Lions Roar and Numbers Soar Thanks to National Park “Mosaics”

Thanks to the establishment of large protected areas across Africa through the use of state lands, private properties, and corridors that extend far beyond the boundaries of formally protected areas, the mighty yet vulnerable lion is thriving once more.

“We are able to protect amazing open ecosystems in Africa through landscape management and the development of mosaics comprised of national parks, as well as multiuse lands that create sustainable livelihoods,” says Naftali Honig, general manager of the Greater Zakouma Ecosystem, a mosaic of protected areas in southeastern Chad. “Mosaics are possible, and they allow these open systems with migratory corridors to thrive.”

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has put the Panthera Leo on its Red List as vulnerable with its population shrinking by about 43% over the last 21 years. As the big cat needs space to roam in order to thrive, the creation of large-scale cooperative conservation projects across big landscapes has contributed to the predator’s survival. For example, the 4,080-km² Zinave National Park in Mozambique is part of the larger 100,000-km² Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area that includes a mosaic of landscapes under different forms of protection. Since renewed conservation efforts started in 2015, some 2,400 animals – including elephants, buffalo, waterbuck, zebra, and later, predators such as leopards and lions – have been released into the wild, and they’ve reproduced to bring the number to more than 9,000.