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RCP Report
February/March 2017
Encounter of the 'lion' kind for Bahati Masha!
Our Lion Defender Bahati Masha had a close encounter this month! While out in the field monitoring
his zone near the so-called ‘Never-Ending Road’, an area well known for its African wild dog packs
and other large carnivores, he found the tracks of a male lion. The tracks became very fresh at the
edge of thick bush, at which point Bahati made the decision to backtrack for safety reasons.
Unfortunately, (or fortunately!) he came face to face with the owner - a large male lion was lying
on the road in broad daylight, just 50 metres away!
Photo: Lion Defender Bahati Masha mulling over his adventure, as he
indicates the lion spoor (footprints).
Photo credit: Penelope Rogers
Luckily the Lion Defender vehicle was already in the field and headed in his direction, so Penny
(Lion Defenders Manager), Mathew (Coordinator), Stephano (Community Liaison Officer) and
Kambona (RCP Research Assistant) could make a detour to check on Bahati and observe the lion
tracks.
Bahati admitted to being both scared and excited, saying, “When I saw the lion I thought that he
hadn’t seen me, so I was quickly looking for a tree to climb!” Bahati was very excited to have his
observation confirmed, and could show the team where the lion had been lying and where it had
crossed back into the bush, heading towards the Idodi river for water.
First-hand lion sightings are rare in the Lion Defenders zones because of the thick thorn bush in
which they work. It was an exciting day and highlighted that lions are around even if we don’t see
them every day!
Photo: The very fresh lion tracks observed by Bahati.
Photo credit: Penelope Rogers
From our Research Desk: RCP collaborates
on publication 'From Attitudes to Actions: Predictors
of Lion Killing by Masaai Warriors'
Killing by local people is one of the major threats to the conservation of lions and other large
carnivores in Africa. Local people are often, unsurprisingly, antagonistic towards lions and other
dangerous animals, but there has long been debate about whether more negative attitudes are
linked to a greater likelihood of killings. Understanding the relationship between attitudes and
actions is fundamentally important if we want to understand how to reduce carnivore killings, but
this is a difficult area to address, as people are often unwilling to admit if they have personally
killed lions.
However, in Masaai society, lion killing has traditionally been celebrated, and by working closely
with Masaai warriors, the Lion Guardians team in Kenya could identify who had engaged in killings
and who had not, and therefore to examine whether those killers did in fact have more negative
attitudes. The results showed that general attitudes towards lions were indeed the main predictor
of lion killing behaviour, and were more important than traditional customs or the defense of
livestock. This result shows how important it is to work on improving local attitudes towards lions
and other wildlife which is something we are actively addressing at RCP through programmes like
our Park trip and DVD night educational outreach.
The article can be found here:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0170796
Daily life in the RCP Camp
RCP friends and donors are often curious about life at camp, and are interested in what it looks like
and what infrastructure is in place. Over the next two newsletters we explore the ups (and downs)
of life in the RCP field camp.
The Ruaha Carnivore Project camp is situated on the edge of Kitisi village in the remote Ruaha
landscape. The camp is neat and well-run with not a single piece of litter lying around, mainly
thanks to Alex, our hard-working camp assistant. The fleet of 7 rugged camp vehicles are parked in
a row – with Rashid the mechanic hard at work constantly repairing the fleet which are out in the
field daily navigating rough terrain.
The atmosphere in the camp is quiet and harmonious and very work-like. People quietly go about
their tasks, preparing meals, feeding the guarding dogs and the camp dogs, recording data from the
field about wildlife sightings, camera trapping data and education programmes. No thumping music,
just the gentle sounds of people at work… the thumping of the pestle and mortar grinding up garlic
and ginger in the kitchen, the quiet buzz of conservation of the staff working out solutions to refine
their approach and techniques. And – especially during the rainy season if the solar power is
insufficient - every couple of the hours the hum of the generator as everyone grabs power sources
to power up depleted laptops and cellphones.
Photo: Evening meals are always a festive affair, when people interact after a hard day’s work.
Seen here in photo (from left) Amy, Rashid, Jacob, Hillary, Leejiah, Penny and Meritho.
Photo credit: Margaret Roestorf
It’s definitely no place for the faint-hearted as it's unfenced and open to nature – it’s very common
to be stared down by a gecko or a spotted bush snake while eating. Meal times are when the team
grab a moment to chat in the communal canteen situated right next to the kitchen. The kitchen
‘mamas’ cook for the camp staff, providing breakfast, lunch and dinner for about 15 people daily.
