In this series of blog posts, we want to give you an in depth and personal look at some of the work of our Simba Scouts that work in the field, tracking and protecting the lions of Kuku Group Ranch.
HOW THE MWCT TEAM QUICKLY CAME TOGETHER TO DRIVE OUT TO MITIGATE A POTENTIAL HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONLFICT:
Our Maasai warrior and Simba Scouts Co-ordinator, David Kanai shares his experience on May 29th:
“It was around noon when we got information from one of my Simba Scouts on the ground conducting a lion operation, that a pride of 3 lions (1 male, 2 females) attacked and killed a calf. The lions were still around and I was afraid that the morans (young maasai warriors) might retaliate. I got to MWCT HQ and discussed for transport to the area where the lions were and try to assist in peacefully fixing the situation. I went out with several thunder flashes in hand so that in case the lions were near the carcass, I could scare them away. The time we arrived in the area, the lions moved several meters away from the carcass as the moran had surrounded the carcass to protect the area. I started tracking the lions as soon as I got to the area to locate their exact location, I found that the 2 lioness’ were laying inside some thick bush, and I brought several thunder flashes to scare them away and successfully had scared them to move towards the lava. MWCT was able to assist the morans by driving them and the carcass back to their boma and in turn they did not form a retaliatory lion hunt. The operation was successful and peaceful!”
Below are photos of David, Emmanuel, Iain (Conservation Manager), Irene (Office admin) and Tricia (Comms Dir.) who all went out to help and make sure the community and the lions were okay that afternoon:
