SIGHTINGS:
Some parts of the Xakanaxa area of the Moremi Game Reserve are getting dry and the wild dog are back to hunt!! At BOGA site a pack of eight were seen together, hunting impala. They were unsuccessful, but were seen a few times during this past month; on one occasion they were found hunting and finally successfully catching an Impala!
Lion were once again sighted a few times in May, as well as leopard. At Acacia Plains a male leopard was sighted on a successful impala kill! Once again large breeding herds of elephant with their young were seen by our guests, which is always lovely to watch.
Two beautiful cheetah were also found sleeping at third bridge, these seemingly timid members of the cat family make for great sightings, as they are no longer seen as often as so many of the other predators.
WILD LION POPULATIONS ARE PLUMMETING:
We have all heard the advice “don’t run!”, but who in their right mind would stand still with 250 kilograms of brute muscle charging at them on foot...even if our logic knows we could never outrun a lion!!?? It is so hard to imagine that this magnificent creature is staring extinction in the face, when we usually only hear about the rhino, wild dog, ground hornbill....
Thousands of tourists visit Africa’s game reserves each year to see this majestic cat in its natural habitat. Throughout history, lions have been seen as the ‘King’ of Africa; but the last of the Barbary lions of North Africa, known to be the heaviest of the lion species, who ranged from Morocco to Egypt was shot in 1922! These days one takes seeing lion for granted, as they seem so abundant in many of South Africa’s game parks and there are so many breeding facilities churning out lions for ‘rehabilitation’, yet there is actually growing concern!!
The problem does not lie in the fenced game parks, private reserves and rehab centres, conservationists are concerned about lions that roam freely in unfenced ‘reserves’, such as Botswana’s Okavango Region or the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem- the truly wild lions of Africa. While there are no exact figures, the population size of African lions is thought to have halved since the 1950s. The problem lies in the dramatic decrease in available territory (an estimate shows that they now occupy 20% of their historical range) and conflict with people living close to their territories poses the biggest threat. Their territories overlap with pastoral agriculturists and the lions end up at the wrong end of a rifle, poisoned bait or spear.
Adding to this, is the growing concern of illegal Asian trades focusing on lion bones due to declined Tiger populations, to supply the ever growing popularity of tiger/ lion bone wine, which could serve as further encouragement to the commercial lion-breeding industry, which the government in South Africa is trying to curb! This creates a negative image for a country’s tourism and nature tourism, its fastest growing industry. On a positive note, the Botswana Government compensate farmers for any loss of livestock, because it is illegal to shoot a lion in the country! We must add that we are very proud of working with and in such a nature conservation orientated country!
There are many organisations trying to protect the future of wild lions. Panthera and IUCN’s Cat Specialist group has brought together more than 50 of the world’s leading lion specialists to investigate possible solutions. They have started a project called Project Leonardo, which aims to find solutions to the two main issues- resolving human-lion conflict and finding more suitable areas for lion populations.
The relationship between conservation and tourism is becoming more important to ensure certain species’ survival in Africa. Perhaps the best way for us to help conserve one of our greatest cats, is by experiencing them in their natural environment. Who can ever forget hearing a low guttural roar of a wild lion, whilst sitting around a fire in the almost unchanged, ancient African bush?! Or the way the cat looks at you, a sharp, deep, yellow soul piercing stare, which reaches you primordial core!
If this interests you, please see:
Quote: “Lions have disappeared from over 80 percent of their historic range. They exist in 28 countries in Africa and one country in Asia, and are extinct in 26 countries. Only 7 countries: Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, are thought to each hold more than 1,000 lions.”
http://www.panthera.org/programs/lion/project-leonardo
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/big-cats/lion-decline-map/
