Hard-Working Hands Span Cultures and Generations to Come Together for Big Cat Conservation

Africa is the land of diversity, hosting a vast amount of biological and cultural variance within each of its 53 countries. Biologists and David Attenborough fans all over the world know it for its unique, charismatic species: The roaring, the stampeding, and the larger-than-life. Anthropologists and Human Planet fans know it for its lion hunters, its hunter-gatherers, and its fascinating traditions that have been remarkably preserved through time. As a single country, by certain measures Tanzania contains more distinct peoples and languages than there are countries in the world (see Hirst, 1972). It is a land rich in history, and draws thousands of tourists every year for a walk on the wild side.

Our staff at the Noloholo Environmental Center are from all over Tanzania: the slopes of Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru to the islands of Lake Victoria; the bustling metropolis of Dar es Salaam to the small rural villages surrounding our environmental center. Most tourists bypass our little corner of the country beside Tarangire National Park, but this year we benefitted from two National Geographic Student Expeditions that came from all over the world to add a little bit of big-cat- conflict education to their photo and wildlife safari.

Each group spent a day in the communities surrounding our Noloholo Environmental Centre building the protective enclosures for local homesteads (‘bomas’) we call Living Walls. Nothing brings people together like hard labor (except perhaps Tammy), which has a way of completely leveling social stratification. In the warm afternoon sun the same beads of sweat were glistening on the skin of the students, leaders, boma residents, office staff, field officers, and even our executive directors. As holes were dug, Commiphora poles were planted, and fencing was nailed around the enclosure, students and local community members bonded — with smiles and kind gestures when no one was available for translation.

Sources for this post:

Hirst, M.A. (1972). Tribal mixture and migration in Tanzania: an evaluation and analysis of census tribal data. Canadian Geographer 16: 230-248.

Miguel, E. (2004). Tribe or nation? Nation-building and public goods in Kenya versus Tanzania. World Politics 56: 327-362.

All About the African Big Five

According to tourist brochures a modern day African safari is not complete without having spotted each member of the Big Five. Some companies even go so far as to award certificates to those guests who have experienced the big five on their safari.

Hunting and photographic safaris

The big 5 is a collective term used to describe lion, leopard, buffalo, black rhino and elephant Although seemingly patented by the photographic tourism market the big five is a term that originated during the early days of trophy hunting and indicated the five most dangerous animals to hunt and hence the most sought after trophies.

The part that constitutes the trophy differs with each animal. The lion is sought for its mane, the elephant its tusks, the buffalo and rhino the horns and the leopard the general body size and size of the head.

Private reserves and the Big 5

With the advent of luxury photographic safari travel in the 1970’s in South Africa’s private game reserves the big 5 became the largest selling point of a safari and despite attempts by many individuals and organizations at ridiculing the concept aggressive marketing ensures the popularity continues to grow.

The black rhino was the original member of the Big five but with the scarcity of the species today the more common white rhino has taken its place in many areas as many forget the original ideal.

Facts about the Big 5

The buffalo is responsible for the most human deaths annually. The leopard is hunted by setting out baits. Despite the ban on ivory trading, elephants are still legally hunted in some countries. Although many countries have banned trophy hunting it is still big business in Africa.

Elephants Face Extinction If Beijing Does Not Ban Ivory Trade

China needs to act now on the country’s illegal ivory trade to stop elephants becoming extinct, according to one conservationist.

China accounts for 40 per cent of the world’s trade in elephant tusks, with many bound for the country intercepted by customs officials in Hong Kong
Joyce Poole, co-director of Elephant Voices, said the creatures had experienced their worst year in history, with more than 7 per cent killed for their tusks in only a year.

She called for China to tackle the country’s appetite for ivory to save the remaining 400,000 elephants from extinction, and said the species would be extinct within a decade if poaching continued at the current rate.

Nearly 40,000 elephants are killed for their tusks every year, Poole told the South China Morning Post.

‘It’s either China does something, or we lose the elephants. It’s that big,’ she said.

‘If we can’t even save the elephants – such an iconic keystone animal, important to the African habitat – then what hope do we have?’

Ivory is known as ‘white gold’ in China, she said, and is symbol of wealth and status.

A worldwide ban on ivory was imposed in 1989, with two sanctioned sales of stock to China and Japan in 1999 and 2007.

Hong Kong customs officials have seized at least 16 tonnes of ivory worth HK$87million (more than £7million) bound for China in the past five years – which would require the tusks of 1,800 elephants, the paper reported.

