The Amboseli Lion project
Background
Lion populations in Kenya are suspected to have decreased considerably over the last two decades, mainly due to habitat loss and conflicts with people and their livestock.
Lions from Amboseli National Park regularly kill livestock outside the National Park.
The number of lions killed in the Masaai group ranches surrounding Amboseli NP have gradually increased from 21 in 2001 to 44 in 2006 (personal communication, Seamus Maclennan).
Up till now it is not known whether livestock is habitually killed by the same specific lions, or occasionally killed by several lions.
In order to manage lion-livestock conflicts, Kenya Wildlife Service has initiated the Amboseli lion project.
Project area
Amboseli National Park covers 392 km², and forms part of the much larger 3,000 km² Amboseli ecosystem.
The park is surrounded by group ranches owned by local Maasai communities.
During the wet season the wild herbivores are dispersed throughout much of the Amboseli ecosystem, but during the dry season the animals concentrate in the park because the park contains permanent springs originating from melt water from the nearby Mt Kilimanjaro.
In the dry season Maasai can enter the park with their livestock to get access to water.
Consequently, lions are confronted with livestock both inside and outside the park, in addition to their natural prey species.
Objectives
- Monitoring of large carnivore populations (size, movements, threats)
- Local capacity building
- Improvement of law enforcement
- Mitigation of lion livestock conflict
Approach
The project covers as main activities 1) raising awareness among the local people about lion movements and how to prevent livestock raiding, and 2) analyzing the movement patterns of lions in the Amboseli ecosystem.
So called lion guardians will be recruited to protect lions outside the park and assist livestock herders to protect their livestock against raiding lions.
An awareness campaign will be conducted among Maasai settlements.
In addition the movements of five GPS-GSM collared lions will be monitored.
Thus, adequate measures can be taken to mitigate the loss of livestock due to lion predation.
Partners
This project is carried out in collaboration with the Kenya Wildlife Service, in particular:
- KWS Research Department (Nairobi HQ)
- KWS Veterinary Department (Nairobi HQ/ Tsavo NP)
- Senior Warden Amboseli NP
The awareness campaign will be carried out in collaboration with the Kilimanjaro Lion Project (KLP) and the Amboseli Elephant Research Project (AERP).
