Short abstract

Tanzania is one of the most important lion strongholds in Africa, but human-lion conflicts are increasing and threatening lion populations and people safety.

Project description

Challenge
Tanzania is one of the most important lion strongholds in Africa, but human-lion conflicts are increasing and threatening lion populations and people safety. We therefore need immediate resolutions to halt the lion killings and foster human-lion co-existence. Human-wildlife coexistence lies at the core of the SOKNOT (Southern Kenya Northern Tanzania) area, which covers 134,000km2 and about 15 million Masaai. It is one of WWF’s priority conservation areas in Africa and aims to restore wildlife migratory corridors and dispersal areas between the two countries. This conservation stronghold is paramount for the future of lions in Tanzania.

Approach
Leiden has a long history of working on lions, including GPS tracking in Kenya. We further develop current GPS technology to pave the way for a new generation of lion collars to better understand lion ecology in Masaailand. This allows us to better understand how lions move through and use human-dominated areas. Combined with the other three objectives, this is expected to contribute towards solutions for human-lion conflict and sustainable coexistence to benefit the well-being of both people and lions.

Research Question

Objectives:
1) Identify human-lion conflict hotspots in SOKNOT
2) Evaluate effectiveness of current mitigation strategies.
3) Map people’s perceptions to human-lion coexistence
4) Understand changes lion ecology in shared landscapes

• kenya
• lions
• tanzania

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