About 93 per cent of elephant carcasses have been found to have been killed by poachers, said Poole, who has researched elephants for 40 years.

One elephant would earn an African poacher the same as a typical annual salary, she told the newspaper.

‘I think many people don’t know that you can’t get the tusks [for ivory] without killing the elephants,’ Poole said.

‘[Beijing is] still in denial that they have any part to play. Ivory isn’t worth much to the [Chinese] economy, but losing the elephants will make a huge difference to African countries.’ – Daily Mail

EU to Back Kenya at CITES next month

With just a few weeks to go to the next meeting of CITES in Bangkok, the Dutch ambassador to Kenya has announced that the EU will be voting as a bloc in favour of Kenya’s proposal to ban all trade in ivory for the next 9 years and to prevent any proposals for auctions being presented to CITES in that time period. The Dutch ambassador,  H.E Mr. Joost Reintjes, was paying a visit to the Kenya Wildlife Service when he announced  that the Netherlands will be joining the other EU member states to vote en bloc in support of Kenya’s proposals when the international community meets in Bangkok for the 16th Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Conference of the Parties (CoP). The CoP meeting takes place between 3rd March and 14th March at the  Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre. Kenya has submitted a number of proposals to the CITES meeting including:

• Amendment of the annotation for Ceratotherium    simum simum as follows:  (added text underlined):    “Ceratotherium simum simum (Only the populations of South Africa    and Swaziland;    all other populations are included in Appendix I. For the exclusive purpose    of allowing international trade in live animals to appropriate and acceptable    destinations and hunting trophies. Hunting trophies from South Africa and    Swaziland shall be subject to a zero export quota until at least CoP18. All other specimens shall be deemed to be specimens of species included in    Appendix I and the trade in them shall be regulated accordingly.)” Proposed by: Kenya.
• Amend the annotation for Loxodonta africana as follows: (additional text underlined, deleted text struckthrough):       h) no further proposals to allow trade in    elephant ivory from any populations already in Appendix II    shall be submitted to the Conference of the Parties for the period from CoP14    and ending nine years from the date of the single sale of ivory that is to    take place in accordance with provisions in paragraphs g) i), g) ii), g) iii),    g) vi) and g) vii). In addition, such further proposals shall be dealt with    in accordance with Decisions 14.77 and 14.78 (Rev. CoP15). Proposed by: Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Kenya,  Mali and Togo
• Inclusion in    Appendix II: Osyris lanceolata – East African Sandlewood. Proposed by: Kenya, United Republic of Tanzania.
• Illegal trade in Cheetahs: Actions on enforcement and trade in cheetahs. Proposed by Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

At the meeting between the ambassador and Dr Kiprono, Director of Kenya Wildlife Service, the Director announced that funding was being made available for an additional 500 rangers to be recruited to help combat the current surge in poaching activity.

Bushmeat Crisis Task Force Members Celebrate Ten Years of Achievement

On 19 February 1999, 34 experts, representing 28 different organizations and agencies, assembled at the offices of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) in Silver Spring, Maryland to discuss the commercial bushmeat crisis in tropical African countries and its impact on threatened and endangered species. Together with a growing worldwide network of concerned conservationists, zoo biologists, animal welfare advocates and medical researchers, these experts agreed to pool their talents and information resources to focus on the growing threat posed by the unsustainable, illegal, commercial trade in wildlife as food. The Bushmeat Crisis Task Force (BCTF) was formed as a center for action and information on the bushmeat crisis in Africa and around the world.

Ten years later, BCTF members join together to celebrate its many accomplishments and to highlight the urgent needs that remain. The bushmeat issue is now recognized as one of the most important threats facing wildlife and local communities in Africa today. Dozens of on-the-ground programs, new policies and increased capacity have been developed as a result of BCTF and member efforts. BCTF’s work reveals the threats to wildlife and human populations posed by the bushmeat crisis and the priority solutions needed to resolve it. Resources for implementation, however, remain scarce. The critically important funding for the Congo Basin Forest Partnership has supported governments and NGOs working together on conservation and economic issues in Central Africa, but a significant threat to wildlife and local community livelihoods still remains. In East Africa, alarming new information about the growing trade in bushmeat shows the vital need for additional financial and human capacity.

