Fuel Crisis Support for Saadani Lion Project

Trustees are delighted to share that we have continued our support of Monty Kalyahe of the Saadani Lion Project. In September our research grant of £1000 was sent to cover the cost of camera traps and in-the-field related expenses and materials for monitoring the lion population during his lion population survey taking place in September - December 2025. During this time Monty would also assess the viability of long term prey populations as well as engaging with local communities on surveys of how they live alongside the lions of this region. He submitted his full report for this period earlier this year which we attached and discussed in a previous blog - Report Submission From Saadani Lion Project.

After this, Monty got back in touch to explain his current situation. Following the global fuel crisis, there has been huge difficulties in being able to obtain and to afford fuel. Without fuel, Monty could not continue his important field work. Thanks to Monty for providing us more information below on how this affected his work in Saadani.

"The ongoing fuel shortages in Tanzania are expected to continue posing significant challenges to field-based lion research and conservation activities within the Saadani Lion Project. Reliable access to fuel will remain essential for conducting routine lion monitoring, ecological surveys, conflict response, and community engagement across the project landscape. However, limited and unpredictable fuel availability is likely to constrain the team's ability to implement planned field activities consistently.

For the Saadani Lion Project, these shortages will directly affect critical research operations, including vehicle-based monitoring of lion movements, data collection on lion populations and prey dynamics, and rapid responses to reports of human–lion conflict. Reduced mobility in the field could create gaps in long-term datasets and limit the project's capacity to respond effectively to emerging conservation challenges.

In this context, the support provided will be instrumental in maintaining continuity of both research and conservation efforts. The funds will enable the project to secure fuel whenever supplies become available and to prioritize essential field operations. This support will ensure that monitoring activities can continue, key research objectives remain on track, and conservation interventions are implemented with minimal disruption.

Beyond supporting logistics, this assistance will help safeguard the long-term integrity of lion research in the Saadani ecosystem during a period of national pressure on fuel access. It will allow the project team to maintain a consistent field presence, continue collecting critical data on lion ecology and behavior, and strengthen ongoing collaboration with local communities to mitigate human–lion conflict and promote coexistence. Ultimately, this support will help ensure that conservation action for lions in Saadani remains active, informed, and effective despite operational challenges."

"Thank you very much for your generous support and for arranging this contribution. Your assistance is greatly appreciated and will help us continue our planned conservation activities. We are grateful for your trust and partnership."

— Monty Kalyahe, Founder and Principle Investigator, Saadani Lion Project

Over the last couple of months trustees have been working to fundraise to be able to support Monty to secure fuel for his field vehicle. In June a donation of £500 was made exclusively for this reason and on the 28th June Monty was able to travel back to Saadani to continue his important work. We would like to thank in particular visitors of Linton Zoo who attended a lion talk on the 17th May, the Johnson family of Johnson's of Old Hurst Zoological Gardens for their own donation and to Lindsay Banks of Knowsley Safari for making this donation possible. We would also like to thank the Honeyguide Foundation for processing this donation.

We will continue to keep all of our supporters updated with the progress of this project and we look forward to seeing what the future holds.

MPCP GPS Collar Update

We are delighted to share that after a donation from our zoo partner Noah's Ark Zoo Farm we have now been able to send £1500 to sponsor the refurbishment of a GPS collar through the Mara Predator Conservation Programme which operates in the Maasai Mara in Kenya.

Over the years we have donated the funds to cover the cost of two GPS collars, one of which was used for a two year period on a male lion named "Ole Cook". By wearing the GPS collar the team are able to track him in real time, alerting herders to his presence if he wandered near community land. Niels Mogensen, Senior Programme Scientist of the MPCP showed us on a visit to the Mara in February 2025 how they use the computer programme 'Earth Ranger' to track and monitor the lions and other collared carnivores within the landscape and how other uses are alerted to their presence with each imaginary boundary having an alert system in place if one of the collared animals comes close or crosses.

The support of the Safina Lion Conservation Fund has played a vital role in our lion conservation efforts. By helping fund GPS collars and field monitoring, Safina has enabled us to track lions in real time, reduce human-wildlife conflict, and better understand the challenges lions face in an increasingly human-dominated landscape. Each collar provides invaluable information that helps us protect individual lions, support local communities, and ensure that conservation decisions are guided by sound science.”

