. After a post mortem was completed, it was determined the death was due to a poisoned spear, which suggests poaching. MWCT Rangers are now investigating the incident!

Our Rangers were informed by a community member from Inkisanjani about poachers planning to poach wildlife on Kuku Group Ranch. The rangers managed to successfully set an ambush and captured 2 of the 3 poachers and impounded 2 motorbikes and bushmeat.

Map of Kuku Group Ranch indicating the patrol effort and areas covered by the different ranger sectors during their security foot patrols from April to June 2014

Lion Monitoring & Simba Scouts:

During this quarter, a detailed lion population survey was conducted! The current estimated resident lion population on Kuku Group Ranch is 32 (14 adults and 18 sub-adults/cubs)!

Namunyak in the company of two adult lionesses and cubs

Of these, 5 lions are collared. These lions are monitored closely by the Simba Scouts on a daily basis. In the event that one of these lions moves into an area close to livestock or bomas, the Simba Scouts will warn the community and herders to watch out and avoid these areas in order to prevent conflict which may lead to the retaliatory killing of lions! A wonderful tool for us!

Lion movement of the 2 GPS collared lion (Yellow = Namunyak; Pink = Neluai)

Wildlife Pays:

Our Wildlife Pays Program this quarter was very busy! A total of 259 incidents of livestock predation were recorded; most incidents being due to hyena, followed by cheetah and then jackal. The total value of the payout was 1,552,400 Ksh.

Number of heads of livestock killed per wildlife species in this past quarter

Community Outreach:

Wildlife Pays Outreach - In these meetings, MWCT's program coordinators spoke to the community about the benefits that MWCT is giving to the community, and their role in protecting their natural resources and wildlife in turn!

MWCT and Campi ya Kanzi Staff Meeting - A meeting with all of the staff of both organizations was held at the beginning of June. During this meeting, the achievements of 2013 were announced and future MWCT projects and goals were discussed

Environmental Education Outreach in Inkisanjani and Olkaria - MWCT Outreach Officer, Joseph Lairumbe, went to Inkisanjani and Olkari Primary School to give an environmental education lesson (Know Your Wildlife) to the school children. These lessons were attended by 200 and 250 pupils respectively! The children greatly enjoyed learning about wildlife - and they were encouraged to protect the wildlife and other natural resources in their area

Moran Chief Initiation Ceremony - On the 3rd of May, Peter ole Sombol, was initiated as the leader of the Maasai warrior age-set from the Iltilal Manyatta. MWCT Program Coordinators and Management attended the ceremony and had a brief meeting with the new chief after the ceremony. Peter is in full support of conservation and the work of MWCT and is motivated to teach and encourage his fellow warriors about the value of wildlife and wildlife protection of Kuku Group Ranch!

MWCT and Campi ya Kanzi staff

Conservation Program Update - Lion Collaring Update

It was a quiet and crisp morning, end of June as the Simba Scouts headed out on foot at daybreak to track lions. They heard the roaring the night before and were determined to find them. The pressure was on since the previous collaring attempt in April, where we went out for three full nights, and without being successful. This time we had to succeed!

Tracking the lions!

It was not long before the Simba Scouts found fresh tracks of 7 lions! They followed these tracks for a couple of kilometres up to a dense thicket in an area known as Eluai, just south of Iltilal village. The Simba Scouts decided to look around the thicket to see if there were any lion tracks coming out of the thicket. After searching for a while, and not finding any tracks apart from the ones heading into the thicket, they concluded that the lions must still be inside, resting. Lions often use dense thickets or lava forest patches on Kuku Group Ranch as a refuge during daytime to avoid contact (that may lead to potential conflict) with people and their livestock.

Conservation Coordinators Lana and Dirk work to hang the carcass in the tree

After receiving this information the plan was clear... conduct a calling station that evening in the vicinity of the thicket.

The vet busy preparing for the long night of collaring

At 4 pm, the collaring team headed out to scout the area and to prepare for the nights calling station. As the last rays of the sun disappeared behind Kilimanjaro, we started with the nights operation, starting with the distressed call of a warthog (pig squeal). Soon after, the silhouette of a lioness appeared... followed by another... and another... and another! Until all 7 lions (2 adult females and 5 sub-adult cubs) were there sitting and watching us curiously from behind a bush a couple of metres away! Our hearts started beating with anticipation as we waited for the vet to get into position to dart one of the adult females. A few minutes went by (which felt like hours) and then the call of the vet came over the radio telling us that he cannot get a clear shot on either of the two adult females from his position as they were obstructed by the bush. He did not want to take a chance and miss as this can only scare them off, so he decided to rather wait patiently for them to come closer to where the carcass was hanging in a tree next to his car.