BCTF has played a crucial role in educating and engaging policy makers, scientists, development officials, donors, and the public about wildlife and the bushmeat trade. Bushmeat policy efforts have been adopted by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the African Forestry Law Enforcement and Governance (AFLEG) agreement, the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) with BCTF support. BCTF has been consulted and supported efforts by all three branches of the U.S. Government to address the bushmeat issue. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Agency for International Development support for on-the-ground bushmeat projects in Africa, House and Senate committee hearings related to bushmeat and wildlife trade, and a current Federal prosecution for importation of commercial levels of bushmeat over U.S. borders are examples of BCTF’s engagement. Media attention on the bushmeat issue has mushroomed in the last decade from a few dozen articles prior to 1999 to well over a thousand articles today – many of which BCTF has provided direct input.

As well as raising awareness about bushmeat as a top priority conservation issue, a primary role of BCTF has been to create an information sharing mechanism. In addition to BCTF’s world-class website, BCTF’s Information Management and Analysis Project (IMAP) provides a central repository of information on the causes and solutions of bushmeat hunting and trade in Africa and around the world. The Bushmeat IMAP combines technical expertise in mapping forest use in Central Africa with BCTF’s worldwide databases and professional networks to provide the most current, site-specific information available on the bushmeat trade. An exhaustive digital library is paired with an online, customizable mapmaker to permit users to quickly find and map information on key elements that impact the bushmeat trade in Central Africa.

Building the capacity of professionals and educators to address the bushmeat crisis is critically important work, and BCTF has been at the forefront of these efforts. From a collaboration with the École de Faune de Garoua (Garoua Wildlife School) in Cameroon to develop and implement a bushmeat curriculum for mid-career wildlife managers to the current MENTOR (Mentoring for Environmental Training in outreach and Resource Conservation) program that is providing a wealth of bushmeat management capacity-building opportunities for conservationists in East Africa, BCTF has led important collaborative efforts in this regard. Our free, online Bushmeat Education Resource Guide (BERG) provides tools and resources to benefit students of all ages and backgrounds. Many of BCTF’s zoo members contributed important tools to the BERG and even more have benefited from it in their exhibits, programs and events.

The bushmeat issue is widely recognized as one of the highest priority conservation threats facing global biodiversity today. BCTF is recognized as a leading collaborative organization that has facilitated this critical awareness and programs to address the crisis. The members of BCTF are committed to supporting current and future generations of people and wildlife, recognizing that our children and grandchildren need us to effectively manage wildlife resources today.

Each BCTF Member organization has worked in their own way to solve this crisis on the ground, in the halls of Congress, in international policy arenas and with the public. Please visit their websites to learn more about their actions.

BCTF members and staff have worked tirelessly to raise awareness and implement solutions to the bushmeat crisis, as well as invite additional efforts from development organizations and agencies, scientists, policy makers and the public. Wildlife gives so much to so many: it is an important source of protein, a key component to local and national economies, a critical biodiversity resource providing essential ecological services for our world, and a source of wonder to us all. The bushmeat crisis threatens all of this.

Cameroon: 15 Arrested for Poaching

About 15 people have been detained following a huge anti-poaching operation involving the military, gendarmes and game guards in southeast Cameroon. During the operations, guns, elephant, chimpanzee and gorilla meat were confiscated. 22 people were initially caught during the operations, while 15 were arrested and taken to Yokadouma. Out of the 15, 11 have been detained in the gendarmerie cell while 4 have been charged to appear in court.

They are now in the Yokadouma Prison awaiting trial. The Divisional Delegate for Wildlife and Forestry in the region, Colonel Pandong Eitel, said they will press charges against the suspects and ensure that concomitant sanctions are meted out on them.

Several war arms including two AK 47 rifles (Kalashnikov), one 458-caliber rifle, three 375-caliber rifles and a cartridge containing 36 Kalashnikov bullets were amongst 30 guns confiscated during the operation that took place in Southeast Cameroon from April 25 to May 1. 15 people were also arrested and 1000 kg of bush meat seized.

Interview With Douglas Groves ‘The Elephant Man’

When elephants are your best friends….

Douglas Groves

Q: Doug, I have met you a couple of times in Botswana and from the way you live and handle your elephants I would say you have more with animals than with humans. Is that statement correct and how did you develop your deep love for nature in general and your elephants in particular?

A: Hello Johan! Thanks for this opportunity to share our story with your readers.

