Human-caused mortalities have long been a major limit to the lion population in northwest Namibia. This has been set down in research reports for years, including by Etosha ecologist Hu Berry, and desert-adapted lions researchers Flip Stander and John Heydinger. Recently an important new paper was published in Global Ecology and Conservation examining the factors contributing to lion mortalities along the boundary of Namibia’s Etosha National Park.

This historically-based research by Naha and others models different drivers of spatial risk contributing to lion mortalities outside Etosha. Finding that an average of 22 lions are killed along Etosha’s borders each year since 1980, this paper re-affirms the importance of proactive human-lion conflict interventions as critical to supporting the lion population of northwest Namibia. In the words of Naha and others the areas outside Etosha have functions as “ecological traps” with certain areas in particular acting as hotspots of conflict related moralities. Of particular interest is that, though human-lion conflict within communal areas receives the lion’s share of attention in the press, the majority of lion deaths have occurred on privately-owned farms along Etosha’s southern and eastern boundaries – a topic receiving considerably less attention. It is notable that records incorporated into this report end prior to the start of the Lion Rangers program – hopefully follow-up research will illuminate the positive contributions of the program to limiting this conflict.

Published as part of the ongoing research of the Greater Etosha Carnivore Project and from the Beasley Lab at the University of Georgia, this publication provides important insight and context for those working to ensure the survival of lion in northwest Namibia and beyond.