In February a female lioness, XPL-121, was shot near a farm in the Anabeb Conservancy. She had been struggling to feed her three cubs, due to low numbers of prey in the area, and was increasingly encroaching on farmers’ livestock. In the following days the IRDNC Rapid Response Teams, Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism staff, and Lion Rangers, worked tirelessly to try to capture the newly orphaned cubs. They were unsuccessful. This was considered an urgent matter as the cubs were unable to feed themselves. Thankfully, the Anabeb Conservancy stepped in. In the ensuing months conservancy management and members donated donkeys to feed the orphaned cubs and ensure their survival until they could be safely captured and translocated away from danger.
Yesterday a large and diverse group paid tribute to IRDNC founder, committed conservationist, and hero to many Garth Owen-Smith at Wereldsend. Said TOSCO founder and Lion Ranger program coordinator Felix Vallat, “It was sincere, moving, inspiring…a perfect between Himba traditional funerals and a western one. Garth left a big space for us to grow and bloom, which we will!” The ceremony brought together people from across Namibia and the thoughts and prayers of a world of partners who could not return due to travel restrictions. There were private planes and traditional Himba marches, headmen from the north and local friends, hunters and wildlife advocates, a truly cross-cultural crowd of partners, all of whom were inspired by Garth’s message and commitment to making the world a better place.
During the Covid-19 pandemic the work of conserving the desert-adapted lions and other wildlife of northwest Namibia continues. While the Lion Rangers and IRDNC Rapid Response Team Leaders continue to partner with local communities to limit human-lion conflict, Lion Ranger co-founder Dr. Flip Stander has been hard at work along Namibia’s Skeleton Coast. Below are just a few of the images and videos Flip has collected in the past weeks. Flip’s work is central to better understanding the ecology of desert-adapted lions and other carnivores in the region and his insight is critical to the work of the Lion Rangers. You can learn more about Flip’s long-term research and work with the Lion Rangers at the Desert Lion Conservation website.
It is important that the perspectives of community members are incorporated into management decisions concerning desert-adapted lions on communal land. Residents of communal conservancies who have to pay the price of living with lions deserve to have their voices heard, even amplified. In late 2017 we surveyed a representative sample of livestock owners in core lion-range conservancies to assess local perceptions of living with lions. Since that time, preliminary results from these surveys have informed management recommendations and actions of the Northwest Lion Working Group. Today we are excited to announce the release of this research, which is being published in the journal Biological Conservation.
This survey is the first of its kind in the area. It serves as an important baseline for assessing the effectiveness of activities to limit human-lion conflict going forward.
Collared lioness in northwest Namibia. Photo: AJ Wattamaniuk
Conservation of northwest Namibia’s lions is more than just
time in field. Management planning and policy development is critical to the successful
long-term conservation of the population. The Northwest Lion Working Group (NWLWG)
spearheads policy development, management decisions, and the development of
field protocol and methodology for all aligned governmental, community, and NGO
actors helping to conserve the lions in northwest Namibia and limit human-lion conflict.
On 7 May, 2019, the NWLWG gathered in Swakopmund to review progress over the
past year, plan for field activities for the rest of 2019, hear presentations
from potential partners, review policy and make recommendations to the Ministry
of Environment and Tourism (MET). This meeting was chaired by Kenneth //Uiseb,
the MET Deputy Director of Scientific Services and Uakendisa Muzuma, the MET
Large-Carnivore Coordinator who also chairs the NWLWG Technical Committee.
Lion Rangers and Rapid Response teams moving livestock; Sesfontein
April was busy for the Lion Rangers and IRDNC Rapid Response teams, as almost the entire month was spent in the field responding to or preventing human-lion conflict (HLC) incidents. As reported by Rapid Response Team Leader and Coordinator Cliff Tjikundi, the Lion Rangers and Rapid Response teams “successfully responded to eight (8) lion conflict incidents/occasions (2 in Sesfontein, 2 in Anabeb, 3 Ehi-rovipuka and 1 in Torra), preventing further [livestock and lion] incidents/losses. The most crucial ones were the two (2) incidents in Sesfontein conservancy, at Ganamub and Elephant song, where the team was actively collecting livestock from the field into kraals at night. In the process two (2) cattle were killed, but this could have been worse as the situation lasted for about two weeks, before the lions returned to the Hoanib river. This was one of those situations where lions find themselves in areas with lot of cattle and are difficult to access with vehicles. The lions seem to use the geography to their advantage to avoid people.” In the past such situations have often resulted in lions being translocated. This process is led by Philip Stander of the Desert Lion Conservation Project (DLC). However, for the first time the Rapid Response teams and Lion Rangers resolved an intensive series of conflicts without the direct assistance of DLC! This is a monumental development in efforts to foster community-based conservation of the desert-adapted lion population. The greater responsibility that the Lion Rangers, Rapid Response teams, and community members can take in fostering safe human-lion interactions, the brighter the prospect for the area’s farmers and lions.
There have also been dramatic improvements concerning
lion incidents in Ehi-rovipuka and Omatendeka conservancies, as there were no
recorded livestock losses in April. This is due to improved lion monitoring by
a team consisting of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET), AfriCat North
and the Lion Rangers/Rapid Response teams. Efforts in this area have been
emphasizing regular patrols and monitoring along the Etosha and Hobatere
fences, while community engagement efforts are focusing on developing farmers’
willingness to report lion movements in farming areas.
Farmers in Tsiseb Conservancy receive first ever payment from the Wildlife Credits Scheme for livestock killed by lions.
The Namibia Association of CBNRM Support Organizations (NACSO) has published a story on Wildlife Credits being paid to farmers in the Tsiseb Conservancy who have recently lost livestock to lions. The lion conflict incidents in Tsiseb were written about previously on this site. Though the Lion Rangers responded and worked closely with the community, the losses had already taken place. While it is good to see the conservancies supporting their farmers, the Lion Rangers continue to work to limit conflict incidents so these type of payments can be minimized.