To our disappointment, the lions lost interest and moved away! However, they stayed in the vicinity. We watched them through the night vision equipment playing and grooming one another. After some time we changed the sound to that of a buffalo calf in distress. This triggered again the interest of the lions and they made several attempts to approach us. After about 2 hours, one of the lionesses stood up and came directly to where the carcass was! It was perfect, and right next to the car of the vet!

Working to fix the collar and take measurements of the newly collared lion!

We are very delighted to introduce to you our newest member of the Kuku lion family - Neluai! Named after the area Eluai where she was collared! She is approximately 5 years old and in excellent condition. She has, since the collaring, visited our waterhole at CCRC several times and has been seen frequently with her group. Recently she has been spotted alone at our waterhole with a big male lion. We suspect Neluai to be mating with him!

Watch this space for more exciting news on our collared lions!

Neluai and a large male visit the water hole at CCRC

She is doing well! 

Why the Lion Collars?

Recently, Namunyak and her group were around the lava fields close to the Iltilal Village. MWCT Conservation Team is well aware of a regular cattle route passing very close to where her location was. The team sent out the Simba Scouts to go inform these regular herders in the area to herd their livestock away from where Namunyak and her group were. 

Our team wanted to ensure that all precautions were taken to avoid Namunyak and the other lions predating on the livestock, as it may lead to conflict with the community, potentially resulting in a lion hunt. The herders were extremely thankful of this warning from our staff. The Simba Scouts also helped the herders to herd the cows away so that they could graze in a different area where it was safe. 

Many may not truly understand the importance of a lion collar. But this story explains one of the main reasons why they are crucially important. There are many many reasons for collaring a lion, but especially in community land where human-lion conflict is high, it is a very useful tool that can be used to protect the lions. With the collars you can track them and also study their behaviour/movement in relation to human settlements. This information can then be used to mitigate conflict and avoid the lions being killed, such as was done above. Once you understand the behaviour and movement of lions in community land, you can identify high risk areas that herdsmen can avoid. 

Conservation Program Update - April Lion Collaring

Earlier last week, the Conservation Program set out on their second lion collaring expedition! The purpose of this exercise was to replace the collars of the 2 male lions collared in early December 2013. Unfortunately, these collars had stopped transmitting the GPS function to track the lions location - so the team received new collars, and scheduled the week to locate these lions using the telemetry capabilities (pictured below) and replace their collars with the properly functioning ones. 

MWCT Simba Scouts using the telemetry tracking device to locate the lions prior to the collaring exercise

The team was out for 3 full nights last week. The first night two big males approached the car, but they were much too far away for the vet to dart them. The second night had four lions approaching the cars (two males and 2 females). They also did not come close to the car! 

On the final night, no lions showed up (only an elephant and a ton of hyenas and jackal), although they did hear some roaring in the distance. 

The positioned car, camouflaged, ready to begin the calling station

So unfortunately, it had been three long days and nights without success. However, we think that the reasoning of this was due to the very bright moon, and the animals did not dare to come close. It was nearly a full moon so it was very bright at night - the lions could not only see the team more clearly, but were aware that the team could also see them due to the light, so they were very cautious in coming closer, despite our calling station and effort to camouflage the cars! 

Working to camouflage the vehicles!

Fortunately, the vet has agreed to come back for another 3 days at the end of May. The moon will not be as bright during this time, so we are incredibly hopeful for positive results as these functioning collars are incredibly crucial for our efforts to protect this incredibly vital lion population in Kuku Group Ranch! 

One of the aspects of tracking lions deep in the wilderness - punctured tires! 

Conservation Program Update - January Simba Scout Meeting

On Monday this week, the monthly Simba Scout meeting was held at the Chyulu Conservation and Research Center here on Kuku Group Ranch. The purpose of this meeting was not only to check in on the progress and work of the Simba Scouts, but to recap the achievements that were accomplished in 2013, and to give a presentation to these MWCT employees on the Chyulu Hills REDD+ Carbon Project. 