There is no refrigeration and dry ingredients are stored in barrels with lids – although it is a constant
struggle to keep rats away from the food, so improving the kitchen is a top priority in terms of camp
infrastructure.
Photo: Cooking is over open fires in big cooking pots.
Photo credit: Margaret Roestorf
The washing up area is a big flat slab with a drain in the middle and is the favourite place of the
weaver birds who swoop in for regular meals of ugali (porridge) from the pots. Everything is very
basic, but clean and orderly. It’s also the favourite hunting ground for a resident boomslang, which
fortunately is a shy snake and doesn’t cause much trouble.
Photo: It’s a happy camp. Here the mamas (Mama Bora on the left and Mama Danieli on the right)
clean up after a meal for the big RCP family in camp – while keeping one eye out for the resident
boomslang snake!
Photo credit: Margaret Roestorf
Photo: The camp kitchen – the hub of any camp!
Photo credit: Andrew Harrington
The camp has intermittent electricity from the solar panels, which are backed up during the rainy
season by the camp generator which runs a couple of hours a day, and connectivity to the internet
is (patchily!) provided through mobile phone dongles. There are exciting times ahead, particularly
as thanks to the Wildlife Conservation Network’s Solar Project https://wildnet.org/solar and
especially Stephen Gold, the project has just received a container of top-quality solar supplies,
which should transform the power situation. The installation of the new solar system will allow the
team to power camera-trap batteries, laptops and all other equipment all day year-round, which
will transform our efficiency. Many of the staff are also thrilled as it may enable them to have a
television at camp, providing access to much-loved football matches!
Photo: Sometimes there are celebrations in the camp – the traditional sherehe (celebration
party) in the camp on this night was being sponsored by PhD student Leeijiah Dorward who was
ending a stint at the camp.
Photo credit: Margaret Roestorf
Currently it’s the wet season with threatening clouds overhead and frequent short rain showers,
which has turned the camp, which was dusty and dry, into a green haven – home to a large variety
of creeping, crawling and flying insects and several snakes – most of which aren’t venomous. But
the team treads carefully and an alert cry goes up about once a day – with the rest of the team
running in to support the relocation of the snake if needed.
Meetings take place in the open-air areas adjacent to the permanent residential tents that have
working spaces or in the canteen area once the meals are cleared up. There is a basic mud-brick
office which there are plans to improve as soon as possible. We will be providing a bit more
information about the camp in the next newsletter – you can read more about showering and using
the toilet camp-style, and the regular wildlife encounters that occur during those activities!
RCP prepares 'Gesuda' for an honoured elder
It was a proud moment for the RCP Lion Defender, Mandela Dudiyeka, as he was chosen by
the wazee (elders) to make and deliver the traditional alcohol, gesuda, to the funeral ceremony of
a villager who died at a ripe old age... the elder was known to be over 80, and some said that he
was 105 years old! Shabani, the son of the deceased elder, is a great supporter of the Ruaha
Carnivore Project and in honour of his father he asked the RCP Lion Defenders to prepare the drink,
which is only drunk at traditional ceremonies to worship the Barabaig god Gidanwmagira and at
funerals, wedding and to mark the anniversaries of the deaths of relatives and ancestors.
Mandela and his fellow Lion Defenders prepared and delivered the drink as part of their community
assistance role. The gesuda was made in the traditional way, with fermented honey and roots mixed
with water, and left to simmer over a low fire for the whole day, and was delivered in a huge
calabash, whose top acts as a useful measuring cup!
Photo: The giant calabash with its measuring cup on top.
Photo credit Penelope Rogers
Before Mandela set off on his journey across bumpy roads of rural Ruaha, he carefully strapped the
calabash to his back and then mounted his bicycle to make his way to the place where the ceremony
was being held. He delivered the precious liquid on time, without spilling a drop! The penalty for
spilling the liquid is a fine of one cow - so Mandela was extra careful!
Photo: Mandela embarks on his journey.
Photo credit: Penelope Rogers
Sightings in the Ruaha landscape
These great pictures of lion cubs playing with a tortoise were taken by one of our Senior Research
Assistants, Alphonce Mallya, in Ruaha National Park. Young lions quite often play with tortoises, and
it seems to give them lots of pleasure batting them around and trying to coax the tortoise out...
unsurprisingly, the tortoises usually keep themselves firmly tucked away and in our experience,
often seem to emerge unscathed once the cats lose interest.
Photos above and below: These two curious lion cubs were seen playing with a tortoise in the
Ruaha National Park. The poor tortoise was subjected to cuddles, licks and sniffs before they lost
interest and let it continue on its way.
