Chalisa’s reappearance and collaring

With our partners Ewaso Lions and the University of California Santa Cruz, and with a great deal of help from Lewa Conservancy and surrounding communities, we have just deployed another GPS accelerometer collar, this time on an adult male called Chalisa.

Chalisa left the relative security of Buffalo Springs reserve (Samburu) in 2013 and has since been moving through the community lands of Samburu and Laikipia. Nobody knew where he had gone or what had happened to him until he recently reappeared in Lewa Conservancy. He was identified from photographs by the Ewaso Lions team, who had known him as a youngster in Buffalo Springs Reserve. His mother, Jabdu, is still alive and living in the reserve.

Chalisa is at the other end of his dispersal period to Livingstone, but his arrival in Lewa demonstrates that there is still a level of connectivity for lions between Laikipia and Samburu, and hope for lions like Livingstone who may soon attempt a similar journey. His reappearance has caused a great deal of excitement. He now wears a collar because there are reports that he has killed livestock during his time in the communities, and the collar will allow all collaborators to keep tabs on his movements, and respond quickly to any conflicts between him and local communities. Chalisa means ‘Polite’ in the Borana language and so we hope he lives up to his name when visiting the communities.

#collaringlions #EwasoLions #UniversityofCaliforniaSantaCruz #lewaconservancy #BuffaloSpringsreserve