KINGS OF THE KALAHARI

The stench from the rotting eland carcasses was too much for Noel and myself, so we drove eleven kilometres to Leeuwdril ( lion shiver ). We were amply rewarded with a sighting of two young male lions. They came to the waterhole and drank, and the having quenched their thirst, they playfully gambolled off into the dunes. It was a very brief sighting, but Noel captured the moment this one jumped over the waterhole:

I always feel pity for lions, as their life in the Kalahari is tough. The cubs have a high mortality rate, and they are prone to disease. Dr Paul Funston, sponsored by +Nedbank Green Trust, recently studied the lion population for three years. The research entailed the radio-collaring of twenty members of resident prides, and tracking them across all three borders of the Park. In the past four years, it has been recorded that 93 lions were shot and killed on the surrounding farms.

The lions in the Kalahari have large home ranges because of the relatively low prey densities. In the quest to find potential prey, large distances are covered, and the Park's borders are transgressed. Lions are enticed by the presence of domestic animals on the farms as these are easy to hunt. It is estimated that there are about eighteen resident prides with about 450 members. At the rate the lions are being exterminated, it could mean that the population is not very sustainable.

Dr Funston met with the farmers, in an effort to find a solution. A farmer from Botswana stated: " If the lions remain on our farms for five days, they kill a lot of sheep and cattle. We have similiar problems with leopard and rooikat ( caracal ) but they don't take out as many animals as the lions." The farmer further stated that he had shot at least a hundred lions in his lifetime.

The farmers have been urged to contact the Park officials the moment lions wander onto their farms. This way, the lions can be darted and captured by Park officials, and returned to the Park, instead of being killed. In the past four years, 68 lions have been rescued in this manner.

A farmer from the unfenced Botswana side, complained that although the farmers receive compensation when the farm animals are killed by the lions, the compensation is not adequate. "At the moment we get about 900 Pula ( R1 260 ) for every cow or bull that is killed, but a bull is worth  3 000 Pula ( R 4 200 ) ".


A solution would be to use fences to stop the lions from entering farms, but this is costly, and there is always an ongoing need to patrol and maintain the fences. The farms are large, because the livestock need big grazing areas, as the desert sand does not support rich grazing pastures. Fencing could also cut off migration routes, like that of the eland. At the current rate of killing problem lions, the future of the population is in jeopardy.

The young male lion we saw at Leeuwdril. He was in superb condition, possibly because the eland migration had provided an abundance of easy prey.