Photo credits: Alphonce Mallya
Ruaha is an amazing landscape for many wildlife species, but especially for lions, cheetahs, African
wild dogs, leopards and spotted hyaenas. Our Director, Amy Dickman, was lucky enough to have a
great leopard sighting recently along one of the dry river beds in Ruaha National Park. A baboon
was barking in the river bed, and upon further investigation it became clear that it was trying to
chase away a leopard. Rather surprisingly, although the baboon was alone, the leopard was indeed
backing away, but eventually the baboon pushed its luck and the leopard charged it, pushing it
back. The leopard then casually walked around the river bed, drank some water and then walked
along the road for a while, scent-marking on bushes and vocalizing as she went. She was a beautiful
leopard and was completely unconcerned by the presence of the vehicle, so hopefully we will see
her more in the future!
Photo: Leopard in the Park
Photo credit: Amy Dickman
Meet the Team: Penelope Rogers, Lion Defenders
manager
Penelope is the manager of RCP’s Lion Defenders programme, and has been with the project for
nearly two years. Penny comes from Brisbane in Australia and comes from a small family that has
always had an interest in outdoor pursuits and conservation, like sailing and camping. A change of
career, inspired in part by a cheetah documentary, led Penny to become involved in big cats. After
6 months volunteering at a cheetah project, she did her masters in conservation. Whilst completing
her Masters, she worked as a water ecology scientist, and it was during her studies that she
discovered the Lion Guardians project in Kenya.
Photo: Penelope Rogers, Lion Defenders Manager
Photo credit: Ruaha Carnivore Project
Says Penny: ‘I fell in love with the Lion Guardians approach, it’s simple and connects with the people
and culture. So often in wildlife conservation we forget about the people and they are key to
successful outcomes for wildlife.’
Determined to become involved in the Lion Guardians approach, she studied Swahili (in Australia)
and brushed up on all the skills sets required for the job. Meanwhile, the Ruaha Carnivore Project
had been partnering with Lion Guardians and trialing the model for the first time outside Kenya,
and for the first time with a tribe that was not the Masaai. This had proved successful and we were
looking for a new manager to further develop the Lion Guardians approach in Ruaha, and enable it
to become an independent programme certified by Lion Guardians. In 2015, Penny was hiking in
Scotland when she saw an advertisement for the Ruaha Carnivore Project job managing the Lion
Guardians model (which then successfully transitioned into the Lion Defenders programme),
immediately applied – and got the job!
She was drawn to the model initially because it combines carnivore conservation with the culture
of the people facing the conflict every day. Says Penny: It’s working with the people who experience
the conflict, providing direct solutions and benefits and recognising that in conflict it’s not just the
wildlife that suffers.’
Photo: Penny with the RCP Lion Defenders team at the Lion Guardians games in Kenya in 2016.
Photo credit: Penelope Rogers
Penny admits that her job isn’t as glamorous as it may sound, but her work provides the backbone
of the Lion Defender team at RCP, by taking care of logistics, mentoring the Lion Defenders, helping
to develop the programme and continually adapting it to the local situation, to best reduce conflict
and stop lion hunts. Penny loves the diversity that the job offers – ‘It involves a lot of administration,
reporting, book-keeping and logistics, but then can flip straight to guarding livestock enclosures
with the team for nights on end with no sleep, to protect livestock and people from lion attacks.’
Penny has been a core part of the team for nearly two years but will shortly be moving up to the
north to provide advice to the Lion Guardians project in Ngorongoro, and to gain more conservation
experience in a different setting.
We will be very sad to see her go, but we know that she has vastly strengthened the project and
left the Lion Defenders a far more organized and able team. Thanks Penny!
Simba Scholarships encourage young people to
consider future in conservation
The Ruaha Carnivore project works closely with local communities not only to protect their stock
and reduce the costs of carnivore presence, but also works to provide tangible benefits to local
people from living alongside wildlife. Villagers chose education as one of the most important
benefits they would like to see, and one of the many ways we are addressing this is by funding full
secondary-school scholarships for promising local pastoralist students. Many students, especially
girls, would not be able to attend secondary school without this assistance, and this programme will
have very long-term benefits both for the scholars and for the wider communities. It also highlights
to students that conservation is valuable, and is even a possible job opportunity, as explained by
Eva, one of our first Simba Scholars:
"Hi, my name is Eva KreliiI and I dream of big success in conservation. I’m from a pastoralist family
and we are a family with seven children. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my sponsor
Ms. Pamela Turner who is sponsoring my secondary school education and has been doing so from
January 2015.
