Lebutiama Update

We have supported our conservation partner KopeLion through the sponsoring of GPS collars since 2019. Last year (2024) we sponsored our third collar by donating £2,675 to cover the cost of the new GPS collar and the associated data transmission fees.

The collar ended up being deployed onto Lebutiama, he was born into the Lagunita Pride that resides in the Ngorongoro Crater in October 2020 and he was last seen there in April 2024. It was then believed that he had dispersed, given that it was the right time in his life and he was coming to normal dispersal age, where he had gone however was a mystery.

KopeLion are based in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), surrounding the famous Ngorongoro Crater. Many areas of the NCA are multi-use areas and the NCA interlinks the crater to the main Serengeti ecosystem and is vital to the connectivity of wildlife between these places, particularly lions. On the 26th September, the KopeLion team received a call that a lion had been found in a maize field, a very long way away from the NCA with a very heavy community presence. With help of the authorities the lion was captured, immobilized and moved back to the safety of the NCA and a collar was placed on him as the photo below shows.

KopeLion team having unloaded Lebutiama back into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

Lebutiama, as he was named after the area in which he was found, has been keeping a low profile within the NCA, looked over by the Ilchokuti within the area. We look forward to seeing how his story develops over time. His story so far shows the tolerance and interest of local people and the success of the systems now in place to try and handle these situations before conflict occurs. Photos included of Lebutiama as a cub, earlier this year and during his capture.

Over the course of the following months we continued to receive updates from KopeLion that Lebutiama has been doing well and continuing to roam around the villages of Olpiro and Misigiyo. He is doing well due to the available food currently around in this area, particularly buffalo. Balasi, KopeLion Ilchukuti had found remains of a buffalo calf carcass killed and eaten by Lebutiama, showing how close he is being monitored by the team. The photo below shows him in April 2024 with a map showing his movements that month.

Since his translocation back to the NCA late last year he has moved to the western side of the NCA in the Kimuma area of the Kakesio region where there is little conflict with people. This is along the border between the Maswa Game Reserve and the Serengeti. The team are hopeful that his constant presence there could indicate that there are females in the area.

He will be approaching 5 years old in October and has grown into a very impressive specimen. Lion life is tough as his body shows in the photos above but he appears to be doing well.

We are now delighted to share that in September 2025, a year after Lebutiama was first collared we have now donated another £240 to go towards the collar data transmission fees for another year.

Better Bomas Project Continues

Trustees James and Pete have had the brilliant opportunity to meet the teams at KopeLion in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in 2023 and the Mara Predator Conservation Programme team in 2020. When with KopeLion we spent the day with Roimen Lelya, Lion Monitoring and Conflict Officer. His mission was to immerse us into their work and the importance of coexistence. During the day we would visit four of their Ilchokuti. Ilchokuti means ‘guardian’ and Kope Lion employs 30, they are all local Maasai living in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area working to do anything to prevent conflicts from happening this includes warning local herders within their area about the presence of lions and treating wounded livestock. We met their Ilchokuti and we were shown bomas that had been reinforced by the team recently. In recent years as lion numbers have declined and the numbers of lions lost in conflict and retaliation have become even more valuable to the overall lion population, efforts have been made to try and decrease predation of livestock from lions and other carnivores.

In 2023, following our visit to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, we developed a new boma strengthening scheme in conjunction with KopeLion and we adapted a funding model that had already been agreed with a past donor. We donated £1800 for 10 bomas, this covered 80% of the costs per boma (£180) while the boma owner paid the remaining 20%. One thing that we learnt from talking to the team is that in the NCA, different to where we have previously supported in the community areas in the Maasai Mara in Kenya, because it is a protected area and national heritage site, all builds have to remain traditional so unlike other areas where lions are present, they are not able to use barriers like chain-link fencing for added security. This is an example of added complications that make conservation even more complex.

The photos below show one of these bomas before and after strengthening along with boma owner Nataana with her goats leaving the boma. We have now had feedback and a report back from all 10 bomas now works have been completed. As can be seen in the photos the wooden poles are thicker and more robust than the traditional boma with smaller gaps in between.

"KopeLion has given us more than a fence; they have given us a future. My cows are now safe, and we can sleep peacefully at night."

— Nataana, Boma Owner from Misigiyo, Ngorongoro Conservation Area

In 2024 trustees completed a new conservation strategy, as part of this new strategy the building and strengthening of bomas is seen as a vital tool to support local communities at homestead level to promote coexistence with the local lion population. Since then, we have included the Mara Predator Conservation Programme in our efforts to grow this project with a new focus of building new bomas rather than just strengthening and can be seen in the photo to the photo above, lower right, made out of recycled plastic poles and chain-link fencing. This has seen this effort evolve from the Boma Strengthening Scheme to our new ‘Better Bomas Project’.

After the initial success with KopeLion with the first 10 bomas strengthened in 2023/4 we planned in 2025 to continue this project. We have used the same model but with slightly increased costs, with the overall boma cost now at £300 with our 80% portion now at £240. The higher cost reflects the growing inflation and rising cost of materials required to build the boma. Despite this we still believe that for a relatively small cost it is a very important project to be involved in that can have a huge impact on carnivore coexistence.

We are proud to announce that in September 2025 we have sent KopeLion a donation of £2,400 to go towards the rebuilding/construction of 10 bomas in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

"As someone from this community, I know how important a safe boma is for families. This support helps us reduce conflict at home and keep lions safe in the wild. We are deeply grateful for making this possible."

— Ololotu Munka, Executive Director, KopeLion

As part of this project KopeLion staff will be monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of these new bomas to ensure that they are having the best impact possible. We will continue to share reports from our Better Bomas Project to our supporters as time goes on. We hope that by helping to reduce conflict at homestead level, helping people and lions to promote coexistence.

We would like to take the opportunity 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.