By Guy Pfeffermann

Livestock and wildlife live along the Ewaso River in Kenya’s northern rangelands, a region frequently affected by prolonged droughts. Livestock are existential for the Samburu people in the region. In the words of Lavias Lekuuk, a Samburu elder: “We are a pastoralist community. Cows are the most important to us. We do not do any other thing. We do not farm. We do not fish. Our relationship with our cows and goats is our livelihood, to provide for our families.” [i]

Samburu communities have coexisted with wildlife forever. Young warriors would, in the past, demonstrate their strength and power by killing lions, tracking them, and hunting them. That changed a long time ago and evolved to the point where warriors would only go out to track lions when their livestock were killed.

The communities are finding it increasingly difficult to coexist with wildlife as the threats and challenges to their livelihoods intensify. Dr. Shivani Bhalla, founder of Ewaso Lions, notes that, as a result, “Lions in Africa are in huge trouble. There are only about 20,000 lions left, and they have lost about 90% of their original range. Northern Kenya is a really hard area for them. They struggle to survive. There is not enough space for them, and the habitat is shrinking quickly. Most importantly, they do not have enough food. There are not enough wild prey for lions.”[ii]

Mobilizing Youth

Ewaso Lions was founded in 2007 when a Nairobi research student, Shivani Bhalla, met Jeneria Lekilelei, a young Northern Kenyan pastoralist,[iii] in an area where only eleven lone lions were left. He proposed a program called Warrior Watch. He and his friends would take their peers on a tracking expedition to find lions. However, instead of killing them, it was to protect both the lions and the livestock. From its very inception, community norms and input guided the development of Ewaso Lions.

The organization no longer focused solely on keeping livestock alive, but also included lion well-being. Jeneria Lekilelei said, “This is what I want to do. I want to be driving and looking for lions. I want to be with lions. I want to understand them. I want to see what they are really like. Because everything I know about lions is so negative, they keep killing my cows. But let me actually see lions in a natural environment, doing what lions do, hunting wild prey, sleeping, playing.” [iv]

Over the past 15 years, he has stood between lions and elders who were walking towards lions with knives, and he stood before them and said, “No, you cannot kill these lions.” What makes this approach continue to work after all these years is the fact that a warrior himself designed the program. Today’s generation of students and young herders – “the TikTok Group” – enjoys the Lion Kids Camp program. Children arrive very shy, scared, and quiet and a little bit suspicious, and they leave not wanting to go. To date, over 1500 children have taken part.

Reviving Women’s Role

“When you have meetings, our culture does not allow women to stand up when they are talking. Women are supposed to cook for men and bring water for them. Every right belongs to men. If women do not follow the men, they will be cursed. They believe that if you get cursed, you will die. You have no option; it is like a law. And it is very hard to change.”[v]

“Samburu women have a belief that many years ago, wildlife was taken away from them – giraffe walked away, which represents camels, zebras walked away, which represent donkeys, and it was moved away from them, and they needed to come back because it’s the women who take care of wildlife“.[vi]

When they saw what Jeneria and his friends were doing, Munteli Lalparasaroi, a Samburu lady,[vii] came up and said that they too wanted to be involved in lion conservation. She started the Mama Simba (Mother of Lions) program, another example of the community taking the initiative to create its own program and knowing what is best for them and their wildlife. Today, there are 21 Mama Simba groups. They focus on restoring the lion habitat.

Dotted beside the Ewaso River, one sees green clumps of bushes called “toothbrush trees” (Salvadora Persica). Samburu use the thorns as toothbrushes, hence the name. These “tree oases” are strategic “conservation areas” which are crucial to lion survival. Lions sleep under the bushes during the day, hiding from people, and hunt at night. Toothbrush trees are being displaced by mesquite, an invasive species that is taking over their habitat. Mama Simba groups have been removing mesquite one by one and are about to start a tree nursery for toothbrush trees.

They are also planting grass in very degraded areas, digging semi-circular berms which trap water. These are very effective and fill up quickly. The Mama Simba groups harvest the grass seeds and then plant them in other areas. More grass growing will support more prey for lions, thereby reducing conflict with livestock.

Today, there are more than sixty lions in the area, an increase from the eleven counted in 2007.

Improving Well-being

According to Dr. Bhalla: “Today, there is so much more computer time and meetings and phones. We forget about connecting to nature. I think of my childhood. I grew up in the mud. I mean, I used to play outside, and that just does not happen anymore. I feel that reconnection to nature is so important for our well-being. When you do connect to nature is when it makes sense and you want to do as much as you can to protect it in whatever way possible.”[viii]

Looking Forward

Ewaso Lions is spearheading an initiative to share knowledge about community-led conservation. In 2024, conservationists from around the world came to Samburu and spent a week sharing their experiences. Building on this, an open-source interactive website will serve to share information, including case studies from around the world. A framework document for community-led conservation is being drafted, all of which will inform an international conference to be held in Nairobi in November 2026.