Johan, I believe that every child is born with an affinity for the natural world, and my deep love for nature was heightened due to a developmental and speech impediment which I was born with.
For most of my elementary education my peers and teachers were unable to understand the bulk of my speech, so for comfort and companionship, I developed non-verbal skills and gravitated towards animals. Through a series of verbal shaping progressions, I eventually learned to speak so that others could understand me, and in the process, I also learned a lot about communicating with animals.

When I first met Jabu and Thembi in October of 1988, they had been orphaned from a Kruger National Park culling operation and were very traumatized. They were in serious need of nurturing and also needed some specialized care which I was in a position to provide. The bonds grew very quickly, as they typically do with young mammals, and before long we were inseparable.

Q: Unlike other close encounters with wildlife projects do you not allow tourists to ride your elephants, although you could make a handsome living out of that. What is your reasoning behind the very protective way you deal with your elephants?

Answer: We don’t offer commercial riding with our elephants for a variety of reasons.

First of all we feel that people learn much more about elephant life by observing natural behavior. Secondly, we believe that it is psychologically more difficult to create an atmosphere of respect and reverence for these magnificent animals if people are sitting on top of them.
Lastly, we also feel that it would generally detract from their quality of life.

Q: For many years now you have been living with your three elephants and surely you got to know them very well. How would you describe and characterize each single one of them?

A: Jabu is handsome,bold, clever, independent, generous, patient and calm.

Thembi is smart, quick, cute, resourceful, focused and sometimes flighty.

Morula is thoughtful, warm, wise, particular, social, intelligent and funny.

Jabu, Morula and Thembi

Q: Dealing with elephants on a daily basis surely has its ups and downs. What are your biggest ups and what are your most pressing downs?

A: Ups include an incredible feeling of oneness with the herd and their habitat. Being immersed in this mesmerizing wilderness gives us an opportunity to interactively connect with and learn about the diversity of flora and fauna surrounding us. There are always new surprises and challenges and I often enjoy the Adrenalin surge of an unexpected encounter. Some of the trade offs include more limited social interaction with our own species, and I miss festivals, concerts, book stores and museums. The most dreaded drawback, however, is the horrendous hairy caterpillars! They come out during the rainy season and have a toxic irritant on their hairs that can cause an itching insanity.

Q: Since your elephants have a ‘will of their own’ I am sure you had some interesting adventures with your three elephants. Tell us a short story that you will never forget:

A: As many of your readers will know, young bull elephants normally leave the herd that they were born in to prior to puberty. There is a lot of variation with the timing and we are often surprised at how young they leave. When Jabu was about 9 years old , he decided it was time for a walkabout. One morning while I was out in the bush watching the herd feed, I remembered that I had left some eye drops back at camp. We were not very far away from camp and the elephants seemed very content with their crunching, so I quickly headed back to get the eye drops. When I returned, Jabu was gone. The girls didn’t seem to even notice or care that he was gone! At first I was pretty calm, looking all around the immediate area behind bushes and in clumps of trees. Eventually I decided that I would need to take the girls back to camp and solicit some help to track Jabu down. We had an excellent bushman tracker on staff and fortunately we found Jabu’s tracks and followed them for hours, but eventually they got mixed in with other recent tracks and we started loosing light so we had to call the search off. He was gone five weeks! When he finally wandered back to camp, and we saw that he was well, we were overcome with joy!

Q: I see that you are quite active with social media and you worry a lot about our environment in general. What is your biggest fear for the future of our planet and what advice would you like to give the readers of this article?

A: My biggest fear would be widespread ecological collapse due to changing life support parameters. Large scale topographical and biochemical changes in our oceans and atmosphere are well underway and this will impact all life forms. By becoming ecologically literate, re-localizing our economies and trying to tread as lightly as possible on this precious planet, we might save a few species and slow the rate of change.

Q: If you could make three wishes, what would those wishes be?

A: That we could live in understanding and harmony with all life forms.

That we could keep human populations at a sustainable level.

and that we would find fulfillment in activities that promote the well being of the whole planet.

Q: Last but not least, what do your elephants mean to you? Are they more important than your lady partner? I understand if you lie in your answer…..

My wife, Sandi, the elephants and I are family. We have formed these warm bonds of kinship over the past two decades and we will go down this road together.

KWS and IFAW Launch Partnership to Help Curb Elephant Poaching

KWS and IFAW launch partnership to help curb elephant poaching

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) have launched a partnership designed to protect elephants and curb the increasing poaching crisis.

