Man-Eating Lions in Tunduru

Our final week in southern Tanzania was filled with village meetings to learn more about local conflicts with lions, particularly in terms of attacks on people. We were given an important overview of the conflict by district wildlife officials in Tunduru. Mr. Eberhard Halla, a community development officer, then accompanied us on visits to local village communities to get an on-the-ground perspective of the types and causes of the problems.

We were very impressed by the turnout at the village meetings. In some cases, we sat with more than 400 village members, hearing directly from them about their grievances with lions and other wild animals. It was at times very sad to listen to, particularly when attacks on humans were described, though we are thankful to the people for being so open and forthright with us.

According to the villagers, lion attacks on people and livestock occur most often during the rainy season, right around harvest time when people are out guarding their farms from crop-raiding animals. At this time, the grass is also long, and it becomes much easier for a stealthy lion to sneak up on someone and attack him or her. One particularly recurrent comment that alarmed us was that many people and NGO’s apparently visited the villages to talk and learn about various issues, but they rarely heard from them again. We are now working on follow-up letters to all the villages we met with to outline our next steps clearly to them. In these letters, we’ll also include pictures of our meetings, generously provided by Catherine once she has had the time to print them!

Our final night in the Selous-Niassa ecosystem was spent on the Ruvuma river, which forms the border between Tanzania and Mozambique. We fell asleep to the grunts of hippos coming from a pool just around the bend. Then, we began the long drive back to Arusha, where we were happily greeted by Nandi and Scooby, our two great danes!

— Laly

The Likuyu Community Based Conservation Training Center

Greetings from the PPF team. While we drafted this blog five days ago in Tunduru, a district bordering the great Ruvuma river that forms the boundary between Tanzania and Mozambique, we have not had access to the internet until now. For the last two weeks, we have been exploring the Selous-Niassa Wildlife Corridor which links the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania with the Niassa Game Reserve in Mozambique, forming one of Africa’s largest transboundary conservation areas.

We were warmly welcomed at the Likuyu Community Based Conservation Training Center. This is the only training center for community-based conservation in all of Tanzania. Currently, the center conducts two courses, one for village natural resource committee members and the second for village game scouts. Located just 27 kilometers from the southern boundary of the Selous Game Reserve and within a local wildlife management area, Likuyu is well positioned to train community members about wildlife and natural resource conservation.

During our stay at Likuyu, we toured the training facilities, participated in village meetings and undertook several long exploratory hikes to document the presence of local wildlife populations. We were fortunate to witness two wild dogs hunting in the early morning mist, many elephants at close distance and lion, leopard, hyena, serval and civet spoor. While we arduously tracked a sable antelope herd, they managed to just keep ahead of us in the steep miombo woodland. By participating in local village meetings, our traveling companion, Catherine Picard, (Ph.D. student Yale University), was able to learn a great deal about local efforts to conserve wildlife as well as international efforts to establish the Selous-Niassa Wildlife Corridor.

Over the following week, the PPF team explored the eastern half of the Selous-Niassa Wildlife Corridor which is a hotspot for human-wildlife conflict. We also met with wildlife officials and several local villages to learn more about the famed man-eating lions of Tunduru. In our next posting, we will update you on this!

— Laly, Charles and Catherine

Celebrating Summer in the Selous

Greetings from Morogoro! The PPF Team has just emerged from four fascinating days in the Selous Game Reserve, one of the world’s largest protected areas. Upon arrival at the reserve boundary on Sunday, August 6, we received word that a new member of the PPF Family had arrived! Summer Loring Lichtenfeld was born at 4:20 am EST. Laly is now a very proud and happy aunt. In what must surely be an auspicious sign, that very evening we watched an endangered African wild dog chase an impala through the middle of our camp.

The team spent the following days learning about existing research activities and conservation strategies within the Selous Game Reserve. We were also fortunate to spend time with several local communities, learning more about their successful efforts to establish a community wildlife management area on the edge of the game reserve. This was particularly valuable to Catherine who is planning to study these community initiatives as part of her doctoral research.

This trip has provided us with a greater understanding of the miombo woodland ecosystem and the strategies and needs required to ensure its continued conservation. We all feel very fortunate to have had this opportunity. And, we are grateful for the warm welcome we received and the generous time spent educating us about the region. For us, there was perhaps no better way to celebrate Summer than in the Selous!

— Laly, Charles and Catherine

We’re Off!

Greetings from Dar es Salaam from the PPF team. On 4 August, we departed Arusha to begin our travels to southern Tanzania where man-eating lions are a significant problem for local communities. We are accompanied by Catherine Picard, a doctoral student from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies who is interested in exploring the region as a potential site for her PhD research.

The 8-hour drive from Arusha to the port city of Dar es Salaam traverses a wide diversity of habitats ranging from the Pare to the Usambara Mountains, through colonial cashew nut plantations until you finally arrive on the shores the Indian Ocean. The last few days have been a flurry of activity preparing the vehicle and gathering all the necessary supplies for the long journey ahead. We are very thankful to have been hosted by PPF friends Hamish and Tanya Hamilton during our stay here in Dar es Salaam. 

We look forward to providing you with another update from the field as soon as we have access to the internet again.

–Laly, Charles and Catherine

Beginnings

Greetings from Tanzania! I am very happy to make my first entry on the Carnivore Chronicle blog, a communication network of the People & Predators Fund. This is a very exciting time for us at PPF. We have just launched our new website at www.people-predators.org. For the website, I must thank Henry Karongo of Yale University. Henry is an outstanding student who has dedicated many tireless hours, day and night, over the last three weeks to give us our brand new look!

At PPF, we are having a very busy and productive summer, working with four wonderful Yale students in total. As I write, Christa Anderson is finishing up her data entries from her summer spent collecting livestock predation information with PPF’s Saruni Moses. Meanwhile, Heather Arrowood is negotiating a lift back to the Maasai village of Emboret where she is conducting research on local attitudes toward Tarangire National Park.

Charles, a.k.a. Buddy, and I will be sorry to say goodbye to Christa, Henry and Heather soon, as will our two great danes, Nandi and Scooby. But, I will at least see them in October when I am in the states. In the meantime, we are gearing up with Catherine Picard, a Yale doctoral student, to head to the remote lands of southern Tanzania where we will begin to investigate the scary accounts of lion attacks on humans. We will be gone for the entire month of August. I only hope I have internet access from time to time, so I can keep up with this new blog and share some of our experiences along the way!

- Laly