Counting Samburu's vanishing Lions

It is a matter of concern that in only two decades, Africa’s lion population has dwindled from 200,000 to 20,000 today.

For anyone coming to Africa, the big thrill is to see the ultimate king of the jungle, who combines strength with noble looks, who is invincible against all odds.

Strong dynasties in every civilisation stretching from the pharaohs of Egypt to the warrior Sikhs of the Punjab and from the Maasai morans to the Mayans, proudly identified with the lion for its legendary prowess.

Yet today, the lion’s future is threatened by habitat destruction as humanity spreads into the last frontiers in search of space to live.

For scientists and conservationists, it is a challenge to secure safe spaces for the cats, alongside the people who live in close proximity with them.

Without this partnership, the last of the wild cats will soon be assigned to the pages of history. A new study is addressing this conundrum.

“This is the first study on lions in the Ewaso ecosystem,” says Shivani Bhalla, the young Kenyan researcher working on her PhD project in the harsh but undeniably stunning drylands of Kenya’s north. “My study area comprises the Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Shaba National reserves, which are protected areas, and the non-protected area of West Gate. It covers an area of 1,000 square kilometres. The project is called the Ewaso Lion Project.

“The focus of my study is to compare the lion population in both the protected and non-protected areas,” adds the researcher, who looks too young and fragile to be roaming around looking for lions in what was once the inhospitable Northern Frontier District.

“We don’t know anything about the cats in this ecosystem because there has never been any research done before. My focus is to determine if the lion population outside the protected areas is unstable,” she continues.

Unstable populations are due to factors such as human-wildlife conflict, lack of prey and habitat whereas in the protected areas, the lion populations may be more stable because there is protection, prey and habitat.

Bhalla Ame to Samburu six years ago, armed with a bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences from the United Kingdom.

Back home, she had a short stint as a volunteer at the Kenya Wildlife Service before being offered a posting to Samburu to work for the Save the Elephant programme.

Travelling around the area in her capacity as an educational officer, she became intrigued with the big cats of Samburu.

There was nothing about them save for ad hoc literature, mostly from the writings of the legendary Joy Adamson who at the time of her killing in Shaba National Reserve in 1980, was working on returning Penny, the leopard, back in the wild.

Shivani enrolled for a master’s degree in 2003 to establish a baseline population of lions in Samburu and Buffalo Springs.