We are delighted that WildCRU Diploma alum Liomba-Junior Mathe has received an international award recognising over a decade of work helping rural communities live more safely alongside lions and other large carnivores. 

Growing up in Hwange, Zimbabwe, Leo lived next door to wildlife, but it wasn’t until a primary-school trip to Hwange National Park (where he saw elephants, giraffes, zebras and antelope in the wild for the first time) that wildlife became part of his future career plans. Years later, Leo became a long-time field assistant, and subsequent leader, of our Long Shields Lion Guardian Programme in Hwange. The programme combines community-based Lion Guardians, early-warning systems, predator-proof mobile bomas and vuvuzelas to act as simple, non-lethal deterrents to haze lions away from livestock and settlements.

His work has since expanded across lions, cheetahs and hyenas, protected-area management, landscape connectivity, community engagement and training conservation practitioners in non-lethal approaches to human-wildlife conflict. Leo received the 2026 IFAW Animal Action Award at a prestigious ceremony in London that celebrated remarkable people making an extraordinary difference for animals.

On receiving the award, Leo says: “This award may have my name on it, but I have never worked alone. There have always been people walking alongside me—communities, colleagues, mentors and conservationists who have shaped my journey. Everything I have learned has come from working with people and wildlife, listening, adapting and finding solutions together. This recognition belongs to them too”.