Joseph Lairumbe (above), MWCT's Conservation Outreach Officer, has been speaking and giving a presentation to many groups of community members of Kuku Group Ranch to inform them of this project, the importance of the project, and the benefits that it can produce for the community. The now informed Simba Scouts will be essential stakeholders in the acceptance of this project across Kuku Group Ranch, as they will effectively be able to communicate to their community members about the aims of the project, and the benefits it can produce.

Simba Scouts show off their new Chyulu Hills REDD+ Project t-shirts! 

To cap off the meeting, Conservation Managers, Lana and Dirk presented the Simba Scout Achievements for the year 2013. They included:

- Effectively tracking lions

- Taking their job very seriously by analyzing data sheets, even at home

- Encouraging community contribution to the lion project

- Training of 2 new Simba Scouts - whom have also improved their reading and writing skills tremendously

- Successful collaring of 3 lions

- Improvement of attendance to monthly meetings

- Monthly distance (walking) improvements

Lana & Dirk discuss 2013 Simba Scout achievements 

Conservation Program Update - Wildlife and Habitat Monitoring

The Conservation Team was hard at work for the month of December. Shared below is a series of updates from our continued various initiatives and efforts.

The Simba Scouts have started regularly monitoring the newly collared lions. The VHF function of all the collars is working well! Furthermore, the Scouts covered large distances on their patrols on Kuku Group Ranch. The minimum walking distance is 150 km per Simba Scout per month.

Map showing the movement of the 3 collared lions in December 2013. Yellow = Namunyak (young female);
Orange = Ormawoi (young male); Green = Lorpolosi (older male). All lions spend more of their time
moving around on Kuku Ground Ranch. Namunyak moved around Mkau area in the Chyulu Hills.
Ormawoi moved around lake Olpakai and spent a lot of time in between Olorika and Olbili.
Lorpolosi moved around Oltiasika, but his collar stopped transmitting data since the 7th of December.
This technical problem is being followed up with the suppliers. 

MWCT Rangers found old elephant tusks during a security patrol in Kuku in a dry riverbed. The tusks were heavily degraded and estimated to be more than 5 years old. The tusks were most likely buried by poachers in the past, as there were no signs of an elephant carcass apart from the tusks.

Old elephant tusks that were discovered by MWCT Rangers during a security patrol

MWCT Rangers found a young abandoned zebra while on patrol. The zebra was in healthy condition and so it was decided to leave it in the filed so that it can hopefully reunite with its' family. Survival rates of orphan zebras in captivity are very low, hence the decision to leave it in the wild.

The young abandoned zebra found by MWCT Rangers

Lion Collaring Expedition - Aftermath

Our conservation team caps off the lion collaring story with one final post.

The next day, Dr. Poghon left MWCT because of other obligations, but we still had one female collar left. The coming week, we will try to set the date for one of two more collaring nights to collar one more lioness.

The collaring operation was quite intense, but we feel that it went very well, and the team is happy and feeling confident to collar one more female within the next few weeks!

The Simba Scouts have already been out tracking "their" new lions with great enthusiasm. It is with high hopes that the new lion collars with be able to accurately assist in the appropriate conservation measures for the lion population of Kuku Group Ranch; understanding their location, habits, and ranges  will contribute to this.

The new Simba Scouts, Songoi, Orkewa, and Joshua tracking the lions from Orkeri Hill

Lion Collaring Expedition - Day Four & Five

We've got updates on the next two days of the lion collaring!

Day four arrived and the entire team had good hopes of putting the remaining 3 collars on lions. The new calling station was close to Iltilal, very close to the position the lions were spotted a day earlier - would have been a good central location on the Group Ranch to collar a lion!

Despite the terrible smell of a 2-day old carcass, and hours of playing distress calls of buffalo and warthog, lions were not observed in the area. We thought we had heard lions roaring in the direction of Campi ya Kanzi earlier in the evening. We moved to this area, but this time did not only play distressed calls of buffalo and pig, but also sounds of territorial males as dominant male lions are known to quickly respond to a potential "intruder".

We suddenly heard a big noise and saw a huge black animal running in the dark towards our cars. It appeared to be a very angry buffalo coming to the rescue of the "buffalo calf in distress" call. Although this created some excitement, the lions that we were looking for did not show up. We decided to move onto our next location; but as the rains set in, the expedition was aborted once again.

