Research not only supports greater understanding of lions, but, when appropriately applied, can also help mitigate and prevent human-lion conflict. In partnership with the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior researchers Dr. Genevieve Finerty and Dr. Natalia Borrego, the Lion Rangers are embarking on an exciting new research program examining fine-grain lion movements and behavior.

Over the past month staff from Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT), in partnership with the Lion Rangers, have been partnering on an intensive kraal-building program in the Anabeb Conservancy farming areas of Okomimuno and Etundu Rohaa. Predator-proof kraals, which have been shown to dramatically limit livestock losses to lions and other predators, are an important part of our Early-Warning System. When all else fails, when geofence alerts do not reach farmers due to lack of network, and Rapid Response Teams are deployed elsewhere, farmers in hotspot areas can rely on sturdy kraals to keep their livestock safe. Since early 2021, MEFT, the Lion Rangers, and program partners, have built 97 predator-proof kraals across core lion-range.

The Lion Rangers are responsible for monitoring the movements of lions across northwest Namibia. This population is dynamic and includes occasional influxes of lions from neighboring Etosha National Park. Over the recent weeks, the Lion Rangers of Orupupa, Omatendeka, and Ehi-rovipuka, have been partnering with staff from the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) to monitor a group of four lions that have come from Etosha to the communal lands. These four lions, one adult female and three subadults (two males, one female) were formerly residents of Etosha’s Dolomite area. Starting in late January they have expanded their home range to include the mountainous communal areas bordering the park.

During the past week all 49 Lion Rangers and the Leadership Team came together for our annual training. Building on the success of last year’s Law Enforcement and SMART training, this year we focused on Lion Ranger life outcomes as well as skills development.

How lions are perceived by the communities living alongside them is critical to implementing successful lion conservation. In a recently released article, “Seeing Lions in a Different Light,” John Heydinger provides insight into the challenges conservancy farmers face living alongside lions. This short article, which can be found in the Namibia Chamber of Environment‘s annual publication, Conservation and the Environment in Namibia, is based on intensive social surveys among conservancy members within the core range of Namibia’s desert-adapted lions. Most revealing, conservancy members contextualize lion numbers and human-lion conflict in certain ways, linked to the region’s history and environmental politics. A more thorough treatment of the topic is currently being published by Cambridge University Press. A draft is available here, on the Lion Rangers site.