By Liomba Junior Mathe Human carnivore-conflict is a major global conservation issue for wild carnivores. It also results in huge social and economic losses to people living close to protected areas. In the Hwange area in Zimbabwe, one of the main drivers of conflict arises from lions killing livestock owned by members of rural communities, […]
Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Godfrey Mtare has over 15 years of working experience in the field of ecology and wildlife conservation; including transboundary conservation. He joined Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) as an Ecologist in 2006 and has always demonstrated convincing passion and great zeal to significantly contribute towards biodiversity conservation in […]
Elisa Sandoval-Serés The day I was travelling to Africa, 1st of May 2021 Oxford, UK I woke up early that day, and I could still not believe that I was travelling to Africa. It was finally happening, I had been waiting for this moment to arrive for the last 5 years. My DPhil fieldwork had been […]
WildCRU is pleased to announce that Lovemore Sibanda will be leading the Cheetah Conservation Project Zimbabwe (CCPZ) as a new addition to WildCRU’s Trans-Kalahari Predator Programme (TKPP). Lovemore has been part of the WildCRU family since 2010 when he worked as a Community Liaison Officer for Hwange Lion Research. He later joined us in Oxford […]
Loss of livestock to carnivores is one of the largest drivers of conflicts between people and wildlife, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The Long Shields Lion Guardians, part of WildCRU’s Trans-Kalahari Predator Programme, located on the periphery of Hwange National Park, uses innovative methods to alleviate livestock loss. The programme monitors GPS-collared lions and employs community […]
Lion numbers have disappeared from 92% of their historical range. The death of Cecil the lion and the resulting global outcry brought this sobering fact into sharp focus. Cecil was first fitted with a GPS satellite collar in November 2008 when he was between five and six years old. He was a male lion coming […]
The modern conservationist has to be at home in various habitats: so we celebrate Lovemore Sibanda transitioning effortlessly between two in which he excels. Lovemore, having completed his doctoral thesis and viva has migrated back to Hwange National Park, and the village communities whose relationships with lions were the meat of his thesis. Lovemore combined […]
If it’s not one thing it’s another – there’s always danger on one guise or another around every corner, writes David Macdonald in introducing a remarkable new study of black-backed jackals led by WildCRU’s Jan Kamler. Fans of opportunism could have no better totem than the black-backed jackal, a mesocarnivore that dodges and dives through […]