OUR PROJECTS
Here at the Safina Lion Conservation Fund we concentrate our work towards our Conservation Projects or our Education and Awareness Projects. Please find out more about our projects by clicking the links below.
Unlike much larger wildlife conservation that may be able to fund their own conservation projects and initiatives we do not have such funds available to do work on such a large scale. At the Safina Lion Conservation Fund we use the funds that we have to assist conservation projects that are already working in situ to protect lions. Trustees have created a Donation Checklist to ensure that any conservation project we assist fits our charitable objects. Generally we find it best to help smaller projects on the ground who work and employ local people to conduct research and protection work. We also try to donate towards tangible objects or money that goes towards the local people rather than contributing to the administration costs of larger charities. We want to know that all the money raised by the public makes as big an impact as it possibly can.
Our Conservation Partners
Here at the Safina Lion Conservation Fund we are proud to work with three different conservation partners in two different countries that work to protect and monitor lions in the wild.
Since December 2017 we are delighted to support the organisation Lion Guardians. Founded in 2007, Lion Guardians has trained and supported communities at seven different sites to successfully protect lions across the continent. In the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem of southern Kenya, our core site, we are proud to protect one of the continent’s few free-roaming and growing lion populations. We are proud to sponsor the salary of Lion Guardian Longoi Ole Parsitau in our first year and to have supported Kuya Kipampa from our second year. For more information on Lion Guardians please click on the title above.
After nearly two years of planning trustees made a donation to the Mara Predator Conservation Programme. Links were first made with the Mara Lion Project (which merged with the Mara Cheetah Project in 2018 to create the conservation programme) in 2017 when our chairman visited the Maasai Mara in September and learnt about the problems facing young male lions, more can be found about this first hand on our blog page here. Our donation of $3500 will go towards their 'Collars For Conservation' project and will cover the costs of a GPS collar and the veterinary fees to fit the collar. More information will be provided once the collaring has taken place. Further information on the MPCP can be found by clicking on the title above.
After over a year of planning trustees made a donation to Kope Lion in December 2019. Our donation of $3278 will go towards the purchasing of a collar and the transmission fees required to receive the data. Kope Lion works exclusively in the Ngorongoro multi use Conservation Area which is inhabited by people and wildlife. Male lions are often the ones that most commonly come into conflict with the local communities due to their nomadic nature, it is therefore important to track and monitor their movements to mitigate any potential conflict. More information will be provided once the collaring has taken place. Further information on Kope Lion can be found by clicking on the title above.
The Future Kings Project
Our collaring sponsorships with Kope Lion and the Mara Predator Conservation Programme have been grouped together as part of our new Future Kings Project. Working in line with our conservation strategy this project will see us able to work with more conservation partners towards the same goal of protecting and monitoring young sub adult male lions. To learn more about this project you can read our Future Kings Project Strategy if you look at the PDF link to the right.
Education and Awareness Projects
We believe that educating the public about the plight of lions is incredibly important. Many people are completely unaware of their plight and without this realisation it is hard for projects to gain proper funding. We want people to realise the state of one of the World's most iconic animals. The way to do this is by spreading awareness and we believe that there is one very easy way that we can help spread this message - by working with zoos. Both of these projects work hand in hand together working through collaboration with zoos.
It has always been the intention of our charity to work with zoos, the name of our charity is after-all named after a lioness born at a zoo in the UK. We believe that zoos are a brilliant place to inspire the public to take an interest in the plight of their wild cousins and that zoo lions are a very important resource to inspire and educate the public about wild lions. Many zoos fund conservation initiatives working in-situ and we are proud to work with zoos and assist them with their goal of wildlife conservation. For more information on our Ambassadors For The Wild project please click the link above
This project sees us combine the free educational material on our website and our links with zoos all over the UK. Our website currently hosts several pages of information about lion conservation, behaviour and husbandry open to all who have an interest in the subjects. There are also pages focusing on real sightings from the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya with all behavioural observations seen to help give people a real insight into the lives of lions in the wild. 2018 and 2019 have been great years to allow this project to grow. To visit the educational pages on our website please click the link above.
To celebrate World Lion Day several BIAZA zoos assisted us in handing out educational leaflets designed by the trustee team to help spread awareness about the problems facing lions in the wild. This leaflets aim to give people a brief offering of the information available on our website and are full of facts on lion conservation and their behaviour. One of our trustees also joined Linton Zoo to give free talks to the public about the plights faced by lions in the wild. It is hoped that by highlighting the threats they face and keeping lion conservation information in the public eye we can increase public awareness in lion and wildlife conservation.