Guy Pfeffermann was the Chief Economist of the International Finance Corporation from 1988 to 2006, and Founder and former CEO (2002-2017) of the Global Business School Network (GBSN). He is the President and Founder of Management Skills for Wildlife Conservation (MSWC), an NGO established in 2018. The MSWC supports a Leadership and Management Program (LAMP) in East Africa that equips community-based conservation practitioners with the practical tools they need to lead, manage and conserve more effectively.

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[i] Source: Light for Wildlife, a documentary film, forthcoming (2026)
[ii] Source: Podcast interview: https://forcesfornature.com/podcast/shivani-bhalla-ep-105/
[iii] See biographies at: https://ewasolions.org/our-team/
[iv] Podcast interview, ibid.
[v] Lavias Lekuuk, op.cit.
[vi] Dr. Bhalla, op.cit.
[vii] See biography at: https://ewasolions.org/our-team
[viii] Podcast interview, ibid.

Published on December 22, 2025

• The inclusion of women in Africa’s lion conservation efforts is essential to not only to protect the species, but to do so sustainably with the buy-in of nearby communities — which at times can have a tense and challenging relationship with the predatory species, say members of the Mama Simba, a program within Ewaso Lions made up of Samburu women in Kenya.
• The women say they remember how, when they were young, wildlife was in abundance, that their parents and grandparents lived alongside wildlife in harmony and that lions held a powerful place in their culture, identity and daily lives.
• “Everything changes when women are not asked to sit on the sidelines but invited to lead,” they say in this opinion piece.
• This commentary is part of the Voices from the Land series, a compilation of Indigenous-led opinion pieces. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

This series, Voices from the Land, brings together opinion pieces led and written by Indigenous peoples from around the world. Through these commentaries, we share our lived realities and reflections on urgent issues shaping our time — environmental destruction, our relationship with nature, and systemic injustice. We write from the heart of our communities, where the impacts of these urgent crises are deeply felt, but also where solutions are rooted. Through this series, we speak from our territories, and ensure our truths are part of the global conversation.

We, the Mama Simba (“Mothers of Lions” in Kiswahili) from Samburu, Kenya, have come a long way since we first approached the organization Ewaso Lions to become actively involved in its conservation work.

Since 2007, Ewaso Lions has been working to support human-lion coexistence in a region of northern Kenya, today home to nearly 60 lions. When they were approached by us women from the Samburu community in 2013, it was a sign that a shift was about to happen — we wanted to be decision-makers in conservation efforts that concern us.

However, with every new initiative comes a new challenge. Would we be accepted as decision makers? The program, Mama Simba, was built on the premise that if women, historically excluded from conservation decisions despite bearing its greatest burdens, were encouraged to lead conservation efforts, we could transform our community’s relationship with lions from conflict to coexistence. It acknowledged that lasting change requires shifting power, not just perceptions.

This sounds good on paper, but what about the reality on the ground? How could we be part of the decision-making process rather than silent witnesses watching our community’s heritage disappearing?

It has been more than a decade since Mama Simba was formed. Today, the acceptance of women in governance positions can be seen.

It proves that the inclusion of women in Africa’s lion conservation efforts is essential to not only to protect the species, but to do so sustainably with the buy-in of nearby communities — which at times can have a tense and challenging relationship with the predatory species. In villages like Sasaab, Naisunyai, and Remot, us women who once had no say in conservation decisions are now trusted leaders whom entire communities rely on for lion reporting and conflict prevention.

The Samburu community is patriarchal. For a long time, women had not been included in decision-making processes. Therefore, when we started making decisions on our own, it brought a significant change. Think about it. Women in rural areas interact with wildlife as much as men do as we fetch water and collect firewood as part of our livelihood. We see everything, and culturally we believe wildlife belong to us. Yet our voices were silent.

We wanted to see how we could come together and work towards being part of the solution. It was also about how we could not only contribute to a species that was killed as a retaliatory measure, but see how our families could also benefit in the conservation process. Community-led conservation is about letting the community take action from the beginning. Letting us take that initiative and it belonging to us makes it even more impactful.

A renewed relationship with lions

For the Mama Simba, we want our children and the coming generations to understand why nature is important. We remember how, in the past, the Ewaso Nyiro River flowed for a much longer period. “We broke its rules,” a member of the Mama Simba reflects, “and now it dries up.” We have seen how lions and other carnivores were often killed when they killed our livestock.

Munteli, the Mama Simba manager, remembers how in the past, the relationship between people and wildlife was defined by conflict: “When a lion killed livestock, the morans [male warriors] would track down the lion and its death would be celebrated.” Lions were feared, and they started disappearing from landscapes where they had called home and roamed freely. Women, then, could not give an opinion on this as they just observed.

