Lion conservation – Ewaso Lions

Jamani: A Success Story

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It was still dark when eight-year-old Jamani Lororua slipped out of his home and started walking.

He had no escort, no map, and no phone. What he had was a memory: a single glimpse of our main Ewaso Lions Camp, pointed out to him from a bus window weeks earlier as we drove him home after five unforgettable days at Lion Kids Camp. That one glimpse was enough. By five o’clock that morning, Jamani had set off on foot, determined to find his way back.

A 33-Kilometre Walk Through Lion and Elephant Country

The journey was not a short or easy one. Jamani walked 33 kilometres (about 21 miles) through Westgate and Meibae Conservancies, a landscape shared by elephants, lions, and other wildlife, completely alone. For a grown adult, that walk would require preparation. For an eight-year-old boy, it was an extraordinary act of courage, determination, and trust in a place that had changed how he saw the world around him.

When Jamani finally arrived, dusty and tired, but with a big smile on his face, he told us simply that he was on his way back to Lion Kids Camp, the place he had spent five days falling in love with, learning, and imagining a different future for himself and the wildlife around him.

What Five Days at Camp Had Given Him

Left: Jamani with a smile during his first Lion Kids Camp playing the Ewaso Lion’s Conservation Game. Right: Jamani during his first wildlife safari.

Jamani had not forgotten a thing. He recounted wildlife tracking, the food chain, and the principles of coexistence with the kind of clarity that comes from genuine understanding, not memorisation. And then, unprompted, he told us exactly what he intended to do differently because of what he had learned:

“When I see lions, I will take our livestock away and give the lions space. And I will not kill dikdik again.”

It is hard to overstate what those two sentences represent. Jamani comes from a community where livestock and predators frequently come into conflict, and where hunting dikdik is common among children. That walk said everything. In finding his way back to Lion Kids Camp, he was already showing us a shift not just in knowledge, but in values and behaviour, the very outcome conservation education hopes for, achieved in real time, by a child.

A Story That Gives Us Hope

Jamani was safely reunited with his family. But in many ways, his journey is only just beginning. His walk is a vivid, almost unbelievable, illustration of what Lion Kids Camp can do: not simply teach children facts about wildlife, but instill in them a genuine sense of connection, responsibility, and love for the natural world around them, strong enough that an eight-year-old would set out alone, before sunrise, through wildlife country, just to return to it.

We made Jamani a promise that day: we will welcome him back to the next Lion Kids Camp.

His story reminds us why this work matters, and gives us real hope for what a new generation of conservationists, even the very youngest ones, can become.

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A Mega Launch, Two Reunion Camps, and Seven Lion Kids Camps

The Lion Kids Camp Is Officially Open

Nine hundred people showed up. Nine hundred people who believe that communities hold the future of conservation gathered to mark a historic moment for Ewaso Lions. The official opening of the newly upgraded Lion Kids Camp.

The ceremony was officiated by the Governor of Samburu County, H.E. Hon. Jonathan Lati Lelelit, EGH, and drew representatives from the Kenya Wildlife Service, Samburu County Government, conservation partners, 11 community conservancies, local schools, and a vibrant community audience; women’s groups, warriors, elders, youth, and young children.

The Governor’s words set the tone for everything that followed:

“Ewaso Lions has made a remarkable contribution to employment and conservation in Samburu County. They have employed more people than I ever imagined possible, reaching even those who have never had the opportunity to set foot in a classroom. This is the true power of community-driven conservation, transforming lives while protecting wildlife.”

Speeches from community elders, parents of children who have attended Camps, and the Ewaso Lions team reminded everyone why this programme exists and why it matters.

Two Reunion Camps

Ewaso Lions’ goal in 2026 is to reach 500 children through the Reunion Camps.

So far, we have held two Reunion Camps, bringing back a combined 97 alumni from Kalama and Westgate Community Conservancies, young people who first attended Lion Kids Camp between 2015 and 2021. Some were just children then.

For many, the biggest surprise on arrival was finding a completely upgraded Camp with brand-new facilities. The excitement was unforgettable. But these alumni were not returning for the memories alone. Even before coming back, they were already living what they had learned. Kids from Lerata in Kalama Community Conservancy had been alerting fellow herders to carnivore tracks, actively preventing livestock predation in their communities, proof that the Camp’s lessons had taken root and grown.

This cohort now includes young conservation leaders working at Sera and Kalama Community Conservancies, Sasaab Lodge, and Larsens Camp; interns with Save The Elephants; college students; and recent high school graduates.

