Lioness Spotted At Rongai Estate After Thieves Break Into House [VIDEO]

CCTV footage that surfaced on Monday, July 17 captured two frantic events in one hour in Rongai, Kajiado County; suspected thieves staged a daring robbery at a residential home and a lioness was thereafter spotted loitering outside its gate.

The video seen by Viral Tea first showed the female big cat gracefully prowling near the residence along an isolated Murram road and stopping just a few metres from the gate, presumably to observe the foreign surroundings she had encountered.

The lioness seemed distracted by the sound of a barking dog which made it pause and continue to stare at the blue gate before turning round and prowling back to its point of origin, away from the view of the CCTV camera.

Here is the video:

However, one hour before the wild animal was spotted, the gate to the residence was opened and out from the blue emerged three unidentified thievery suspects, one of whom was armed with a gun.

The lead suspect appeared to fire at a watchman manning the residence at close range before he and his colleague gained access to the home, followed closely behind by another one of the robbers.

It was not immediately established what had happened after the three robbers managed to gain entry into the house.

The footage which was recorded at 2 am on Monday sent tongues wagging on social media with the majority of the reactions aimed at the presence of the lioness within the residential area.

Some netizens indicated that it was a sign of human encroachment into wildlife territory, which tends to brew human-wildlife conflict. To be specific, Rongai is almost a stone-throw away from the nearest boundary to Nairobi National Park.

"Those pedestrians who love drinking and coming home at 2 with Kizungu mingi (so much English), just know it's not a dog," Sikika Road Safety commented.

"Where was the Lioness on this day which would have been successful for her night," a Twitter user questioned the timing of the big cat's appearance and that of the night robbery.

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) was yet to respond to the lioness sighting at the Rongai residential area by the time of publication.

The night break-in came on the back of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Friday, June 23 responding to night robberies in Syokimau, Machakos County when they intercepted a motor vehicle used in a string of house burglaries, some of which were caught on CCTV.

Notably, encountering a stray lion in Rongai is not an uncommon event. On July 28, 2021, a stray lion found itself hidden within the corners of a residential plot which sparked a frenzy across the town and prompted the deployment of the KWS to subdue the lion which was photographed hiding in a narrow alley in between a building wall and a fence made of iron sheets. 

On Friday, May 12, a lion considered to be the oldest in Amboseli National Park in Kenya named Loonkiito died after it was reportedly speared by herders who were repulsing him in Olkelunyiet village at night on Wednesday, May 10.

Loonkiito was reported to have attacked livestock in a village bordering the Amboseli National Park towards Kimana town after he had gone into the village in search of food alone, away from the pride.