Why roar of Mara lion is growing faint

 By Kipchumba Kemei

Setting out at first light towards Paradise Plain, I saw and heard my first lion. He was sitting on a termite mound, perhaps half a mile from where we had parked our vehicle and was clearly visible through my binoculars, a full-grown male with a tobacco-coloured mane. The highland air was crisp and cold, and with every roar I could see his breath condensing in white puffs, like smoke from a dragon’s nostrils.

That did it. From that moment I was hooked, and although I have been back to the Masai Mara more times than I can remember, the magic is as strong as ever.

British travel writer Brian Jackman, who wrote those words in 1974, may not have foreseen a dark era for the Mara lion that is now being hounded by negative factors into the endangered species list.

The Mara lion, regarded as the true embodiment of the macho accolade of king of the jungle, now only roars from a few anthills in the expansive savannah where it must keep its head low from dangers that stalk it.

Declining fast

Conservationists have warned that the number of lions in the Masai Mara Game Reserve is declining fast because of, among other factors, human wildlife conflict.

In the last one year, according to Dr Charles Musyoki, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) senior scientist, more than 76 lions have been killed through poisoning, most of them in the Mara.

If not checked, the dangerous trend could put the most prized wild animal on the endangered species list.

Already scientists say there is so little genetic diversity among the small number of lions left, that the king of the jungle is ‘functionally extinct’. Crossbreeding with lions from elsewhere maybe needed to avoid having them nipped out by disease.

In the Masai Mara ecosystem, more than 50 lions have been killed through poisoning this year. The poisoning took place inside the park and in Ololaimutia, Koyaki, Lemek and Ol-Kinyei group ranches.

The population of the roaring carnivore in the country, according to statistics from conservationists and KWS has declined to less than 2,749 from 10,000 ten years ago.

Apart from the human wildlife conflict, other factors that have contributed to the decline in the lion population in the world-famous game reserve are habitat loss and decline in the population of its grazing prey like antelopes.

According the Service Research Centre in the Mara, many lions have been lost through diseases like canine distemper, a common viral disease, often takes its toll on carnivorous animals.

Lions are a vital component of nearly of all of Kenya’s wildlife sanctuaries. They play an important role in the structuring of ecological balance. According to KWS statistics, a high population of lions is found in Masai Mara, Tsavo, Laikipia and Samburu wildlife reserves in that order.

The Narok KWS senior warden Tuqa Jirmo says Africa is home to most of the worlds’ lions with the majority found in the Mara.

Big threat

"Lions are facing a big threat from pastoralists through either poisoning, snaring or spearing. If nothing is going to be done we will lose entire dominant prides which could spell dire consequences to the tourism industry," he says. The official says encroachment of dry land farming in areas traditionally considered wildlife habitats has had negative impact on the survival of the carnivores.

According to studies by the International Union for Conservation, IUCN, the Africa lion is classified as vulnerable which calls for the protection of its ecology as the top predators.

Jirmo says KWS is in the process of formulating a lion conservation strategy to reverse the decline of the numbers through ensuring the conservation management of their habitat.

He says to minimise or eliminate the human-lion conflict, there is need to develop a long-term land use to ensure animals and humans live in harmony.

Other factors that will ensure their survival, he points out, include development and implementation of comprehensive legal and institutional frameworks, expansion of tourism benefits to communities wildlife sanctuaries and the lion guardian projects by youth groups like the Maasai morans.

"These, among other measures that include encouragement of the communities bordering game sanctuaries to co-exist with the animals, will go a long way in conservation," he adds.

Poisoning, research shows, is the single biggest threat facing the king of the jungle.

Chemicals like the lethal Furadan (carbofuran), other pesticides and acaricides are said to account in a large percentage for the decline of the lion numbers in pastoral areas.

"The mushrooming of trading centers and farming near the park have interfered with animal movement and even the migration of wildebeests," says Doris Ombara-Okundi.

The chairman of the Siana Wildlife Conservancy Sammy Nkoitoi says there is need for communities to view the lion as an asset.