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The results of our 3 year Conservation Incentive Payments (CIP) trial are out.
KopeLion and the TAWIRI lion research project presented them to stakeholders, including community leaders, NCAA, TANAPA, TAWIRI, MNRT, and tourism operators, in Karatu, and to present them to all the villages that participated.
Largely supported by The Lion Recovery Fund and others, we additionally thank the 6 villages who participated, the NCA Authority, and KopeLion staff, Ingela Jansson, Adam Pekor, William Ole Seki and Ololotu Munka who poured their hearts and time into the project.
95% of respondents reported that they were satisfied with the CIP program, 97% reported that they had a more positive view of lions as a result of the CIP program, and 99% reported that they would like the CIP program to continue in their village.
Human-lion coexistence was greatest where the CIP program was piloted – during the three years of the pilot, there was not a single retaliatory lion killing, hunt, or attempted hunt in the CIP villages, despite 29 such events in KopeLion’s wider area of operations’.
Funding for education elevated the CIP programme, – a conservation intervention can only help promote coexistence if people are aware of the benefits they are earning from wildlife. Here, awareness of the CIP program was extremely high, with over 90% of respondents from CIP villages reporting having heard of the program or the fact that their village was earning money from the lions on their land. Anecdotally, we noticed a substantial uptick in both awareness of and enthusiasm for the program once the participating villages began using their earnings to support students to attend secondary school.
Download the CIP Final Report
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Kope Lion
KopeLion Inc. (short for Korongoro People’s Lion Initiative) is a non-profit NGO registered in USA and in Tanzania. Our mission is to foster human-lion coexistence through participatory research and sustainable community-based conservation.
We recently welcomed Olubi Manguyo to the KopeLion team 🦁![]()
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Olubi, from Kakesio, has just completed his orientation and joins as an Assistant Ilchokuti. He will be supporting the Kakesio team in responding to and helping reduce human lion conflicts across the zones.![]()
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With conflict cases increasing this year, Olubi’s support is very much needed and appreciated. Welcome to the team Olubi, we are glad to have you with us.
Meet our Ilchokuti in this podcast episode!
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We are excited to share that KopeLion has recently collared Nemambai (TWH-33), a five year old lioness in Ndutu.![]()
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Nemambai was born in Nadine’s Twin Hill pride and in 2023 she and three sisters left to form a new pride we named the Twin Hill Sisters. One of them, Nang’ida, was collared at the time, which helped us keep close watch over the young females and their cubs. By mid-2024, the arrival of the Team Tano male coalition scattered the pride and Nang’ida split off with a few remaining juveniles. In early 2025 Nemambai and another sister had cubs again, this time to the new males, and settled in thickets along a busy livestock route. Every day in this area brings high risk of conflict.![]()
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Each collar is more than a research tool. It’s a lifeline for building coexistence and securing the future of both lions and people.![]()
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This collaring is an important step for conservation because it allows us to:![]()
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📡 Monitor the Twin Hill Sisters pride in one of Ndutu’s highest conflict zones![]()
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🐂 Alert nearby herders when lions are close, helping protect both livestock and lions![]()
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🌱 Understand how the Twin Hill Sisters pride uses the landscape, which will guide our future conflict mitigation work![]()
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🦁 Better understand how these lions adapt to new male coalitions and shifting pride dynamics![]()
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Each collar fitted is more than just research. It’s a vital tool for building coexistence and protecting the future of lions and people living side by side.![]()
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Happy #caturday ![]()
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#creatingconservations #communityconservation #livingwithlions #corridoroftolerance #kopelion #humanwildlifecoexistence #coexistence #ngorongorocrater #lionconservation #creatingconservations #ngorongooroconservationarea
