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.
[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.