But here is the thing. The Mama Simba also remembers how, when we were young, wildlife was in abundance, and our parents and grandparents lived alongside wildlife in harmony. Oral traditions among the Samburu community and other pastoralist communities who have lived alongside wildlife for centuries can attest to how wildlife was respected and valued. Clans and families have totems symbolized by wildlife. This continues, and as a result, conservation through community-led initiatives such as this seeks to bring Indigenous knowledge and science together to solve today’s conservation challenges.

For Mama Simba members, wildlife has a deep cultural meaning that shapes our daily lives. We believe that all wildlife has a purpose on Earth, with each species playing an important role in the landscape. Beyond their ecological importance, wildlife has vital economic assets, creating employment opportunities for communities that protect them. But even more crucially, wildlife has always been in Samburu oral traditions, stories, and spiritual beliefs.

Lions have a powerful place in Samburu culture. Traditional beliefs hold that when a lion roars at night, it signals good fortune coming to the community. Lions are so central to Samburu identity that their symbolism must be present even in wedding and initiation ceremonies. Even livestock predation carries spiritual meaning. If a lion kills livestock within the homestead at night, rather than far away, it is interpreted as a good omen of abundance, a sign that more livestock will come to the boma (livestock enclosure).

For generations, lions have served as symbols of Samburu identity and pride. While this cultural recognition was diminished in recent decades, not by choice, but as conflict intensified under the pressures of resource competition and exclusionary conservation models, retaliatory killings became common. The Mama Simba program has assisted communities in reclaiming this aspect of our heritage, recognizing that coexistence requires addressing not just attitudes, but the systemic inequities that fuel conflict in the first place.

The shift represents not an adoption of new values, but a reclamation of what was always ours: a view in which lions and people are bound together, each important to the other’s story.

The evidence

Ewaso Lions’ recent analysis of the Mama Simba program shows that the numbers tell a compelling story. Among us Mama Simba members, 94% strongly agree we feel more positive about lions today and that lions are vital to Samburu culture. Sixty-nine percent of Mama Simba members and 50% of non-members reported having avoided killing a lion or prevented retaliation in the last five years because of program interventions.

The Mama Simba program has grown far beyond our original mandate, developing a comprehensive approach to wildlife encounters that can be applied across species. Where once a lion sighting might trigger alarm and potential retaliation, it now activates an early warning network created by Mama Simba members working alongside the Warrior Watch program at Ewaso Lions which alerts livestock herders of a nearby lion.

This transformation has produced tangible results. Through our involvement in lion reporting and patrols, we are preventing both livestock losses and retaliations. The numbers speak for themselves: Mama Simba households lose an average of just 1.9 animals per year to lions, compared with 3.4 animals lost by nonmember households. Even more significantly, 44% of program members confirmed that timely reporting directly prevented livestock losses, early warnings that allowed herders to protect their animals before conflicts could escalate.

But our story extends far beyond conflict prevention.

As we moved through the landscapes on patrol, we began to see our home through new eyes. We recognized that the habitat itself was under threat, choked by the invasive species Prosopis juliflora, locally known as Mathenge, which was diminishing wildlife habitat and reducing the forage available for our livestock.

We responded by becoming environmental stewards. We are now constantly removing these invasive species from our communities while simultaneously planting indigenous trees like the toothbrush tree (Salvadora persica), which lions prefer for refuge.

Our habitat recovery work also includes grass reseeding and the construction of circular bunds, simple earthen structures that capture rainwater in this semi-arid region. These techniques allow grass to grow where bare soil once dominated, slowly but steadily rebuilding degraded landscapes.

Perhaps most tangibly, 94% of Mama Simba members have been directly involved in creating or maintaining water points such as pans and wells during dry seasons. These water pans, which can support between 50 and 250 animals each, benefit livestock, wildlife, and households simultaneously. By reducing competition for scarce water resources, we are addressing one of the primary drivers of human-wildlife conflict while building community resilience against drought as a result of climate change.

Our effort is far from over. It continues to evolve as new women join our program, new challenges emerge, and new opportunities arise.

But the foundation has been firmly laid for a different kind of relationship between people and wildlife, one built not on conflict and retaliation born from marginalization and inequity, but on coexistence, mutual benefit, and shared prosperity. A model where communities are not asked to sacrifice for conservation, but lead it and benefit from it. Where women’s voices shape decisions. Where conservation does not come from outside, but grows from within, as it has always been.

What began as an effort to protect lions has grown into a holistic model of community-led conservation that recovers habitats, protects livelihoods, and rebuilds the cultural bonds between our people and the wildlife with whom we share our home. Everything changes when women are not asked to sit on the sidelines but invited to lead.

Banner image: Samburu women part of the Mama Simba program. Image by Anthony Ochieng/Ewaso Lions.

Mama Simba is a program within Ewaso Lions made up of Samburu women in Kenya who are working to mitigate human-lion conflict and lead conservation efforts. Victoria Wanjohi is a wildlife conservation scientist and the director and storytelling lead at the TonyWild Foundation.

The series is produced by the collective Passu Creativa, with the support of Earth Alliance, and published by Mongabay.

Published on 6 November 2025.