Ultimate Safaris’ Conservation Travel Foundation and its local partners have donated a Toyota Land Cruiser 4.2 Single Cab to the value of N$ 700 000, to the Lion Ranger Project’s Eastern Kunene Rapid Response team. This donation will ensure the team is able to continue ensuring the survival of Namibia’s unique desert-adapted lions, while at the same time limiting human-wildlife conflict.

The Lion Ranger program’s goal is the long-term sustainable management of human-lion conflict by communities in northwest Namibia. This is achieved through satellite-tracking and the employment of an innovative early-warning system that was developed in Namibia. With this system, early-warning system towers are erected at farms within known human-lion conflict areas. When a collared lion comes close to a tower, farmers and the Lion Rangers are provided with SMS alerts and a series of lights and sirens alerts the farmer to the lions presence.

The nearby Lion Rangers will drive to the area of potential conflict to assist the farmers. If the lion has migrated from a Protected Area such as Etosha National Park, then the Lion Rangers will try to encourage it to return to safety. In the case of lion living in the Conservancy, the Lion Rangers will remain in the area until the lion has moved on and the conflict has been resolved.   

The key to the success of the Lion Ranger program is that it unifies communal, governmental, and non-governmental stakeholders. It is also community-driven and the Rangers themselves are conservancy-employed game guards who receive special training and equipment to lead efforts in combating conflict between humans and lions on communal land.

The Lion Rangers believe that lions and rural residents can thrive alongside one another.