Counting Samburu's vanishing Lions

There are more chances of seeing the cats during the coolest part of the day — early morning and late evening. If not, then the lion tracks are a welcome sighting, which Risila is an expert on.

For the past few months, Shivani Bhalla has operated out of West Gate conservancy with the full support of the community. She winds up work in the conservancy shortly before moving on to Shaba.

By 8.30 am, with the sun in full spate and temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius, it’s time to head back to camp, enter the day’s sightings, tracks and examine the cat scats found.

The lions’ scats are carefully stored in plastic bags to be examined to see what passes through the animal’s digestive system.

“In March this year, there was a lot of conflict in the conservancy,” says Raphael Lekuraiyo who in charge of the conservancy. “There were several cases of lion predation on livestock, though we suspect most were by leopards and hyenas. The hyena is an opportunistic predator and will kill even during the day. But the leopard will hunt mostly during the night.

“There is a proliferation of firearms in the area as the Samburu and Somali fight over livestock. One consequence is that when livestock is killed by the cats, people shoot them with their guns,” continues Lekuraiyo.

“We now have awareness programmes about how and why we need to conserve the wildlife, how to improve bomas and protect livestock from predation. But the idea of the conservancy started in 2004 with Ian Craig of Lewa Downs. We were just using our land for grazing our livestock. Ian said that the community could benefit more if we conserved the wildlife on the land. At first, we were wary. We thought it was a way of taking our land away from us.

“But now we see the benefits. We have a small exclusive lodge built by investors, thereby earning revenue from the tourists. Jobs have been created for the community, our women make jewelery and there are other socio-economic benefits.”

Lekuraiyo continues: “So we want to see more research, the protected area increased and more tourists visiting.”

The lion is a keystone species. If it were to disappear, the ecosystem would be thrown completely out of sync. The prey species would increase dramatically, which would mean competition for browsing between livestock and wildlife.

“The predators are crucial for maintaining an ecosystem,” stresses Bhalla.

But even with protected areas, there are issues of misguided construction. Although tourism is a lucrative trade and the revenue earned is vital for conservation, it is a double-edged sword.

Investors with little understanding of wildlife habitats build lodges, and in many cases, huge structures in places that are best left to wild animals.

Today, there are a number of lodges on what were once elephant migratory corridors, forcing the megaherbivores to look for alternative routes. In many cases, the elephants are forced to pass through farms, destroying everything in their way.

In other cases, lodges have been built in lion breeding areas directly affecting the survival of the pride and the species at large. The pride either moves out or does not breed at all. Lions are also very territorial.