Welcome to the fundraising page for our brand new Better Bomas Project! Last year with your help we raised an amazing £1800 as part of boma strengthening scheme where we worked with KopeLion and gave them the funds required to strengthen 10 bomas at £180 each. Learn more here about how we are continuing this scheme into the future but working it into a bigger project overall by adding another conservation partner.
A boma is an enclosure where livestock are secured at night away from predators, they are traditionally made from thorns and branches. If hungry enough predators like lions, hyenas and leopards will break into bomas at night to take livestock.
We are developing this project one step further by adding another conservation partner. The vision of the Mara Predator Conservation Programme is a world–class conservation programme, providing evidence–based, practical management recommendations, solutions and ideas.
Founded in the beginning of 2018 the new programme was created by the Kenya Wildlife Trust and saw their two flagship projects the Mara Lion and Mara Cheetah Projects together. The idea was to create an ongoing permanent programme to monitor not just lions and cheetah but potentially many other predator species in need of conservation. The Kenya Wildlife Trust was founded in 2007 with the aim to provide funding for a variety of conservation and community development projects in key wildlife areas.
They work in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve and the surrounding conservancies. Currently based at the Tony Lapham Predator Hub situated inside the Olare Motogori Conservancy along the border with the Naboisho Conservancy. We have supported them since in 2019 and since we have sponsored two GPS collars and associated veterinary fees and two months worth of fuel for a lion monitoring vehicle.
We visited the Mara Predator Conservation Programme in 2020 and were able to meet the team at their HQ. We were told about the bomas that they build using recycled plastic poles and we were shown a replica that they had built at their HQ. The following information is taken from a blog on their website.
Recognizing the impact of livestock predation on both human livelihoods and predator populations, MPCP has actively sought solutions to address this issue. Our innovative approach involves constructing predator-proof bomas (livestock enclosures) in conflict hotspots using recycled plastic poles, thus ensuring sustainability and environmental friendliness. The recycled plastic waste used in these bomas is collected from various areas around Nairobi. By utilizing recycled plastic materials, we not only reduce the amount of plastic waste in the environment but also provide a practical solution that benefits both communities and predators. These predator-proof bomas, reinforced with chain-link and barbed wire, help protect livestock from predators and minimize conflicts between humans and wildlife."
This year we are developing this project to include the Mara Predator Conservation Programme by planning to raise $1500 (approx. £1200) to build one of these brand new recycled pole chain-link bomas. Photos of these bomas are shown below.
In the Ngorongoro Conservation Area due to it being a protected area and a national heritage site, all builds must remain traditional and be made from natural materials so unlike other areas where lions are present, they are not able to use barriers like chain-link fencing for added security. The people that live in this area are pastoralists, they rely on the land and their cattle to live. Every cow or goat taken by lions represents a loss of income and if this becomes a common occurrence communities will often understandably, want to retaliate to protect their livelihoods.
In Summer 2023 with thanks to our wonderful supporters and zoo partners, we raised an incredible £1800 to strengthen 10 bomas, which included strengthening by wooden poles or planting several layers of thorny bush, reinforcing bomas to make them harder for predators to break into. Through this new scheme we covered the cost of 80% per boma for KopeLion, while the boma owner pays the remaining 20%. Our 80% cost of £180 per boma was used to source the materials required for reinforcement and strengthening of these bomas. A strengthened boma seen on our visit in 2023 can be seen below.
The Safina Lion Conservation Fund has supported KopeLion since 2019, since then we have sponsored two GPS collars, associated transmission fees and the cost of sponsoring the strengthening of a boma in 2021. KopeLion are based in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), surrounding the famous Ngorongoro Crater. The crater itself is 102 square miles in size and is one of a few areas within the NCA where people are not allowed to live. The NCA interlinks the crater to the main Serengeti ecosystem and is vital to the connectivity of wildlife between these places.
KopeLion works to find solutions so that pastoralist communities and lions in the NCA can coexist and prosper together. Supporting better protection for both livestock and lions, reducing the conflicts, and providing tangible benefits from lion conservation are some ways that KopeLion is increasing the tolerance that people have towards lions, reopening corridors of connectivity and restoring a healthy landscape that sustains all forms of life.
In February 2023 Safina Lion Conservation Fund trustees James and Pete visited Tanzania to see lions in the wild and visited several national parks including the Ngorongoro Conservation Area where we met members of the KopeLion team who explained their work in more detail and showed us several different locations and the communities that they work with, they also showed us bomas that they had strengthened.
This year we are hoping to raise the funds required for 1 brand new boma with the Mara Predator Conservation Programme. In 2025 we hope to continue our support for KopeLion through our existing boma strengthening scheme.
By supporting efforts at homestead level we are working to try and prevent incidents before they occur, working together for the communities and the wild lion population to reduce conflict within the NCA and the Mara ecosystem. We hope that by helping to reduce conflict at homestead level, helping people and lions to promote coexistence.
We have recently heard from KopeLion that after a successful round of boma strengthening this year, lion collaring is now their new priority which we have now made our main fundraising concern for this year! Photo below shows a male lion named Laipangwa whose collar we sponsored the cost for who was collared between 2020 - 2022 through KopeLion. With your help we can work to protect and monitor another wild lion. We will be creating our own separate fundraiser for this shortly.
If you are a zoo that would like to get involved in any part of this project or our collaring fundraising and even the potential to strengthen a boma next year for just £180, please email info@safinalionconservation.org for more details on how to take this opportunity to get involved in lion conservation efforts working directly with local communities. Please visit our website for more details.
* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.