Day five is now upon us! This would be the last day of the collaring as the KWS vet had to leave for another job the next day. Experts told us to plan for 8 days to collar 4 lions, but the idea of not managing to collar more than 1 lion in 5 days frightened the team. We tried everything in our means to find and collar lions, not sleeping before 5 a.m. and awake at 8 a.m., and we gathered all our strength to give it one more push!

Full of hope, and a little bit of despair, we decided on an area between lake Olpakai and Oltiasika. Some of our Simba Scouts managed to find evidence of lion tracks, even as they were largely washed away by the rains. We were sure there must be lions in the area.

After about 3 and a half hours sitting quietly in the care patiently waiting for the lions to show up, we started to whisper about where to go next as the current location seemed not to be so successful. It was decided to play the buffalo calve in distress one more time before we left. The soundtrack is about 7 minutes long, and on the 6th minute we suddenly heard the growl of a lion that has been darted! Instant excitement!

We were extremely relieved that at last a lion showed up! While searching for the lion, the vet told us over the radio that we were to be looking for a female. When we found the sedated lioness, we saw a male lion laying in ambush next to the sedated lioness waiting for us to come out of the car.

We asked the vet to try to also dart this male lion, because even though they were from the same pride, they will have very different behaviour and movement patterns. Males have larger home rangers and will leave females from time to time to go on territorial patrols, while females usually have smaller home rangers and move less. Furthermore, this would increase the safety of the team trying to collar the lioness.

After a wild chase, the KWS vet managed to dart the lion from the car. When this male was darted, we heard a loud roar and asked Dr. Poghon whether there was possible a third lion in the area - but he assured us he darted the lion that made the noise. The sedated lion was taken into the KWS car and later placed next to its sedated companion.

Oldere and Ormaoi

On close inspection, we noticed that the female was quite muscular and appeared to have male "parts". This was one of the famous mane-less males of Tsavo! These two brothers were moving together as a bachelor group. We decided there was no reason to collar both males of such a group as they might stay together for years. The collar was placed on the one with the man, as it is mostly likely dominant over his mane-less brother. The male collar was far too big to fit properly, so we decided to put on a female collar. The two brothers were named Ormaoi (meaning part of a twin in Maa) and Oldere (refers to grey - whitish colour of the lions coat).

After measuring and treating the lions with necessary health boosters, the antidote was given. To our surprise, after just a few minutes, the mane-less male jumped up and ran away in the darkness - - nobody saw that coming!

Then suddenly the silhouette of a big lion with a full mane appeared in the distance. Seconds later the big maned lion attacked the still partly sedated maneless male, while its brother was still asleep in front of out car. We suspected the young brothers to have come into the territory of the big male who was now investigating our calling station. We told the vet to quickly dart the big male before it could seriously injure the partly sedated young mane-less male.

Lorpolosie fast asleep!

Another wild case resulted in the vet also darting the big male! As a car arrived to watch over the other 2 males, another car managed to find the newly darted big male lion; he was considerably bigger than the others and estimated to be 8 years old. He was in the company of a female lion with 3 - 4 7 month old cubs. The lioness quickly ran off with her cubs to take coverage in the nearby lava.

Measuring the canine length of Lorpolosie - 5.5 cm

The decision was made to also collar this big dominant male with the big male collar. After measurements were taken, this big male was moved about 2 kilometres away to ensure that the fighting males would not immediately meet each other after recovery from the sedation. This male was known by the Simba Scouts, and was named Lorpolosie, meaning "boundaries". He has a large territory on Kuku Group Ranch, but also extends onto neighbouring group ranches.

Translocating Lorpolosie 2 km away so the 2 other males would not attack him

We received a report that the maneless male came back to have a look its collared brother, as he recovered after 30 minutes and left together into the bush. Keeping a watch on the 2nd collared male lion, the other MWCT vehicle moved onto the second calling station. Unfortunately by this time it was quite late (4:30 a.m.) and we did not manage to call any lions at this last position of the evening.

Conservation Managers (Lana & Dirk) with Simba Scouts and Simba Scout Coordinator 

Wow - what a couple of days it has been!

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.

Lion Collaring Expedition - Day One

Continued description of the intricate lion collaring process that occurred just recently. This is what happened on Day 1!