I was really so happy to get this scholarship, as there are many friends in my class with the same
qualifications, but they missed this scholarship and I got it. This is great exposure for me, it truly
inspires me to study hard. If I didn’t receive this chance, perhaps now I could have more than three
children since in our culture a girl can be married from the age of 12 years which is very unfair and
against human rights.
Photo: Eva Krelii crossing the swinging bridge in Ruaha National Park.
Photo credit: Fenrick Mgiswa
My dream is to become a good ambassador of conservation and to fight for human and wildlife
rights. I’m saying this because there is a huge challenge with taboos in my culture. These include
things like gender discrimination and also wildlife killings because we live near the National Park.
By God’s grace if I am able to continue my studies I would like to study courses related to wildlife,
veterinary medicine or natural resource management. Studying these courses will give me
knowledge about conservation and skills to manage our natural resources that surrounds us.
Lastly, I would like to thank RCP by saying that the investment you’re making into education is
not empty but is an asset as now I’m expecting to graduate in November 2017. I promise to
continue to work hard at my studies to make my dreams to help the wildlife and people in my
country and my community come true."
Camera-trapping continues to provide insights into
Ruaha’s understudied wildlife
Despite its global significance for wildlife, Ruaha has long been understudied, and the Ruaha
Carnivore Project is the first team conducting detailed data on the local large carnivore populations
here. We do this in two main ways: through the Park sightings programme (where Park drivers record
carnivore sightings and report to them) and through camera-trapping, where remotely-triggered
camera-traps document the presence of wildlife. The camera-traps are particularly useful outside
the Park, where they enable us to collect information on the presence and distribution of elusive
and hard-to-see wildlife.
This always provides some fascinating images, including of some highly-threatened wildlife, as seen
below with the wild dogs camera-trapped on village land in Mahuninga.
Photo: A pack of endangered African wild dogs camera-trapped on village land in Mahuninga.
Photo credit: Ruaha Carnivore Project
The same camera-trap on village land captured a wonderful image of a very young baboon hanging
upside down on the branch, and having lots of fun with his troop!
Photo: A young baboon displaying its acrobatic skills by the waterhole by Mahuninga village.
Photo credit: Ruaha Carnivore Project
A young RCP Fan: Sierra Gradis writes to Dr Dickman
Living in the remote Kitisi area, it is always unexpected but exciting when we get interest from
people living on the other side of the world. This month, we were contacted by Sierra Gradis, a 9 –
year old student from California, who wanted to know more about the project and how our Director
came to run the project. She said:
My name is Sierra Gradis, I'm at an elementary school in Thousand Oaks, in California in the US,
and I am a BIG FAN of the Ruaha Carnivore Project! I am 9 years old and in the third grade at Mates
Elementary School. Our teacher told us that we need to write a biography on someone we admire,
and I really appreciate all of your work with big cats and animal conservation. Someday, I would
love to meet you and learn more about the important work that you do! Many thanks!
Photo: Sierra Gradis dressed up as a big cat conservationist: hopefully in the future she can do it
for real!
Photo credit: Michelle Gradis
Amy wrote back to Sierra and encouraged her to keep up the dream of one day working in this field.
Sierra asked Amy if there were any childhood events that led to her success, and Amy
replied 'Frankly, I don’t know – I was always passionate about big cats and wanted to work with
them for a long time. I think the main thing was having the encouragement of my mother that I
could do anything I wanted, even though many people (even my Zoology tutors at university)
thought that working with big cats in Africa seemed like an impossible dream. I always tell people
that now, to believe in themselves and follow their dreams – if you are dedicated and work hard,
then you will achieve it.'
Hopefully Sierra will have raised awareness of the Ruaha Carnivore Project and the need for
carnivore conservation, and hopefully she will work in this field in the future. In the meantime, we
always need more schools to twin with village schools through our Kids 4 Cats programme, so please
do get in touch if Mates Elementary School or any others want to get involved!
RCP’s Porridge Project improves education in village
schools
As mentioned above, one of the top benefits that local people wanted to see from living alongside
wildlife was more investment in local education. One of the main problems in this area is that even
if they attend school, primary school students often do very poorly and fail to make the grades for
secondary school. When investigating why this was, it emerged that many students walk several
miles to school in the morning without breakfast, and then stay at school without any way of getting
food. Unsurprisingly, they find it hard to concentrate and this was identified by teachers as a major
problem.
