Jeneria Lekilelei grew up as a Samburu warrior in northern Kenya, where a young man’s job was to guard the family’s livestock, sometimes against lions. Today he uses the same tracking skills to keep those lions safe. Daily Maverick reports on how his programme, Warrior Watch, has changed the relationship between people and big cats across this largely unfenced landscape.
Lekilelei met conservationist Shivani Bhalla, founder of Ewaso Lions, in 2008 and set up Warrior Watch two years later. Warriors patrol on foot, help fit GPS collars and look into attacks on livestock, while the Mama Simba women’s group, led by Munteli Lalparasaroi, and local children play their own parts. Since the work began, the number of lions living alongside these communities has risen from 11 to 60.
Living with lions is still hard, and Bhalla stresses empathy for herders who lose animals. The story is told in a new documentary, Pride of Samburu, made by the National Geographic Society’s Impact Story Lab with Kenyan filmmakers, which puts local people at the centre of lion conservation.
Source: Daily Maverick