In Zambia, as with several other countries, there is growing evidence of targeted poaching of lions for skins and other body parts—in addition to an increasingly severe threat to leopards associated with poaching for their skins. While this threat to lions does not yet appear to have emerged as a serious challenge on a population … Continued
Damaraland is a rare success story for lions – after going locally extinct in the 1990s, the desert-adapted lion population has gradually recovered and now numbers in the region of 120 individuals. However, with that recovery, human lion conflict has surged – made worse by a severe drought which has reduced the availability of wild … Continued
Panthera have recently secured an agreement with the Angolan government to provide financial and technical support for the management in the vast (30,000 square mile) Luengue-Luiana National Park. There are few places in Africa with greater potential for lion recovery. At present lion numbers are estimated to be as low as 30 individuals, but a … Continued
The LRF has now provided four grants to Niassa, via the Niassa Carnivore Project, each designed to strengthen collaborative law enforcement efforts. Niassa holds one of Africa’s largest lion populations, and by far the largest population in Mozambique – with over 800 individuals. However, the population is declining due to a combination of threats, principally … Continued
BioCarbon Partners and Lion Landscapes have established a project in the game management areas that link the Lower Zambezi and Luangwa Valley protected area complexes in Zambia. This is a key connectivity pathway and represents a significant block of wildlife habitat in its own right. Wildlife and lions in that area are threatened by habitat … Continued
Dinder National Park is a huge protected area of 10,000 km2 on the border with Ethiopia. Across the border an additional 5,000 km2 or so of protected areas exist, including the Alatash National Park. Consequently the landscape represents a potentially very significant one for lions. A preliminary site visit during 2016 indicated that a significant … Continued
Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda has recently experienced a major spike in retaliatory killing of lions. This has contributed to a decline in numbers from 144 individuals to around 100. WCS is developing a comprehensive program to tackle human-lion conflict in the park. With LRF support received in 2017, they undertook a number of … Continued
Hwange National Park is home to a large and growing lion population. However, the buffer areas around Hwange suffer from high levels of snaring for bushmeat. This means that lion numbers are depleted in those areas and lions from the park are vulnerable to being killed in snares when they move into neighboring areas. The … Continued
African Parks Network (APN) have taken over the management of three protected areas in Malawi in a public-private-partnership with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife. Their engagement with Malawi started with Majete National Park, which was a massive success—taking a highly-depleted protected area and turning it around to the point where wildlife abounds. Lions were … Continued
The Ruaha Carnivore Project (RCP) was granted by the LRF to help expand a programme designed to incentivise communities to help protect lions and other wildlife on the borders of Ruaha National Park in Tanzania. This project recognises communities as custodians over wildlife and rewards them for effective protection of the resource. In addition to … Continued