RCP has worked with partners such as Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Tusk and the Peoples’ Trust for
Endangered Species to address this issue by developing a ‘porridge project’ for primary schools. We
buy food from local women’s collectives and employ local women to cook a free meal of nutritious
porridge for the students each day. The porridge is based on available ingredients but usually
comprises maize, milk, nuts and eggs.
Photo: Children get a solid meal at school through the RCP Porridge Programme.
Photo credit: Fenrick Msigwa
This has made a huge difference to the first school (Kitisi Primary School) that we have trialed it in
– the head teacher reported increased attendance at school (as families knew their children would
have at least one good meal a day), and marked increases in attainment. Over the past year since
receiving the food, the number of students passing the final exams has increased significantly, and
the head credits it largely to the food available. The primary school is now one of the top-performing
local schools, and the teachers and families are extremely impressed, so we are now looking for
funds to roll this out to more schools.
Fenrick Msigwa, our Research Assistant in charge of the educational programmes, reports very high
levels of satisfaction with the programme, and it is undoubtedly one of the most valued things we
do in the local community, especially in times like now, where erratic rainfall means many people
are going hungry. The programme really demonstrates important local benefits which come from
wildlife, and other similar programmes have also led to a reduction in bushmeat poaching which is
a major threat to wildlife. It’s a wonder what a simple cup of porridge can do – sometimes it’s the
only meal the kids will have that day. To sponsor a child's school meals for a month costs only
US$5. To donate towards this please refer to the donating options at the end of the email.
Support RCP through our Amazon Wish list
If you haven't yet browsed through the RCP wishlist it's a great way to get connected
to the project and find needs that suit your pocket and your passion.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/registry/wishlist/?ie=UTF8&cid=AMZKTSB73EMFA
https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1880XADYUZXWF?
We recently had our first purchase via our Amazon Wish list and are very excited to
have received our solar lanters, which will be issued to our Simba Scholars so that
they can study at night in safety. There is an issue with schoolchildren setting their
dormitories alight using candles when studying at night.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/tanzania-school-fire-kills-12-girls-1.845205
The donor who gave the solar lights said: 'The wish list give me an insight into the resource needs
of RCP and selecting from it made me feel more involved with the project. I found it gratifying to
know how the donated items will be used and the beneficial impact. I will definitely be using it
again in the future'.
THANK YOU ~ ASANTE SANA
As always, we thank all our donors for their generous and committed support. To dedicate your
support click below and fund out more about our programmes:
Ecological research – RCP provides vital data on Ruaha’s little-known carnivore populations
through camera-trapping and recording carnivore sightings. More than 10,000 carnivore
sightings have been recorded to date.
Community camera-trapping – RCP trains and employs local villagers to set up and
manage camera-traps on village land in return for community benefits, directly linking
conservation with development.
Protecting the livelihoods of villagers living in proximity to carnivores reduces conflict.
Fortifying livestock enclosures and placing guarding dogs are proving successful in
minimizing conflict.
The RCP Lion Defenders actively prevent and stop lion hunts. These Lion Defenders are
chosen from amongst the bravest and most influential warriors.
Kids 4 Cats is a school-twinning programme where local schools are 'adopted' by
international schools who raise at least US$500 annually for them, to buy essential
education material and equipment.
Simba Scholars receive full scholarships for all four years of their secondary school. The
cost is US$2,000 per student and RCP is keen to expand the programme to more students.
Porridge Project – No one likes to go to school hungry, so RCP and our partners make sure
that local scholars have full tummies when they're at school - this increases attendance
and attainment, employs local women and is a major benefit in villages where there is
very little food security.
DVD nights and Park trips provide education about conservation and species in a fun, nothreatening environment. To date more than 30 000 attendees have enjoyed DVD nights
and more than 1,000 people have been on Park trips.
Should you wish to know more about individual programmes we will happily send you more
information.
Please
contact
our
communications
manager,
Margaret
Roestorf
at [email protected]. Should you wish to speak directly to the Director, Dr. Amy
Dickman, please contact her at [email protected].
To support our work you can use one of the following channels:
Donating via EFT
Bank: Barclays Bank plc
Account Name: University of Oxford Development trust
Account Number: 40155586
Sort Code: 20-65-20
Swift Code: BARCGB22
IBAN Number: GB06BAR20652040155586
UK Donors (online)
www.campaign.ox.ac.uk/report/ruaha-carnivore-project
US Donors (online)
http://lions-houstonzoo.org/projects/ruaha-carnivore-project/
To pay via cheque please contact Amy Dickman at [email protected]
Until next month - so long... tutaonana
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