Traditional Herding Practices Save Lions in Botswana — Population Up 50% in Four Years

The lions that roamed the plains of northern Botswana were dying. One by one, the big cats were succumbing to poisoned bait planted by exasperated villagers whose cattle had been picked off along the Okavango Delta. By the end of 2013, around 30 lions — more than half of the northern Okavango population — had been killed in just one year. More than a decade later, the situation is radically different. The lion population has rebounded by 50%. Cub survival rates are up. And cattle losses are dramatically down. It's the result of years of hard work: restoring traditional herding practices, collaring and tracking lions, and establishing a market for 'wildlife-friendly beef.' The approach serves as a model for other parts of southern Africa where modern grazing practices have collided with big cats' appetites. 'It can be adapted to just about anywhere,' said Andrew Stein, founder of CLAWS (Communities Living Sustainably Among Wildlife) Conservancy. In the last 25 years, more than half the lions have vanished from the plains of Africa, largely due to conflicts with communities. Today, fewer than 25,000 lions remain across the continent. But in southern Africa, one large continuous population still roams the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA), the world's largest transnational land-based protected area spanning Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The breakthrough came from understanding individual lions. 'When we started in 2014, people felt all lions are the same — all out there killing cattle,' Stein said. 'We thought if we could show each individual has a different behavior or personality, we might trigger individualized management with non-lethal approaches.' The team introduced the Lion Alert System — a first-of-its-kind early warning program. By outfitting lions with GPS collars and tracking their movements, automated alerts are sent to local community members' mobile phones when a lion is detected near settlements or livestock areas. This allows farmers to act before an attack occurs. Combined with the return of traditional herding — where cattle are actively watched and corralled rather than left to roam — the results have been transformative. Retaliatory poisonings have plummeted, and more lion cubs are surviving to adulthood. Perhaps most excitingly, experts say expanding traditional herding could convince government officials to remove some veterinary cordon fences that have blocked wildlife migration corridors for decades — reopening ancient pathways for wildebeest, zebra, and countless other species. It's proof that humans and apex predators can coexist — when communities are empowered with the right tools, knowledge, and economic incentives.