The Reunion programme includes career guidance, impact measurement, wildlife safaris, the Conservation Game, and Conflict to Coexistence sessions. Community elders spoke to the alumni, and rangers deepened their understanding of conservation on the ground.

One alumnus put it simply:

“We are grateful for the chance to reconnect, reflect, and celebrate how far we have come, and how conservation has shaped our lives and careers.”

Coming back to Camp after years away was special in itself, a chance to reconnect with each other, with the landscape, and with the values that Lion Kids Camp had planted in them long ago. From children who once sat wide-eyed on their first wildlife safari to conservation professionals now shaping the future of conservation in northern Kenya, this is what long-term impact looks like.

Seven Camps, Hundreds of Lives Changed

Between February and June 2026, we have held seven Lion Kids Camps at our upgraded Camp, reaching livestock herding children and students across northern Kenyan conservancies. Every child who attends lives alongside wildlife, and the results speak for themselves.

From Blank Slates to Conservation Thinkers

It was clear from the start that for many of these children, the Camp would be their very first introduction to conservation education: 67% of Kiltamany (Kalama Community Conservancy) children, 83% of Nasuulu (Isiolo) children, and 100% of Ngare Mara (Isiolo) children had never received any formal teaching about wildlife or conservation before attending. The Camps changed that profoundly.

Children’s ability to identify resident mammal species improved significantly in every cohort; 75% to 86% of attendees scored higher post-Camp. Carnivore identification by tracks, signs, or sounds improved even more sharply, with 76% to 92% of children achieving higher scores, and average scores rising by as much as 68% from children in Westgate.

The most striking shifts came in threat awareness. Children who had barely considered threats facing wildlife left Camp able to name habitat loss, drought, poaching, encroachment, and pollution, and explain why and how they happened.

Turning Fear and Indifference into Appreciation

The Camps consistently shifted how children feel about wildlife and carnivores. At Kiltamany, the proportion who believed that living with wildlife brought more benefits than problems jumped from 30% to 100%. At Nasuulu, 92% agreed post-Camp, up from 80%. Across all Camps, 100% of children ended the week saying that killing wild animals was ‘very bad’.

Attitudes towards lions improved everywhere. Post-Camp, 96–100% of children across all sites said that when they think of a lion, it is something they ‘like’ or ‘strongly like’, including among herding children who had previously experienced lion attacks on their livestock.

Children Who See Themselves as Stewards

One of the most meaningful shifts was in how children understand their own role. At Ngare Mara, the proportion who considered themselves responsible for conserving carnivores rose from 4% to 36%. At Westgate, responsibility for protecting livestock from predation went from 0% to 100%. Across all Camps, more children left understanding that they could act on conservation today in their home areas.

Practical Tools for Coexistence

Every Camp dedicated significant time to practical coexistence skills. Children left knowing how to use scarecrows, guard dogs, fire and lights, bells on livestock, and strengthened bomas to protect their animals, directly reducing the retaliatory killings that threaten carnivore populations across the region.

What the Children Said

At Nasuulu, 100% of attendees said they enjoyed the Camp and would return if given the chance. At Westgate, 96% strongly agreed the Camp had improved their knowledge of local wildlife, and 88% strongly agreed their attitude towards wild animals had improved.

The data is compelling. But it is the stories that stay with you: the Kiltamany children who woke at 4 am, buzzing with excitement before their first-ever wildlife safari; the Ngare Mara group who spotted 8 lions sleeping in a thicket and could not stop talking about it; the Westgate students taught the names of individual lions by the Ewaso Lions field team, who left feeling like they personally knew the pride.

Next Steps

Ewaso Lions has now run over 53 Lion Kids Camps since launching the programme 13 years ago, in 2013, providing more than 1,560 children across four counties with a fully immersive wildlife experience. The Reunion Camps have shown that the impact does not stop when children go home; it compounds, year after year, as they grow into conservationists, researchers, guides, rangers, and community leaders.

This year’s mega launch showed that conservation is not the work of a few. It is the work of a community. And the community showed up, 900 strong, to prove it.

Thank You

None of this would be possible without the generosity of those who believe in this vision. Our deepest thanks to:

Conservation Partners: Samburu County Government, Kenya Wildlife Service, Westgate Community Conservancy, Kalama Community Conservancy, Nasuulu Community Conservancy, Nakuprat-Gotu Conservancy, Samburu National Reserve and Buffalo Springs National Reserve.

