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December 24th, 2010
Recently, we have received several reports from our Lion Guardians and the Selenkay Conservancy game scouts of a male lion calling. Our Lion Guardian team decided to do a “call-in” in an attempt to identify the lion. To do a call-in, we play a variety of animal calls over a loudspeaker at night such as lion territory calls, buffalo distress calls, and a cacophony of excited hyenas. If we are lucky, nearby lions, curious about the sounds, will come to investigate. To keep them in the vicinity long enough for us to get pictures and identify them, we usually tie some sort of bait to a nearby tree or bush for them to snack on.
The male lion that replied to the call-in turned out to be Ndelie, one of our collared male lions, who generally likes to spend his time between Kuku and Mbirikani Group Ranches.
We were surprised to find him there due to the fact that Selenkay Conservancy is quite far from his normal stomping grounds. His presence reconfirms what we have been finding out this year; lions living outside protected areas have massive ranges. We have also been finding that they hang out in groups of 2 or 3 but never in larger prides. This is their strategy for survival in areas that saw several past generations of lions being persecuted. Talk about survival instincts! Ndelie was very nervous, and after spending a little time with the bait, he left the scene.
But what made the call-in even more interesting was the number of additional visitors it attracted. The first to respond was a serval cat.
It took her a while to get comfortable with our car and she was also nervous from having just heard a lion roar at that particular spot not so long ago (she didn’t know that it was just a recording). But eventually she took her rightful share of the bait and thereafter left the scene. Then in the morning, when it is easier to see any enemies lurking about, it was time for another regular visitor to call-ins, the black back jackal.
It too took its share of the bait and then left, albeit reluctantly. When the sun was a bit higher, another interesting visitor came; it was a pale chanting goshawk.
It first assessed the bait then did just what the other predators before it did, it began feeding. Obviously, this late visitor made our long overnight vigil worthwhile. But my question is, is this a normal occurrence or is it because the festive Christmas spirit is in the air?
Happy Holidays to all from the Lion Guardians!
For over two decades, Analisa Balares has been committed to women’s leadership development, entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainable development, and education. She has produced, directed, and co-produced over 100 conferences, summits, events, and media on these themes, with 12 of these conferences and forums through Womensphere.
In the summer of 2007, Analisa founded Womensphere, a unique global leadership community and independent media company that inspires, empowers, connects, and unites women leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, policymakers, scientists, artists, explorers, and women who are creating development and pioneering new trails across all fields and disciplines. In the last three years, as the US and global economies went through crises and upheaval, Analisa and the leadership of the Womensphere Team brought together a community of over 11,000 women leaders, building one of the most powerful new platforms for emerging women leaders, and for women leaders across all fields.
Prior to Womensphere, Analisa launched her career in the Goldman Sachs High Technology Investment Banking group, where she helped execute over $1.5 billion in IPOs, corporate financings, and mergers and acquisitions for companies like open source software leader Red Hat and communications leader Nokia. Her professional experience includes working for Milestone Capital Management, Morgan Stanley’s Energy Investment Banking Group, the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, and the Japan External Trade Organization.
Analisa holds an MBA from Harvard Business School; a BA in Economics & Mathematics cum laude from Mount Holyoke College; and an International Baccalaureate Diploma from Lester Pearson United World College of the Pacific in Canada. While at Harvard Business School, Analisa founded and co-led the non-profit Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), and served as a President of the HBS Entrepreneurship Club, and Debate Coach/Team Co-Captain of the HBS Debate Team.
Following business school, Analisa joined Microsoft as Global Marketing Manager for Microsoft’s blogging and social networking service, where she managed the global marketing launch of Windows Live Spaces in over 30 countries, and led the strategy and execution of Spaces projects around branding, partnerships, events, and online community development. She managed Spaces’ internal partnerships with MSN Entertainment and XBox, and external partnerships with NGOs (Global Fund for Women, Earth Day Network), media companies (ABC, Sundance Channel), and independent music/film/TV festivals (SXSW, MethodFest Film Festival, New York TV Festival).
A global citizen, Analisa’s lifework and inspiration to have impact emerged early: In her teens, she led a team of students pioneering innovative work on wastewater pollution treatment, recycling, and alternative energy production, efforts which won recognition and the Philippine Shell Petroleum Company‘s Outstanding Junior Scientist Award for three consecutive years. She was elected Senate President of the 1st Philippine Youth Environment Congress, where she led drafting the Philippine Youth Environment and Sustainable Development Policy Proposal for the UN Earth Summit in Brazil. That year, she was elected Youth Mayor of Manila City, where she led the passing of 18 Executive Orders into laws to improve the community, education, and environment of Manila. As a Canadian Government scholar to the Lester Pearson United World College in British Columbia, she gave voice to the importance of children’s rights while on the Steering Committee of Canada’s First International Conference on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child held in Vancouver.
In 1999, Analisa founded The Lyons Network, a leadership and career mentoring organization for young women, and for a decade, Analisa co-led the organization of regional conferences on leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship for young women in New England, reaching several thousand young women in the last decade.
Analisa was recently selected as Fearless Woman of the Year 2010 by The Fearless Factor in New York City. Analisa was chosen by the New Leaders Council as one of its 40 Under 40 New Leaders in the United States, and recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Filipinas in America by the US Filipina Women’s Network. Analisa was also recognized by CBS Radio/1010Wins as its Tomorrow’s Newsmaker Award Winner for Business.
