In early 2022, the PAW team spent an extraordinary time in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) in northern Tanzania with partner grantee, KopeLion. To say our time spent with Sally Capper, Ingela Jansson, William Ole Seki and the team on the ground was both educational and illuminating would be an understatement as we were able to see first-hand how critical the work being done in the field is to lion / local community co-existence.
While many challenges remain in the ecosystem, it was energizing to see the passion the KopeLion team has towards their work and the deep trust they’ve been able to build with the Maasai communities that call the Ngorongoro home.
This trust has been hard won through mutual respect, as well as the success of their ilchokuti program, whereby a representative from a local village is tasked with being the liaison between their community and the conservationists working to track / protect lions. These community guardians play many roles, but first and foremost is to keep their community safe by building awareness of lions in the area and teaching strategies for avoiding dangerous situations and loss of valuable livestock.
Ilchokuti and the KopeLion conservation team track lion prides operating in the NCA through radio telemetry. The PAW team got to experience this process first-hand as a pride of lions was eventually located in an area of thick vegetation using increasingly frequent ‘beeps’ emitted from the collar of one younger male which is picked up by a portable antenna. By locating this pride, the KopeLion team were able to warn nearby bomas (villages) of the lions’ presence and advise increased vigilance when out herding cattle.
The work KopeLion do in the Ngorongoro is ensuring that lions continue to thrive in this critical world-heritage ecosystem while also maintaining the livelihood of the local Maasai who have called the area home for centuries.
