WCN Wildlife Conservation Network

Dr. Colleen and
Keith Begg

Wildlife researchers Dr. Colleen and Keith Begg share a passion to protect the imperiled wildlife of their native Africa. Following years of shared conservation projects in several countries, they founded the Niassa Lion Project in Mozambique in 2003. The Beggs spend most of the year in the Niassa National Reserve, raising conservation awareness in one of the most undeveloped wild places on the continent.

Threats

Lions once roamed freely across most parts of Africa. Having already disappeared from northern Africa, they are now found only in parts of southern and eastern Africa and in the southern part of the Sahara desert. With only 23,000-40,000 lions remaining, the African lion population is half of what it was in the early 1950s. Mozambique’s Niassa National Reserve is home to one of only five healthy lion populations left on the continent.

Village Lion Conservation Fun Day, Photo: Keith Begg

Solutions

The Niassa Lion Project (NLP) views community participation as an essential element of long-term protection for the African lion and the many other imperiled species within its critical habitat. NLP is deeply engaged with local residents, the management authority of the Niassa National Reserve, schools, tourism operators, and the bordering nation of Tanzania in its spectrum of conservation, scientific, and educational activities.

Niassa Lion Fun Day comes to the Houston Zoo

The Niassa Lion Project in Mozambique has created the Lion Fun Day for kids and adults in the communities within Niassa National Reserve. The educational games provide opportunities to learn in a fun and collaborative way, opening up discussion and new ideas for understanding and living with predators. The Houston Zoo is partnering with Niassa Lion Project to support their work by offering a Lion Fun Day to their zoo visitors. Kids learn about lions and other predators, and also about the challenges that people who live among predators face on a daily basis.

Photo: K. Begg