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!

Conservation Program Update - New Lion Collars

Kuku Group Ranch, 1133 squared kilometres of communally owned Maasailand, is situated in the heart of the Tsavo-Amboseli ecosystem in Kenya, and acts as a critical wildlife corridor between Amboseli National Park, Tsavo National Park, and the Chyulu Hills National Park. It is crucial for maintaining healthy populations of wildlife and preserving ecological processes.

On Kuku Group Ranch, lion-livestock conflict is considered to be one of the most important threats to the lion population. The increase in human population density results in an increased frequency of contact between people, their cattle and lions. This causes intense lion-livestock conflict that consequently leads to the retaliatory killing of lions. 

The main objective of the MWCT Lion Project is to study the lion's social structure, its' home range and movements, habitat use and diet on the community land. Four new lions will be collared with GPS satellite collars and the diet will be determined using the GPS clusters method. The behaviour and movement of lions in respect to human settlements, water points and livestock will be investigated. More detailed information could help us find ways to more effectively mitigate the human - lion conflict and help us conserve this lion population in Maasailand. 

Lion conflict with people and their livestock has been a serious cause of lion population decline, especially in Maasailand, and therefore it is critical that local communities living with lions are incorporated into lion conservation measures. The Maasai communities who share their land with lions are critical stakeholders in ensuring their long term conservation and MWCT is working with the community to reduce the costs of living with wildlife, while demonstrating benefits derived from lions and other wildlife. This in turn can improve the lives of Maasai people and can be a key contributing factor to ensuring the long term survival of lions in Maasailand.

MWCT Simba Scouts with the four new lion collars!

MWCT has just recently obtained these four new lions collars. The collaring exercise has been planned for the end of November (weather permitting of course).

We would like to extend a word of thanks to the sponsors of these four new lion collars - Apple Inc. via Shari Overstreet (a CyK guest) whom agreed to have CyK conservation feeds and the matched dollars by Apple Inc. put towards the purchasing of these collars; as well as all guests of Campi ya Kanzi as their daily paid conservation fee significantly contributes to the successful outcome of this Lion Project.

Furthermore, through MWCT's crucial eco-tourism partner, Campi ya Kanzi, MWCT is able to utilize surcharges on visitors to CyK to fund Wildlife Pays, a program that compensates livestock herders for losses to wildlife predation. This occurs through a rigorous system of certification and monitoring of best practices. Maasai livestock owners are paid quarterly for value of losses in exchange for full protection of predators throughout the Group Ranch.

The Campi ya Kanzi conservation fee paid by guests significantly cover the annual compensation costs, establishing a sustainable model of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) around the protection of wildlife, and further emphasizing the importance of the relationship between Campi ya Kanzi and the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust.