Throughout Kenya, lions cross over the borders of protected areas and move into unprotected rangelands and communal lands in search of food and space. Once outside of protected areas, a lions' risk of conflict with humans skyrockets. Panthera has partnered with the Living with Lions (LWL) project to conserve the lion in Kenya by working across the country on the following initiatives to ensure lions remain safe outside of national parks and other protected areas:

Kilimanjaro Lion Conservation Project
In southern Kenya we are monitoring lion populations in a critically important wildlife area in which predators have been drastically reduced in recent years due to conflict with humans over livestock losses.

Lion Guardians
Developed by Leela Hazzah and Laurence Frank in southern Kenya, the Lion Guardians are Maasai warriors who are employed to monitor lions in their area and most importantly, assist their community in resolving issues with lions. They respond to complaints about carnivores and help people to resolve them without having to resort to poison or spears. Today, we have two Lion Guardian projects in southern Kenya. To learn more about the Lion Guardians check out their blog.

Laikipia Predator Project
In Northern Kenya we are introducing and monitoring a new management regime for the commercial cattle ranchers and local Laikipiak-Maasai pastoralists to help reduce conflicts with lions.

Masai Mara Predator Project
With buy-in from the local pastoralists we are reinforcing their nighttime livestock enclosures, called bomas, and improving livestock husbandry programs. In an innovative and new program we are also training tour guides in basic lion monitoring to assist with our lion monitoring project and empower tourists to become involved in lion conservation.

To learn more about Living With Lions, click here.

Read Panthera's Lion Report Card: The State of the Lion.