In the morning before the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) vet arrived, MWCT rangers discovered zebra carcass close to the Chyulu Conservation and Research Center (CCRC). It was not killed by predators, but died of natural cause and it looked like perfect lion bait. In the late afternoon, when the KWS vet arrived, he inspected the carcass and rejected it, as it might have died from anthrax - a dangerous but common disease among wildlife in Kenya.

On the first night of the collaring operation, we went to the airstrip of Campi ya Kanzi and played sounds of warthogs, buffalos in distress, and feeding hyenas to attract lions within the vicinity. Except for over 10 spotted hyenas and a pair of black-backed jackals, no lions showed up (although we were pretty certain they were in the area as there had been regular sightings by Simba Scouts and Campi ya Kanzi personnel). There can be many reasons for a lion not responding to a calling station. When lions are full after feeding on a carcass, it is likely that they will not respond to a buffalo calf or a warthog in distress. Furthermore, lions can move large distances during one night (more than 15 km) and resting places can be different every day. After 4 hours of calling, we decided to relocate to a new position.

This map indicated the locations of the calling stations.
The yellow circles indicate calling station positions without lion sightings. The pins indicate the positions where fresh lion tracks were found; blue pins vare verified observations by conservation managers; organs pins are Simba Scout lion observations; green pins are community observations; and red pins indicate location of livestock predation incident by lions

The second position was closer to the seasonal river. Again, drooling spotted hyenas came running towards the sound, expecting a nice meal. After 4 hours of calling, there was still no sign of any lions. We decided to try our last location near Longido to attract some of the lions that have visited the waterhole at Campi ya Kanzi the previous week. During this call up, heavy rains set in and after an hour it was decided to call it a day and go back to camp. The rains prevented the sounds from travelling a big distance and the visibility became constrained.

After this first night, we realized that the task to collar lions on Kuku Group Ranch is by no means an easy one...

Stay tuned to the blog for what happened next!

Lion Collaring Expedition - Preparation

As you may have read previously, MWCT planned to collar 4 new lions on Kuku Group Ranch with iridium satellite GPS collars to learn more about lion behaviour on community land and ensure a better protection of lions. These collars allow us to see lion movement on the group ranch in real time and enable the Simba Scouts to check more often on the lion's well-being and diet.

We have compiled the story of this extensive process that took place at the end of November. We are very happy to share day-by-day, the excitement, frustration, failures, and successes of this process with you on the blog!

At the end of October, the new GPS collars were picked up in South Africa. After the collars arrived at MWCT headquarters the appointment for the lion collaring was made as soon as possible with the KWS vet, who would assist us during the collaring operation. The vet was only available from the 25th - 29th of November.

This meant that our team needed to collar the 4 lions in the middle of the rainy season in only 4 days - not an easy task! Other lion researchers said suggested scheduling 8 days to collar the 4 lions on this community group ranch, as these lions are more elusive and difficult to track compared to lions in protected areas such as national parks. We immediately realized the challenge ahead of us was a great one, and began extensive planning to maximize knowledge on the lion presence on the group ranch prior to collaring.

Simba Scouts were hard at work during the preparation for this collaring

In the weeks prior to this process, vast areas were scanned for lion tracks and Maasai herders in the field were asked about lion prescence. Lions on community land such as this are generally very shy and cunning and hide away in lava flows and dense bush during the day - making tracking extremely difficult!

Searching for lion prints is difficult in the rainy season as they frequently get washed away

Prior to the arrival of the vet, we created a clear plan on where to collar the lions. We aimed for 3 lionesses and 1 male. We set up call-up locations (sound playbacks that attracts predators i.e. sound of a buffalo calf in distress, pig squeal, sound of hyenas on a carcass, and the roaring of a territorial male) in 3 locations on the group ranch. These locations were at least 2 kilometres away from seasonal bomas to prevent these luring lions incidentally towards the cattle bomas.

And then the collaring expedition begins.... Stay tuned to the blog for the next story soon!

Lion Collaring Update

A quick update from the Conservation Program team at the Chyulu Conservation and Research Center!

We are getting ready for the lion collaring... the countdown has begun and we are beginning the process this evening!

Simba Scout coordinator looking for lions

We have been tracking lions for the past week and have encountered several wild and wonderful things! A snake, and some gerenuk amongst other things. We heard a lot of roaring last night at CCRC and some of our Simba Scouts found fresh tracks of lions!

Gerenuks reaching for a bite to eat!

