2023 was a challenging, and rewarding, year for the Lion Rangers and for desert-adapted lion conservation. Read a short document detailing our 2023 program highlights here.
Lion Rangers 2023 Highlights
CBNRM
Lion Rangers Awarded
On 27 October, the Lion Rangers were proud to celebrate the dedication, commitment, hard work, and accomplishments of our top performing Rangers for the past year. Esau Matundu from TOSCO and Ehi-rovipuka Conservancy, Rinoveni Tjauira from the Namibia Lion Trust and Omatendeka Conservancy, Kaidue Uaroua from Ehi-rovipuka, and Jackson Kavetu from the Namibian Lion Trust and Ehi-rovipuka were all recognized at a special ceremony in ǂKhoadi-ǁHôas Conservancy. This event, hosted by the Community Conservation Fund of Namibia, in partnership with Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, not only recognized the work of these four, but the great strides by the Lion Rangers and other committed conservationists to ensure a future for the region’s wildlife.
Continue readingCollaring to Limit Conflict
Over the past week, Lion Rangers from Anabeb, Doro !Nawas, Ehi-rovipuka, Omatendeka, and Torra conservancies joined forces to track and collar conflict-causing lions in Anabeb and Omatendeka conservancies. The lack of adequate rainfall this past year has pushed prey species into the mountains of Kunene, leaving lions and other large carnivores with limited prey options in many areas. This has led to a recent uptick in human-lion conflict (HLC). To support the livelihoods of rural communities and keep lions safe, the Lion Rangers and Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) staff engaged in an emergency collaring operation. Additionally, in partnership with veterinarian Dr. Diethardt Rodenwoldt, the Research Team decided to translocate a conflict-causing male from a farming area in the ǂKhoadi-ǁHôas Conservancy.
Continue readingPatrolling in the Mountains
From 26 August to 2 September, the Lion Rangers performed a special point-to-point foot patrol through the mountains of Etendeka Concession, into the Omatendeka and Ehi-rovipuka conservancies. This special patrol was supported by a group of local partners, who joined the Rangers and covered the costs of transport and food, which enabled the Rangers to get deep into the mountainous area. This important patrol enabled the Rangers to cover areas which often prove unreachable.
Continue readingThe Early-Warning System: a Ranger’s Perspective
In this short video, Lion Ranger Patrol Leader Jendery Tsaneb explains how the Early-Warning System works to inform area farmers when collared lions are nearby. The Early-Warning System, pioneered to limit human-lion conflict in northwest Namibia, is integral to the work of the Lion Rangers and helping limit human-lion conflict in northwest Namibia.
Thanks to WWF-Namibia for providing the filming and taking an interest in the program.
New Paper: Lion Rangers and Remote Sensing
A new paper by Lion Rangers Program Research Director, Dr. John Heydinger examines how the Lion Rangers are integrating remote sensing technologies with desert-adapted lion conservation on communal lands. This paper, published for a special issue of Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution details the use of GPS/satellite collars, trail cameras, and the Lion Rangers use of the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART). Combined with the pillars of community-based natural resource management, we believe these technologies can help limit human-lion conflict on communal lands.
Patrol and Trail Cameras around Brandberg
A lingering question from the Northwest Lion Population Survey has been the presence or absence of lions around the Brandberg area of Tsiseb Conservancy. In the past it was known that a small group of lions inhabited the ephemeral Ugab riverbed and surrounding landscape. During the population survey no lions or evidence of lions was found in the area. To be more certain, the Lion Rangers Research Team and Sorris Sorris Rangers spent the past week intensively searching the Ugab and surrounding landscape.
Continue readingNorthwest Game Count
Each year, the second half of May is set-aside by conservationists in northwest Namibia for the annual Northwest Game Count. The focus of this operation is to inform conservancies and Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism of wildlife numbers for the purposes of adaptive resource management. The NW Game Count is the largest and longest-running road-based game count in the world, the Lion Rangers are always pleased to participate.
The game count takes place on communal and government-managed lands and is comprised of four distinct sub-areas: conservancies south of the veterinary control fence, conservancies north of the fence, the tourism concession areas of Etendeka, Hobatere, and Palmwag, and Skeleton Coast National Park. Conducted annually, the game count covers nearly seven million hectares and is undertaken as a joint exercise between conservancy members and staff, as well as NGOs, all overseen by MEFT.
Continue readingHuman-Wildlife Conflict Conference
The Lion Rangers’ Leadership Team was honored to attend and present at the recent Namibia National Human-Wildlife Conflict Conference, hosted by Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT), which took place in Windhoek from 10-12 May. This three-day, first-of-its-kind conference highlighted the challenges faced by rural communities living alongside wildlife.
Continue readingPopulation Survey Week 8: Thick Bush
Teams from the Northwest Lion Population Survey continued working to identify as many lions as possible across the Kunene Region. During week 8 our teams focused on the farming areas of eastern Anabeb Conservancy, where groups of lions have been splitting and re-forming recently. Further east Lion Rangers performed extensive foot patrols across the vast spaces of Ehi-rovipuka and Omatendeka conservancies. While no known lions were thought to be in these areas, our approach focused on landscape coverage to minimize the likelihood of unknown and unnoticed individuals. Over the Christmas and New Years holidays to Lion Rangers and MEFT staff worked tirelessly to complete this operation, with some great initial results. Particularly within Anabeb numerous collared and uncollared lions were observed and photographed.
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