The IFAW’s tenBoma initiative was launched yesterday by Prof. Judi Wakhungu, the Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources.

The thinking behind tenBoma has been derived from ‘Nyumba Kumi’(Kiswahili for ten homes)’, a community policing initiative launched by the Kenyan government. Under this partnership, the tenBoma initiative will expand to include Kenya’s national parks and surrounding areas to form a network to protect wildlife and communities from criminal poaching gangs.

“Kenya is determined to protect our elephants, we will do everything in our power to destroy the poaching networks and we are proud to be involved in this innovative pilot project,” said Prof. Wakhungu.

The project will be conducted in two phases with the first stage ensuring that KWS rangers have the equipment and training they need to collect valuable data.

The second phase will integrate a collaborative geospatial monitoring platform to marry data collection with targeted analysis and dissemination of information to identify poaching associated indicators. Targeted analysis of the information will be conducted to identify patterns in poaching related activities that enables KWS to intercept poachers prior to the elephants’ slaughter.

“This is tremendously important to the Kenya Wildlife Service. Too often our officers are confronted with the carcasses of elephants and are battling to solve the crime after it has happened. This project could ensure that we have the intelligence we need to strike first,’’ said William Kiprono, the Acting Director General of KWS.

According to IFAW, the tenBoma project builds upon lessons learned and experience gained from successfully applying network targeting analysis and information sharing principals to support counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations.

“This partnership makes innovative use of the most powerful weapon we have in this fight—information,” said Azzedine Downes, the President and CEO of IFAW.

“Over a relatively short period of time we will be able to determine if there are patterns that will help to ensure that the KWS have enforcement officers deployed to the right area at the right time, effectively heading off poaching incidents. For too long the focus has been on monitoring species and products and not enough attention has been given to the networks that drive the illicit trade. tenBoma seeks to fill this gap,” said Mr. Downes.

IFAW says tenBoma represents the latest evolution of IFAW’s efforts to smash every link in the illegal wildlife trade chain: from supporting poaching patrols in Africa, and working with INTERPOL and national governments on stings, to training customs officers in transit countries including the Middle East and demand reduction campaigns in China.

New Partnership Established for Conservation in Northern Tanzania

The Tanzania People & Wildlife Fund and the Honeyguide Foundation (HGF) have launched a partnership to strengthen our joint community-based conservation initiatives across northern Tanzania.

The long-term partnership will begin with joint programming for human-wildlife conflict (HWC) prevention and evolve into a comprehensive community-based conservation collaboration.

“Conservation challenges are numerous across northern Tanzania,” said Dr. Laly Lichtenfeld, Executive Director of the Tanzania People & Wildlife Fund. “Progress at a large-scale requires the efforts of multiple partners who commit to real, functioning collaborations.”

Both Honeyguide and TPW have developed highly technical and proven community-based strategies for achieving these ends, including Honeyguide’s Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) Toolkit to protect farms from elephants and other animals, and TPW’s Living Walls to protect livestock from predators, such as lions and leopards.

Our organizations work closely with individuals at the household level on HWC mitigation. In addition, we couple these critical prevention projects with training and education outreach to transform communities’ perceptions on the importance of biodiversity conservation.

Honeyguide and TPW have already begun to collaborate with communities among Enduimet WMA, Burunge WMA, the nascent Natron WMA, and the migratory corridor between the Tarangire-Manyara and Lake Natron ecosystems.

“For years, our organizations have seen the potential of partnering together,” said Damian Bell, Honeyguide’s executive director. “It has happened gradually and organically, and now we’re moving full ahead with joint programming across multiple landscapes.”

Maasai Steppe Warrior for Wildlife Elvis Kisimir Speaks Up for Lions

“In a few years to come, the world will only see the rare lion spoor on the sandy soil. If the wind blows, then even those spoor will go.” One extraordinary Maasai warrior shares his message for the world about the future of big cats. Elvis Kisimir experiences the full extent of familial responsibility while pursuing a career in wildlife in a story about how early exposure ignited a passion that transformed into the protection of lions and rural livelihoods in Tanzania. He tells his own tale of his metamorphosis from a young schoolboy who is scared of lions to the head of Human Wildlife Conflict Prevention for the African People and Wildlife Fund, and a Disney Conservation Hero.

My name is Elvis Kisimir. Born in Loibor Siret, and a Maasai by tribe, I love people, wildlife, and nature.