Snake slithering through the newly green grass

Fresh lion tracks just the other night

We are pulling together the last few details, and compiling all of our equipment to begin the collaring that will occur over the next four days. Be sure to stay tuned to the blog as we will do our best to send updates on how the collaring went! 

All of the equipment needed for the lion collaring!

Conservation Program Update - Summary of Efforts

We have just recently compiled our quarterly report for the MWCT Conservation Program efforts. MWCT Community Wildlife Rangers have been hard at work patrolling Kuku Group Ranch, and have provided a summary of incidents for July, August, and September.

Through the employment of nearly 100 community Rangers and Simba Scouts, we aim to continually prevent illegal wildlife activity, reduce human/wildlife conflict, and monitor the impacts on the biodiversity here on Kuku Group Ranch.

During the third quarter of 2013, we are happy to announce that no elephants were killed on the Group Ranch. Zero tusks were retrieved by poachers during this time, and no elephants were injured by spears - all very positive news!

This map indicates different ranger sectors during security patrols on Kuku Group Ranch.

As you can see, the sectors in the Chyulu Hills (top right corner) have done an

excellent job patrolling to curb poaching!

One lion was killed by a Maasai warrior in Olorika this quater. The lions were predating on a cow, so the warriors proceeded to hunt it. A MWCT team of Simba Scouts, Rangers, and community elders ventured out in attempts to stop the hunt from occurring, but unfortunately they were unsuccessful.

Fortunately, no hyena or leopards were killed, and one lion hunt was prevented from occurring, and 10 arrests took place by MWCT Rangers for the purposes of: illegal bushmeat poaching, illegal charcoal burning and bushlogging, and illegal giraffe poaching.

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Numerous forms of community outreaches took place by Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust staff this quarter. They are as follows:

A community outreach was organized after an attempted lion hunt in Kuku village this quarter. The Group Ranch officials, chiefs, the Kenya Wildlife Service community warden, the district police, and MWCT spoke out to community members against lion hunts.  They warned the community that lion hunts will not be tolerated and that it is a criminal offence to kill wildlife.

It is this vast ecosystem that we are working so hard to protect

On August 31, community members from all over Kuku Group Ranch gathered at the Chyulu Conservation and Research Centre to celebrate the winning of the UNDP Equator Prize for grass roots initiatives. Representatives from UNDP, KWS, and the group ranch officials gave speeches on the importance of conservation, community engagement, and congratulated MWCT on its successes.

The preparation for Wildlife Pays payouts in every zone has finished. At the end of this quarter, a MWCT team of conservation, health, and education staff will plan to visit the whole of Kuku Group Ranch and talk to the community about the goals of MWCT and to raise further support for our efforts within the community - a crucially important aspect in the mobilization of knowledge to community members to further increase buy-in to the Trust programs.

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Moreover, the Wildlife Pays program was busy this quarter. There was a total of 334 wildlife predation incidents reported. The majority of these incidents were due to hyena predation, followed by jackal, and cheetah.

The cheetah - a major stakeholder in livestock predation

A total of 460 heads of livestock predated were reported (cows, goats, sheep, and donkeys). The majority of these livestock were killed by hyena, then by lion, cheetah, and jackal.

The second highest predator to livestock on Kuku Group Ranch

The total value of the payout towards these incidents was 1 728 200 Ksh. Hyena were responsible for 50.9% of the compensation paid, 21.4% to jackal predation, and 9% for lion predation.

MWCT Report on Lion-Killing Incident

In February a lion was killed in Kuku Group Ranch in reaction to an incident of lion-livestock predation for the first time in more than three years. The lioness killed was named Nosero (Maa for thick cover after the lava field forests that were her favorite hiding places) was well-known to MWCT and Campi ya Kanzi -- in 2007 she was collared for the first time and was since then has been frequently tracked by MWCT Simba Scouts; her movements, behavior and reproduction history were well-known and documented.

The incident in which Nosero was killed was very unfortunate. Early on the morning of February 19th, a party of young morani (Maasai warriors) departed on a traditional lion hunt to kill the lion responsible for killing a lost cow the day before. The hunt was planned at night and sadly MWCT was not alerted in time to respond. Unfortunately, Nosero and her three cubs were found feeding on the cow carcass when the morani arrived; Nosero and two cubs were killed. The other cub was able to escape.

Nosero shown with her radio collar.