Financial Supporters this year: Zoo Atlanta, Auckland Zoo, Oakland Zoo, Capricorn Foundation, Safarilink Aviation, Diann and her friends, Norina Weiler, and individual donors who responded to the 2025 end-of-year appeal.

Your collective contributions have been instrumental in delivering conservation education across Northern Kenya, inspiring and nurturing young conservation leaders.

Images by Simatwa Ngachi & Ewaso Lions

From Cattle to Camels: How Samburu and Rendille Elders are Sharing Knowledge to Adapt to Climate Change

In Kenya, camels have traditionally been the domain of pastoralist communities such as the Rendille, Gabra, Somali, Borana, and Turkana, who have herded these resilient animals for generations in the country’s arid northern regions. However, a shift is now unfolding in Samburu County, where a community historically known for cattle herding is adapting to a new reality driven by climate change.

The Beginning

The conversation about camels for Ewaso Lions began in 2023 when we noticed a significant increase in camel-lion conflict across the Samburu landscape. Over the past five to ten years, there has been an unprecedented rise in camels in the region as communities increasingly replace their traditional cattle herds with these more drought-resistant animals. This transformation represents a direct response to climate change: frequent and severe droughts have been decimating cattle populations, forcing pastoralists to seek more resilient alternatives.

But this change came with an unforeseen and deadly consequence. The Samburu are cattle people, not camel people. For generations, they have understood how to manage their livestock in ways that reduce conflict with the lions that share their landscape. That knowledge, however, does not translate to camel herding.

The crisis reached a critical point in May 2024 when we observed that numerous camels were being lost to lion predation. The problem was in inadequate camel husbandry. Unlike cattle, which Samburu herders knew how to protect and manage, camels require different herding techniques and more intensive supervision. Without proper training, the camels were often left unattended or inadequately guarded. The herding methods that worked for cattle simply did not work for camels, which are harder to keep together and require specialised knowledge.

Making matters worse, the camels coming into Samburu had no fear of predators. They would walk directly into lions, making them easy prey. For the lions, it was an easy meal; for the Samburu communities and the conservation efforts in the region, it was an escalating disaster that threatened both livelihoods and the fragile coexistence between people and wildlife.

The Learning Trips

Late in 2024, Jeneria Lekilelei, Ewaso Lions’ Community Conservation Director, began discussions on how to address this problem. The solution was both simple and profound: take Samburu elders north to Marsabit to learn from the Rendille, who have centuries of experience in camel husbandry. These learning trips would bridge the knowledge gap and transfer essential skills from one community to another.

What began as a trial initiative has evolved into a comprehensive training programme that is already showing remarkable results. The camel husbandry learning trips have brought together 36 male participants from Westgate Conservancy, building connections between communities and strengthening the vital link between proper animal husbandry and peaceful coexistence with lions.

The demographics of participants reflected the intergenerational nature of the challenge: 42% were between 35 and 49 years old, 36% were between 50 and 65 years, and 22% were between 20 and 34 years. Notably, 94% of participants were completely new to camel herding, highlighting the urgent need for this training.

The training sessions were comprehensive, covering camel herding techniques, grazing patterns, and disease recognition. Importantly, they also emphasised cultural beliefs and the crucial role of elders in pastoral societies. Participants responded enthusiastically to this holistic approach. 22 elders highlighted camel herding techniques as a key takeaway, while 21 elders noted grazing and movement patterns as particularly valuable. The perceived community benefits included enhanced skills and reduced carnivore conflict, with 23, 21, and 17 participants citing these advantages, respectively.

Measuring success

The impact of the training was measurable and substantial. A post-training survey revealed a dramatic increase in participants’ confidence in their ability to enhance camel herding practices, with ratings jumping from (on a Likert scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is “not at all confident” and 5 is “very confident”). Even more significantly, the training reinforced the importance of coexisting with lions, reflected in a post-training rating of 4.28, up from 3.25.

Beyond the numbers, the real-world impact has been striking. As Jeneria observed, “The camel husbandry learning trips have led to quick impact already! We have noticed conflict between lions and people has reduced, and our elders are taking more ownership over looking after camels and training them. I am excited to see what more we can do to reduce conflict further.”

Moving ahead

The long-term vision is ambitious: train 100 elders in total who will then lead camel husbandry training efforts across the broader community. The plan is to hand over the training to Samburu elders themselves, creating a sustainable, community-led initiative. These trained elders will become the teachers and leaders in camel husbandry, passing on knowledge to other wazee (elders) and ensuring that the expertise becomes embedded within Samburu culture.

