In the past, the tribe hunted and killed lions that posed a threat to their community – but as the big cat’s populations dwindle, a group of conservationists are now helping Barabaig warriors protect the lions they once hunted.
Lions are listed as Vulnerable with a population of less than 40,000. Amy Dickman, director of the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, says lions have disappeared from over 90% of their historical range and their numbers have almost halved in the last 20 years. In Tanzania, an estimated 50% of the lion population lives in sub-Saharan Africa, but conflicts between lions and the people who live alongside them are common. Last year, three children searching for lost livestock were killed in a lion attack near the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in northern Tanzania.
“Unfortunately, such cases are not that uncommon,” says Dickman. “Especially in southern Tanzania, there is a very real risk of living alongside these animals. They pose a real threat to people and their safety.”
According to Dickman, there are about 800 lions in the wider Ruaha countryside, although exact numbers are difficult to give. All of the tribal communities that call the region home struggle to keep their balance with the lions they live alongside.
lion defender
For their better-known neighbors, the Maasai, killing a lion is an important rite of passage for young men. For the Barabaig, it is not as closely related to personal and cultural identity, but can confer status and wealth.
“When there’s been an attack on cattle, the barabaig go out and start a lion hunt, but it’s not just about retaliation,” Dickman explains. She says that the warrior who throws the first spear to hit the lion is allowed to take a paw as proof of the kill. “Girls will give them a lot of attention and they will be given cattle” — a major economic and cultural asset in the Barabaig community, Dickman says.
She is also Co-CEO of the conservation organization Lion Landscapes, which works to protect the big cat in Ruaha and also in Kenya and Zambia. An important element of his work is the recruitment of “Lion Defenders”. These are community members with refined tracking skills and good local knowledge.
“The Lion Defenders program was built around the idea of what it really means to be a warrior,” says Dickman. “To be a warrior is to protect your community, to be someone to count on, to be someone of high status.”
There are currently 18 Lion Defenders in the program, mostly young men between the ages of 18 and 20. Stephano Asecheka, who is from the Barabaig tribe, acts as an intermediary between these young men and the community. “Your job is to search the border areas for lion tracks and tracks early in the morning to tell the shepherds the safest grazing spots,” explains Asecheka.
“The challenges that Lion Defenders face come from some people in the community not supporting the project,” he says. “(They) refuse to give correct information about the lion hunters and even threaten them (the lion defenders) with being expelled from the community for destroying the tradition.”
According to Asecheka, taking tribesmen on tours to Ruaha National Park endears the community to the lions and helps them understand the animals’ value as a tourist attraction that can boost the local economy. “They feel like they belong and they get to know the right reasons why we protect the lions,” he explains.
He hopes lion populations will increase and that communities will adapt by building stronger homes and livestock pens. Lion Landscapes helps build fortified enclosures.
Asecheka says fewer lions are being killed thanks to the project. “We still have men hunting lions outside of the reserve,” he continues. “But such cases also fall with the awareness-raising that the project creates.”
cooperative conservation
The key to Lion Landscapes’ conservation work is changing how lions perceive barabaig, says Dickman. “Our work focuses on empowering local communities to benefit from conservation,” she explains.
Among the group’s innovations is a project that trains local people to set up camera traps. Villages earn points for every picture they take of a wild animal, with rarer animals and those at higher risk of human-wildlife conflict earning more points.
Groups of four villages compete to score the most points each quarter, with the winner receiving around $2,000 worth of health care, veterinary medicine and educational aid, while the other villages receive smaller amounts. Lion Landscapes says the initiative is generating valuable wildlife data, educating local people in conservation techniques, and by providing wildlife benefits on their lands, has resulted in some villages banning lion hunting.
Instead of associating the big cats with loss of livestock, wealth and life, Dickman says the barabaig now associate the animals with access to good health care, education and subsidized school meals.
Through his combined programs, Dickman says lion killings have decreased by over 70% in the core area where Lion Landscapes works. “The communities we work with really came on board as partners,” she says.