Even more unfortunately, one of the Maasai warriors was severely injured during this hunt and tragically passed away before he could be transported to the Iltilal health center. It had been over three years since a lion was killed by Maasai on Kuku and more than thirty since a human life was lost in this community due to a lion hunt.

In weeks prior to the fatal hunt there had been a sharp rise in planned lion hunts, with hunts prompted by nearly every incident of lion-livestock predation. Since the implementation of Wildlife Pays, MWCT's wildlife protection and livestock compensation program, there has been a marked decline of such hunts as the community embraced the reliability of compensation for losses and the increased economic benefit of tourism. However, this year a significant cultural moment within the community, the initiation of a new warrior age set, stressed this happy partnership with new pressures.

MWCT Rangers, Verifying Officers, Simba Scouts, and Kenya Wildlife Services intervened to stop twelve hunts during 2012, but nine hunts were already mounted in under two months of 2013. Several meetings were held with the new Maasai warriors and community elders, but despite these efforts to convince the morani to abandon the hunts, they persevered and killed Nosero before MWCT could be alerted.

MWCT officers speak to morani while halting a lion hunt in late 2012.

Any time we fail to stop the unnecessary killing of even one animal, we are greatly saddened. But it is important to place this isolated event in context. Two years before Wildlife Pays was implemented, in 2005, an average of nine or ten lions were being killed on Kuku Group Ranch per year. Since Wildlife Pays began the number of lions killed has decreased dramatically; with only five killings in seven years. Overall, the human-caused lion mortality rate decreased 92%.

Additionally, 2013 was widely anticipated to be an extremely challenging year due to the cultural significance of a new warrior age set being inducted. Traditionally, this is when many lions are killed throughout the ecosystem by newly minted warriors eager to prove their manhood through a traditional hunt. In February Prior to the incident on Feb. 19th in which Nosero was killed, MWCT and KWS prevented six lion hunts; two more were stopped in January. From this perspective, the killing of Nosero and her cubs was the only loss in a month that without MWCT's intervention may have seen a dozen lions killed.

MWCT's Simba Scouts received GPS training in late 2012 to become more effective in the field. 

Finally, Nosero herself is testament to the impact of our programs. The lifespan of lions in the wild is between 10-15 years; Nosero reached the age of twelve last year. This is especially significant considering she lived outside a national park in a largely human-dominated landscape. In the course of her long life, this lioness preyed on cattle several times and would have been hunted each time if not for Wildlife Pays.

Over her twelve years she gave birth to five litters with fifteen cubs total, so MWCT's efforts allowed this single lioness to add nine lions (three cubs were killed by fellow lion) to the local population. While saddened by any loss, we consider Nosero's life a shining example of how MWCT's work is assisting the recovery of the Tsavo-Amboseli lion population.

Conservation News - Simba Scout Training

The Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust's Simba Scouts are a special group of eight Maasai warriors paid to patrol Kuku Group Ranch.  As they traverse the Ranch they record animal sightings and locations, especially lion sightings, and they report this data at the end of every month.  This data is extremely useful to the Trust's Conservation program, allowing our staff to develop better population estimates, wildlife movement patterns, and much more.  

The Simba Scouts study MWCT's new wildlife monitoring protocol during our recent training in Iltilal.

When the Simba Scouts were initially employed by MWCT, they were illiterate because they never had an opportunity to attend school.  In fact, without MWCT they would likely have never been able to find a paying job.  In the early stages of the program the Trust provided our Simba Scouts with basic training in writing their names and simple numbers, so that they knew the basics and could aid in data collection.

A Simba Scout demonstrates how to properly identify and count various animals found on Kuku Group Ranch.

A while ago we gave our Simba Scouts further training, building upon their initial data collection skills.  Seeking to further standardize the Simba Scout's data collection, MWCT worked with the Zoological Society of London to develop a new wildlife monitoring protocol.  We proceeded to teach the Simba Scouts this new protocol, as well as giving them training on how to properly use GPS systems on their walks to provide more accurate location data and allow us to make more effective management decisions.

Our Simba Scouts are now better equipped and prepared to go into the field and return with valuable information.

Finally, we provided the Simba Scouts with user-friendly wildlife data recording sheets, showing pictures of each animal so they are able to collection information on animal population and distribution using the most scientific and relevant methods.  Teaching the Simba Scouts GPS operation and systematic data collection was quite the challenge, but the training went very well and was a huge success - we are proud of our newly empowered employees!