— Niels Mogensen, Senior Programme Scientist - Mara, Mara Predator Conservation Programme

The photos above show Niels fitting a collar onto Ole Cook as well as some closer images of the collar itself during this process. The collar consists of a tough belt that fits around the neck, with the GPS unit on the top and the battery unit on the bottom. There are strict protocols in place regarding the ethics of the use of collars that are adhered to by the team to ensure that the collars do not affect the life or survival of the animal in question.

The GPS collars have also given the team the opportunity to collect and analyse important data on lion movement patterns over the two year period, shedding more light on lion behaviour along with other collared lions within the programme. This important research has recently been published by Niels Mogensen and his team and makes for very interesting reading.

We would like to thank the team at the Mara Predator Conservation Programme for allowing us to use the photos and text provided and we hope to keep you all updated soon now the collar has been sent for refurbishment on its progress.

KopeLion Boma Update

Our Better Bomas Project aims to work with two of our conservation partners the Mara Predator Conservation Programme in Kenya and KopeLion in Tanzania who work at opposite ends of the huge Serengeti-Mara ecosystem.

A Boma is an enclosure where livestock, generally goats and cows, are kept at night and they are traditionally made out of branches from thorny trees to keep them safely away from predators. Despite the deterrent, predators such as lions, hyenas and leopards will raid these bomas if they are struggling to find natural prey species which can cause a massive problem for the local communities. The people that live in these areas are pastoralists and rely on their livestock for income and food, every cow or goat taken represents a loss of income and if it becomes a common occurrence these communities will often retaliate through spearing or even use of poison.

The Better Bomas Project set up between Safina and KopeLion hopes that by supporting efforts directly at homestead level, we can work to try and prevent incidents before they occur, working to try and reduce conflict between the local communities and the wild lion population and to promote coexistence. In November 2023 we sent over a donation of £1800 to cover the cost of 10 bomas which were all completed in 2024. In 2025 bomas were seen as a priority again and £2400 was raised to cover 10 more bomas which we sent in September 2025.

The £240 allocated for each boma covers the cost for stronger materials and the labour costs for the KopeLion team. There is a personal incentive however as the boma owner in order to qualify for this support contributes towards 20% of the overall cost, to promote a sense of ownership and responsibility. KopeLion identified the Kakesio area as their target location as since April 2025 the area has recorded more incidents than any other with substantial livestock losses having occurred. Work commenced in December with 10 bomas initially identified for reinforcement and 8 of these have been completed which can be seen on the map below.

We have now also been sent these wonderful photos taken by Bobby-Jo Vial of these newly strengthened bomas which powerfully illustrate the significance of these bomas to the local people and the materials that have been used.

Among the 8 bomas competed we received a video message from boma owner Godwin Olemoyo from the village of Esere which can be seen below. His boma for his goats was badly damaged from the lions and hyenas that would regularly enter it overnight. With the help of the KopeLion team he has been able to rebuild his boma making a significant difference to his life and livelihood. Photos of his boma before and after can be seen below. The second and third photo show the boma with a taller and thicker fence which should work as a greater deterrent to the local predators. Including labour costs the renovation of Godwin's boma costs only £255 while some of the other bomas did not require quite so much work. This is a reminder that what we would consider a very small amount of money can really achieve something very important for those who have to coexist with lions in the wild and should work to prevent future incidents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc_lT2N3ImQ

We will continue to provide our supporters with updates and progress on the remaining 2 bomas. Happily as well, the work has come under slightly under budget which should now allow for more bomas to be completed as part of this project.

All of the zoo partners who contributed towards this project have received detailed reports and budgets from the KopeLion team on the progress of this project. If you are from a zoo in the UK or further afield that would like to support a lion conservation initiative that supports and promotes coexistence with local people for a relatively small cost, please do get in touch with us with the email listed on this website. The more support we recieve the more funding we can provide to these important conservation projects.

We would like to take the opportunity once again to thank Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens, Folly Farm Adventure Park & Zoo, Noah's Ark Zoo Farm, Linton Zoo, All Things Wild and Folly Farm Zookeeper Peter Bonser for their help in supporting our Better Bomas Project.