FT Magazine Life & Arts: The Kenyan conservationist on the animals she loved and the battle to protect her country’s wildlife
Shivani Bhalla on tracking lions: ‘You get to know them so well’
By Hester Lacey
The Financial Times’ Hester Lacey sat down with Ewaso Lions’ founder, Shivani Bhalla, and they shared a conversation about the changing landscape of lion conservation and about the influences that brought Shivani into the conservation space.
What is your earliest memory? Going on safari with my parents and sister. When I was eight, I saw my first cheetah. I was the one who spotted it, and I was really excited.
Who was or still is your mentor?
I’m lucky to come from a family of very strong women, especially on my mum’s side.
How fit are you? I’ve had a lot of health challenges. In this work, you spend a lot of time driving on very bumpy roads, which is terrible for your body. I walk my dogs every day. Yoga can really help — I just wish I was more disciplined.
Tell me about an animal you have loved. I was four when my parents got me my first dogs, Mork and Mindy. I currently have two very special dogs, Kura and Nanyori. Kura walked into my life 10 years ago, lost and limping. People say I rescued him, but I say he rescued me. His name means “vote”, as he arrived on our election day. We have set up a domestic animal welfare programme called Kura’s Pride. And there have been a few lions in the past 20 years, two in particular: Nashipai, “the joyful one”, a brilliant mother, a fantastic hunter and the first lion I really got to know, and Naramat, “the caring one”, who taught me how hard it is for lions to survive. You get to know the lions so well — you spend hours tracking them and monitoring them. Losing one is really hard.
Risk or caution, which has defined your life more? Both. When I started Ewaso Lions, I had nothing — no finances, no team, no strategy — and I had left a very secure job. But as the project’s grown, I feel much more responsibility, and that has made me much more cautious.
What trait do you find most irritating in others?
Dishonesty. Selfishness.
What trait do you find most irritating in yourself?
I am always trying to be in control — and I worry about everything.
What drives you on? A really strong sense of duty as a Kenyan. I want to do whatever I can to make my country better, and whatever I can so that in 10, 20, 30, 50 years there will still be lions here and other wildlife. My team and the community motivate and inspire me. They have so much courage. It’s not easy to live alongside lions, and it’s not easy for the lions to live alongside the community.
Do you believe in an afterlife? Yes and no. It makes me feel better to think maybe everyone I’ve lost I’ll be able to see again. But I always try to explain things, and I can’t explain the afterlife.
Which is more puzzling, the existence of suffering or its frequent absence?
Neither. It’s about the way we approach suffering. If we are more positive, the impact is less.
Name your favourite river. I’ve lived right by a river for 20 years, Ewaso Nyiro, “the brown river”, which gives its name to Ewaso Lions. It’s the life of this whole region. Communities, livestock and wildlife depend on it. It used to be fast-flowing with big waves, but since 2009 it has dried up frequently. We’ve been busy digging waterholes.
What would you have done differently? I shy away from conflict. I wish I had had the courage to have those difficult conversations and to look at difficult situations in a positive way.
Shivani Bhalla is the founder of Ewaso Lions, Kenya, and winner of the 2023 Whitley Fund for Nature Gold Award. The 2023 Whitley Awards will be streamed live on April 26
