Welcome to the fundraising page for our 2025 fundraising campaign to support our Better Bomas Project. This project started initially as a boma strengthening scheme through our conservation partner KopeLion. We donated £1800 to strengthen 10 bomas at £180 each. This was through a model previously adopted where KopeLion pays for 80% of the boma and the owner pays for the remaining 20%, we covered the cost of the KopeLion portion for each boma.

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.

Last year we turned the scheme into the Better Bomas Project and we supported another conservation partner, the Mara Predator Conservation Programme by sponsoring the cost of a brand new boma constructed from chain-link fencing and recycled plastic poles.

About KopeLion

The Safina Lion Conservation Fund has supported KopeLion since 2019, since then we have sponsored three GPS collars, associated transmission fees and the cost of sponsoring the strengthening of 11 bomas since 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. We have built up an excellent relationship with the team at KopeLion over the last 6 years and we are determined to continue our support for the wonderful work that they are doing.

Feedback from 2023

We now had a completed report and pictures from KopeLion detailing the boma strengthening that was carried out in 2023/4 from the £1800 donation that we made in Summer 2023. One particular case study was sent to us of Nataana, a local from Misigiyo Village, Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Nataana was widowed 20 years ago whose cattle boma was built out of the materials she had after relocating closer to her cousins which was vulnerable to attacks from predators including lions. Recognising the need for a robust solution for Nataana and her family she was included by KopeLion into the latest group to require boma strengthening. Nataana gave the following quote showing the importance that this kind of work has on the lives of the local communities.

Our Plan For 2025

Building on the already successful scheme we have agreed with KopeLion, we have established a slightly increased amount of money per boma which takes into consideration inflation and the costs involved in building as opposed to just strengthening. This year will see the overall boma cost being £300, with the amount we will be sponsoring being £240.

If you are a zoo that would like to get involved in this project for just £240, 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.

Thank you to KopeLion for use of story and photos in this campaign.