In the Maasai heartland of southern Kenya, some young men
have swapped their ancestral role as lion-hunters to instead protect the big
cats under a conservation scheme that also aims to help their community.
Among them is Leiyio Lengete, a "Moran" - or
warrior - who wears a scarlet blanket over his shoulders, a blue one around his
hips, and a multitude of fine multi-coloured beaded bracelets on his forearms,
ankles and neck.
Large half-moon shaped metal earrings and a beaded headband
set off his long elaborately braided hair, but instead of a traditional spear,
he clasps a GPS receiver.
The organisation behind the scheme Lengete works with,
"Lion Guardians", has set up camp in Selenkay Reserve, not far from
Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain in neighbouring Tanzania which is
hidden by clouds on this warm September day.
Today the Maasai "guardians" have headed off into
the bush on foot in search of three lionesses that sneaked into the camp the
previous evening.
Their tracks are hard to find in the dry, potholed savannah
brush although the men eventually establish the cats have separated in three
directions to hunt for food.
But two hours later, one of the four silently calls a halt
-- the three lionesses are less than 100 yards away.
In a previous life, the men would have killed the animals as
part of a Maasai rite known as "olamayio" which is traditionally seen
as the highest act of courage, winning prestige and praise for the hunter.
Lions also were hunted in reprisal for attacks on the
community's livestock herd.
But for Lengete and the other young Morans, those days are
over: once the lionesses have been found and their GPS location sent to camp, a
vehicle arrives carrying the scientific head and co-founder of the scheme,
Stephanie Dolrenry.
Coupling age-old Maasai know-how with contemporary science,
she inventories, photographs and studies the behaviour of the lions that are
now returning to the 3,684 square kilometres under surveillance by the project.
"The whole programme is not just based on lions.
Everything we do is about the community," Dolrenry told AFP.
"The guardians spend a lot of their time finding
livestock, finding lost herders, even little children who got lost in the bush.
The guardians are there, they are able to go tracking, they know the
bush," said the 37-year-old American.
Around a million dollars' worth of lost livestock was
returned by the guardians to their owners last year, she said.
The work boosted the Morans' status within their community
while their almost daily contact with the lions maintained their traditional
aura.
When a cow is killed, for instance, they step in to dissuade
cattle-owners from punitive raids against the lions, arguing that their own
jobs recovering lost cattle are at stake as well as those of the Maasai
community who make up almost all the staff of the two lodges in the wildlife
reserve.
The project has been beneficial for local lion numbers,
which have increased fourfold between 2007 and 2016 to around 150, Dolrenry
said.
Other wildlife has also benefited, with buffaloes
reappearing in the reserve recently after years of absence, elephants moving in
herds and the presence in the area of animals hard to find elsewhere in Kenya
-- such as the Cape eland or the giraffe gazelle.
"Lion Guardians", which also has programmes in
Tanzania, Rwanda and Zimbabwe, works with private funding, most of it from the
US. The Selenkay project runs on less than $400,000 a year.
It kicked off with a mere five guardians but now employs
more than 40, each of them paid the minimum monthly Kenyan wage of $150.
One of the most recent recruits is Mitiaki Kitasho, who
asked for a job as a guardian a year ago after twice serving a month behind
bars for illegally killing first an elephant, then a lion.
"There's not a single species I haven't killed to
protect the community and to gain popularity and respect," he said.
But courage no longer puts food on the table, and after
being released from jail penniless, he went to Lion Guardians looking for a
job.
Now, like the Maasai warriors, he can continue to do what he
loves and does best -- track the big cats.
