Mugie ConservancyMugie Ranch is 49,000 acres in total but 22,000 acres have been set aside to create the Mugie Conservancy. The Conservancy is home to around seventy species of mammals including lion, cheetah, leopard, buffalo, elephant, eland, giraffe, zebra, hyena, impala, and warthog. There are many rare and endangered species residing on Mugie, including the Gravy’s Zebra and Jackson’s Hartebeest.
The dam at Mugie was completed in 2009 when the construction of the 500-meter long dam wall was finished and a flash flood filled the dam overnight. As Kenya’s third largest private dam, the reservoir is 156 acres and holds 1.3 billion litres of water. The dam plays a huge role in the ecosystem, providing a year-round source of water, so animals have somewhere to drink, even in the height of the dry season. There are more than 280 bird species found on Mugie dam and birds from as far away as Siberia are attracted to the dam. There is a big population of tilapia and catfish, both introduced, in the dam and so fishing is a rewarding activity.
Predator Project“The Laikipia Predator Project” is a research study that strives to improve the conservation of large carnivores by tracking their movement and behaviour. For the past ten years, Mugie has been one of the core study areas and several of the lions here are collared. At Ekorian’s Mugie Camp we help the Predator Project by finding the lions and monitoring their location and activity. Each lion has its unique personality and regular tracking allows us to get to know them. We have also been able to find them when they’ve just had cubs. It’s such a privilege to see the pride and such young cubs on a regular basis. On Mugie, we now have over 40 lions, making it one of the highest lion population densities in Laikipia
As the border areas of reserves and parks are developed, predators and humans come in to conflict with each other. This conflict is usually due to shrinking habitats and the lions often find the domestic livestock an impossible temptation. So where lions may hunt a person’s livelihood, humans pose a great threat to the lion as they often then kill a lion or leopard out of retaliation.
Laikipia District is one of the few areas where people, livestock, and predators co-exist. By studying this co-existence the aim is to further understand how it is possible, and make its continuation feasible by developing and discovering animal husbandry practices and techniques to manage the mutual threats