Participants have already expressed a strong interest in additional training sessions across other regions and have recommended including youth in upcoming programmes, recognising that this knowledge must span generations to be truly sustainable.

We are grateful to Westgate Conservancy for their partnership in this endeavour. The success of these initial training sessions has laid the foundation for future initiatives that promise to further reduce conflict and strengthen the bonds between communities, their livestock, and the lions that have always been part of this landscape. As climate change continues to reshape pastoral livelihoods across East Africa, the Samburu elders, learning from their Rendille counterparts, offer a powerful model of adaptation, cooperation, and coexistence.

Written by Victoria Wanjohi and photos by Simatwa Ngachi.

A Game of Coexistence

Across Africa, the roar of the lion is growing fainter. Once spread across vast landscapes, the African lion has disappeared from 92% of its historical range. A century ago, an estimated 200,000 lions roamed the continent; today, that number has dropped to just 20,000–30,000.

In Kenya, fewer than 2,500 lions remain. The reasons are complex: shrinking habitats, conflicts with people when livestock is lost, climate change, disease, and the expansion of infrastructure all play a part. For a species that needs vast territories and abundant prey, survival outside protected parks and reserves is becoming difficult.

Yet, the future of lions lies largely in the hands of the people who share the land with them.

Changing Perceptions, One Child at a Time

In Samburu, where Ewaso Lions works, many children grow up within sight of wildlife reserves but have rarely experienced wildlife in a safe, positive way.

For some, lions are not majestic animals from storybooks, but threats: the predators that killed a family’s livestock, or the reason they run in fear when herding goats.

Recognising that children are new stewards of Kenya’s wildlife, Ewaso Lions launched the Lion Kids Camp (LKC) in 2013. The programme blends wildlife education, guided safaris, and conservation-themed activities to enhance knowledge of nature.

While the camp initially targeted school-going children, the team quickly identified a gap: pastoralist children who herd livestock from an early age. These young herders often have the greatest day-to-day impact on wildlife, yet have the least access to conservation education.

To reach them, Ewaso Lions developed a five-day, hands-on curriculum that relies on tactile and visual experiences, ensuring it works for both literate and non-literate children. One of its most successful activities is an innovative, laughter-filled obstacle course with a serious purpose: the Ewaso Lions Conservation Game.

Ewaso Lions Conservation Game

First introduced in April 2015, the Ewaso Lions Conservation Game transforms complex conservation challenges into an energetic and interactive experience.

Children are divided into teams, each representing a pride of lions. One member, acting as the pride leader, must guide their “lions” (team members) safely through a “community area” (the obstacle course), collecting key resources like water, prey, safe refuges, and protection while avoiding dangers like settlements, livestock, poachers, rabid dogs, bushfires, and highways.

There’s a twist: all “lions” except the leader are blindfolded, meaning teamwork, trust, and clear communication are essential.

Each obstacle and checkpoint represents a real-world survival factor for lions living alongside people. The game ends with a group discussion that connects each part of the course to actual conservation issues and solutions.

What the Game Teaches

Through play, participants learn:

The needs of lions living in community lands
The threats lions face, from habitat loss to disease
How human activities can help or harm lion survival
Practical ways people can coexist with large carnivores

And beyond the knowledge, the game builds knowledge and empathy. Children begin to see lions not just as predators, but as fellow creatures navigating a dangerous world.

Ripple Effects in the Community

Although designed for children, the game’s appeal has reached herders, warriors, women, and elders, literate or not. In every group, it ignites conversations about coexistence and inspires positive attitudes toward wildlife.

From Kenya to the World

What began as a local initiative has proven adaptable across countries and species. The Conservation Game has been tailored and played in Mozambique, Ethiopia, Peru, and Botswana, each time contextualised to the local wildlife and challenges.

Why It Matters

Lions are not just icons of Africa; they are vital to healthy ecosystems. Protecting them requires more than safeguarding parks and reserves. It means working with the people who share their landscapes, building understanding, and turning fear into respect.

In Samburu, this work starts with a simple truth: if you want to change the future, start with the children. Sometimes, that change begins with a blindfold, an obstacle course, and the laughter of a “pride” learning to survive together.

Read the full game concept: Download the Conservation Game Guide (PDF)
Share your feedback: If you adapt the game in different contexts, please fill out our short survey. Your input will help us improve and inspire more communities to use the game as a tool for conservation and coexistence.

Watch The Step-by-Step Guide

Written by Victoria Wanjohi