During the preceding months, a certain number of lion mortalities stemming from human-lion conflict have been recorded on communal lands in northwest Namibia. Critical examination of conflict incidents by researchers are yielding new insights into when, where, and seemingly why, lions come into conflict with farmers in northwest Namibia. Of particular note has been the role of the Lion Rangers in limiting conflict where Rangers are consistently deployed, and the need for upscaling the performance of the Rapid Response Teams. At its most broad, lion conflict appears to lead to lion mortalities when collared animals move into unfamiliar farming areas.

This short report has been provided to Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism and can be downloaded here.

Following a series of human-lion conflict incidents in #Khoadi-||Hoas Conservancy, the decision was taken by researchers and Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism to translocate the problem-causing lion, OPL-24 of the Uniab pride. This operation was performed safely during the nighttime hours of 5 February, 2024.

The translocation was done following the lion’s killing of one horse and two cattle near the Leeukop area during daytime hours. Rather than see the lion destroyed, MEFT staff and the Lion Rangers put forth considerable resources for this translocation – which was based on best available science, including guidelines set-forth by a 2022 publication by Becker et al. and an in-depth knowledge of lion movements and pride dynamics within the northwest lion population.

The Hobatere pride has been growing in the past year-plus. Monitoring by the Lion Rangers and MEFT shows the pride consists of three adult females (OPL-6, OPL-9, and OPL-10), two adult males (OPL-19 and OPL-20) and no fewer than eight cubs. The oldest two cubs are the offspring of OPL-10 (“Nalaili), likely sired by the brothers OPL-7 and OPL-8, who departed Hobatere in about March 2022. Around that time OPL-19 and OPL-20 immigrated from Etosha and took over the pride. They have likely sired the remaining cubs.

A Lion Ranger views a desert-adapted lion in the Kunene Region.

The Lion Rangers use cutting-edge mobile technology to keep an eye on the desert-adapted lions of northwest Namibia. In this year’s Conservation and the Environment in Namibia magazine, Lion Rangers Program Coordinator Mathilde Brassine explains how the Lion Rangers are using the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) to monitor lions and other large carnivores and help limit human-wildlife conflict.

A full version of the article is available here.