Lions in the wild are truly iconic creatures but the sad truth is their numbers have dwindled very quickly in the past two decades. The thought of future generations who may never see them living in the wild is unthinkable. There are probably less than 20,000 lions left in the wild across parts of eastern and southern Africa. Loss of habitat and more land for villages and farming is consistently growing. When farming encroaches on lion territory then there is the problem of lions killing livestock. Over 100 lions a year are killed in Kenya in response to livestock losses.

LionAid's Predator/Livestock Damage Mitigation Project in Kenya was designed to stop retaliatory killing of wildlife by rural communities. The charity has developed the project with a Maasai village in Meureshi on the edge of Amboseli National Park. The villagers have given their their full support to the project. Full approval by the Kenya Government has also been given to this scheme.

The aim is to ensure enclosures (bomas) provide adequate protection for the Maasai's  livestock from predators. There are 12 bomas in the village and their fencing needs strengthening to keep predators out. They also need to be adequately equipped with flashing solar lights on the fencing which also frighten potential predators away if they come too close to the boma boundaries. The project also includes a compensation scheme for any loss of stock though losses have shown to be very low so far in its experimental stage.

Now is the time to extend the project to its full capacity of bomas in the Meureshi village and allow the village to run the scheme itself. This will help protect the community and encourage healthier populations of wild life by co-existing with livestock. It also opens the door for future sustainable employment for the community from eco-tourism and conservancy ventures. 

LionAid have set out to raise £65,000 to help set up the project for the Maasai village. I have set my target at £6,500 which might sound a lot of money to raise but I am willing to try to achieve this goal. It's definitely worth helping the villagers and their livestock. The lions also need this scheme to help them survive in the wild.

 At the end of the trek we will be visiting the village using this scheme in Merueshi, Kenya. I am sure we will have many photos and videos taken on the trek. Happy to contact those who would like to see what we achieved with photos and videos on the Mt Kilimanjaro Trek and what is going on in the Maasai village in Meureshi to date.

I would like to point out that every penny of the donations I receive will go straight to the LionAid charity. I have paid for all of my travel experience and expenses from my own pocket. 

Thank you for reading this. Your support is much appreciated when time is running out for lions in the wild.

Helen Seddon