Herdsboy’s ‘lion light’ invasion keeping Maasai cattle safe from wild animals

By LILLIAN ALUANGA-DELVAUX

KENYA: Darkness is fast falling over the land and Agnes Kiperian is hurriedly shooing a herd of cattle into a thorny enclosure.

Kiperian’s hurry is partly driven by the household chores that still await her, and motivated by a fear of lions and hyenas that have been known to snatch cattle from homes under the cover of darkness. Once the animals are settled in their pen, Kiperian flicks a switch that instantly sets off an ‘illuminated fence’.

From a distance, the lights give an illusion of twinkling stars, and appear to mimic someone walking around with a flashlight. There are six bulbs altogether ringing the cattle pen, and blinking into the darkness intermittently. The lights, says Kiperian, will stay on until daybreak.

They (light bulbs) form part of a contraption devised by a teenage Maasai boy said to have been frustrated by the loss of his family’s herd to lions. The boy, Richard Turere, then came up with the idea of the ‘illuminated fence’ after several attempts at using scarecrows and all manner of tactics to ward off the animals failed.

The device, variously referred to as ‘lion light’ or ‘lion fence’ is a simple, contraption, and has bulbs mounted onto sticks standing within metres of each other, round the enkang – the thorny enclosure surrounding the compound. A solar panel and old car battery, in many cases, is used as a power source for the bulbs, which when lit, appear to mimic someone moving around with a flashlight. This works by keeping predators away.

Retaliatory attacks

It has been five months since Kiperian’s home was fitted with the lights, and she, like several residents of Namelok, Lemong’o and IImarba in Kajiado County, say they now sleep peacefully through the night.

“Before installing the lights, men had to take turns staying up all night to watch out for hyenas and lions that could stray into our homes and carry off our animals,” she says.

Given her surroundings, it’s not difficult to understand the obvious dangers livestock in the area are exposed to. Kiperian’s home stands just a stone’s throw away from the vast, transborder Amboseli National Park (the park spreads across the Kenya-Tanzania border), in Loitokitok district. For a long time Kiperian, like other residents, had grown accustomed to cases of lions straying into their homes and making off with their treasured herds.

Such incidences would often result in retaliatory attacks from residents, as happened in Kitengela, also within Kajiado County, last year (2012). Angered by the killing of four goats in a homestead, residents reportedly speared six lions to death. Such cases, coupled with poaching, environmental changes, and poisoning of animals in areas with high incidences of human wildlife conflict, could deal a blow to the country’s wildlife population, if not addressed. For instance, Kenya’s lion population is estimated to have dropped by over 80 per cent in the last 15 years.

Win-win situation

At Mr Sibitei Lungunye’s home, jangling cowbells welcome visitors to a cluster of manyattas surrounded by a thorny fence. It is about 8.30pm and it is pitch dark outside, save for the intermittent flashes of light blinking around the cattle enclosure.

“We were losing up to 10 goats each month, but not anymore,” he says. For Lungunye, the ‘lion fence’ offers a ‘win-win’ solution for both the wildlife and livestock, since both the herds and lions are protected by minimising confrontation between man and beast.

“The government should find a way of reducing the cost of installing these lights so that more homes can have them. I spent about Sh25,000, but I have no regrets because my herd is now safe,” he says.

For Lungunye, and perhaps other livestock owners in the area, the challenge, however, remains finding ways to protect their herds from predators when the animals are out grazing.

“We now have a solution for the night but we need something we can use during the day because sometimes hyenas and groups of baboons attack our herds and carry away young goats,” he says.

Further afield at Mzee Timoei ole Miliara’s home in Lemon’go area, peaceful nights have been restored to a family that at one point sought help from community rangers to keep off predators from its livestock. This was after countless attempts at banging cans and waving flaming twigs did little to deter the hungry lions.

“We were losing between five and eight goats each month to lions and hyenas, but the past five months since we put up the lights have been quiet,” he says.

Miliara considers the Sh15,000 spent on the lights a steep but worthy price to pay, if only to protect his treasured herd, and save the lions.

While acknowledging that the ‘lion lights’ have helped stem the number of livestock lost to predators in the area, Amboseli National Park’s Senior Warden Julius Cheptei says it is only a matter of time before the lions realise they’re being tricked.

“The lights are working for now, but this can be viewed as a temporary measure before the lions realise there is no human movement accompanying the lights,” he says.