During my life I have experienced many changes in both the community and the environment that I live in. My father was a primary school teacher, and my mother was a nurse working at the health centre in the village of Emboreet who used to fly with doctors to different areas of the Maasai Steppe. When I was a young kid, sometimes if I cried, my mother would tell me, “Stop crying because the lions are behind the house.” I would stop crying immediately because I thought the lions might break into the house and take me. At that time the lions were very many, and I would hear them roaring almost every day: in the evening, at night, even early in the morning. When I met with friends to play together we always asked each other if everyone had heard the lions roaring in the night.

In 1991, my father stopped working as a primary school teacher. He took some courses on tourism and was employed as a tour guide at one of the companies in Arusha. During that time he worked very hard because he liked his new job, so I would see him a few times a year at most. I started boarding school at Simanjiro Primary School in Emboreet, and some days I would see him, in a big tourist truck or a Land Rover, stop by the school before going on to Tarangire through the Loibor Siret ranger post.

In December of that year, when the school was closed for Christmas, my father bought us a television. Most of the movies he bought were about wildlife  because he wanted to understand more about these animals, as this it related to his new job and he wanted his children to see how various wild animals lived. The two movies that I won’t forget are Masai Mara and Londolozi, and some of those images have stayed in my mind until now. In the Masai Mara film a girl was nearly killed by a lion when she went out to play tennis, but she was rescued by people from the house – this was the flashback that I had when my mother would tell me that the lions were behind the house waiting to break in and take me. I would sit close to my father and ask him many questions, so I came to understand many things concerning wildlife. When I asked about the girl in the Masai Mara film, he told me,“My son, this is not reality. We are living together with wildlife in our environment. You always hear lions roaring at night. They are not bad creatures unless you disturb them. According to our tradition, you can be harmed or even killed by lion if you are cursed by your clan. You are a man, and in a few years time you will become a warrior, son!”

I learned many things from my father — this was the starting point of my dreams. There was a hope in my life that one day I would be like him.

In 1998, my father decided to make Narakauo his main homestead, 15 kilometers from Loibor Siret centre. According to the Maasai tradition, the eldest son has the greatest responsibility in the family. I was the only son to my father, so I had to work hard to make sure the family was fine. I completed my high school education in 2006, after which I took over some of my father’s responsibilities, making it very difficult for me to go for further studies. The next year I got married, and here you can imagine that I needed to work very hard because the responsibilities were mounting in my day-to-day life.

In 2010 I was employed at the African People and Wildlife Fund heading the Human-Wildlife Conflict program for the organization, which has headquarters in Loibor Siret. I saw as the realization of my dreams because I had already created trust in the locals I worked with, which is very important to me. During the time I have been working under Dr. Laly and Charles, I have learned many things concerning wildlife and environment in general, and I want to thank them for all they have showed me by becoming a good local conservationist.

What I have found surprising and amazing in my work experience is when you find different reactions to incidents of human-wildlife conflict. You can find that 20 goats or sheep have been killed by hyenas and the owners don’t take immediate action, but if one juvenile lion has killed a single calf, immediately you find people gather together from different age groups. Everyone wants to listen, and it is a time when each person shows the rest how much he knows about lions. The lesson here I learned is this: The lion is the most important creature in the Maasai tradition.

There was one day in a conversation with Dr. Laly when she said, “If you hear lions roaring, fighting for territory, that means things are balanced: rainfall, grasses, breeding…” This idea made me think back to the time when I was around 12 years old and lions were roaring almost every day in our area, the rainfall was enough for everything that needed it to survive, and many areas were still wild, with not as much human activity as nowadays.

I have discussed this with some of the adults and elders in the communities I work in, and they agree, saying, “At that time lions were everywhere. Every year we would get enough rainfall, and we didn’t have to sell cattle to buy maize because we had a lot of milk to fill ourselves, with the livestock eating well and breeding every year.”

So my message to my fellow Maasai and the world in general:

“In a few years to come, the world will only see the rare lion spoor on the sandy soil. If the wind blows, then even those spoor will go.”

The meaning of this message is that for the small number of lions we have now, for locals and the world in general, if we are not serious about protecting them, we are going to lose all of them. Avoid conflicts with them, and don’t shrink their habitat by developing human activities in their territories. If we do that, hopefully in a few years to come the new generation will both hear and see the king of the Maasai Steppe roaring.

Lastly, if there are no lions, there are no warriors. Your lion is my lion. Let’s preserve lions for the generations and generations to come.