Real-time monitoring tech offers hope for threatened ‘Indomitable Lions’ of Cameroon

The government of Cameroon and conservationists are stepping up efforts to protect disappearing central African lions – a rare species which is customarily regarded as the country’s key totem.

The lion – king of the jungle, thanks to its strength and resistance – has historically been emblematic in Cameroon, with the country’s long-serving president Paul Biya fondly referred to as the “Lion Man”. All national sports teams in the country, including the national football squad, derive their moniker from the lion – “Indomitable Lions”.

Ramping up protection efforts of the animal in the Bouba Ndjida National Park, located in the North Region of the country and close to the border with Chad, officials announced the successful placement of satellite collars on seven of the big cats in August 2024. A collar is a tracking device incorporated in a strap that is put around the neck of an animal.

The GPS collaring is part of a long-term effort by the government of Cameroon and its conservation partner, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), to redeem the lost glory of Bouba Ndjida’s wildlife.  

Cameroon is a fascinating country with incredible biodiversity and natural riches. The central African country is often referred to as “Africa in miniature” because of its impressive diversity of landscapes: plateaus, mountains and even volcanoes, alongside savannah grasslands, lakes and rainforests, which can be found in other parts of the continent.

However, wildlife face an uncertain future in the country, home to a variety of notable species. Wildlife in the country is subject to a wide and intense array of human pressures including poaching for meat and body parts, pressure from artisanal mining in some cases and human encroachment for settlement and agriculture.

“Bouba Ndjida and the surrounding landscape is one of the jewels of Central Africa but it is under relentless pressure from poachers, illegal grazing and illicit gold mining,” said Serge Patrick Tadjo, the park’s warden who is fiercely committed to its protection.

Tadjo was among rangers who pushed back a heavily armed organized criminal group of elephant poachers from Sudan and Chad who massacred some 200 savannah elephants – more than half of the elephant population of the park – over a decade ago. He says GPS collars have helped them to safeguard elephants, “and we are very pleased to now use the same technique for lions.”

Disturbing stats

Recent estimates indicate that Bouba Ndjida has a significant lion population of nearly 80 of the national total of about 270. The other largest population of the mammal is believed to be in the Faro National landscape on the eastern border with Nigeria that has the largest colony of hippopotamus in Cameroon.

The seven newly collared bring the number of monitored lions in the Bouba Ndjida National Park to 10, including three others collared earlier this year by local non-governmental organization Biodiversity, Environment and Sustainable Development.

“Lions are affected by multiple threats, most of which result from changes in human land use patterns,” says Nakedi Maputla, Senior Conservation Scientist at Africa Wildlife Foundation (AWF).

Land use, for the most part, Maputla says, is influenced by factors such as the growing human population, associated with expanding human settlements and agricultural expansion, inconsistent interpretations of laws governing land tenure, adverse effects of climate change which alter precipitation patterns, leading to shifts in land use.

“These factors manifest themselves in fragmented and degraded habitats (habitat loss), leading to increased human-lion conflict due to the diminishing lion prey base,” explains Maputla.

He says countries face the challenge of balancing human well-being through development while safeguarding the environment, which to him should not be the case because the environment and development complement each other.

“Cameroon should be commended for taking this active role in the conservation of her lion population to ensure its survival,” noted Maputla.

Vigorous efforts

The 10 collars are the latest high-tech tool to support the efforts of rangers from Cameroon’s Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) to safely and efficiently protect the park’s wildlife through satellite real-time location updates.

Conservationists say by tracking the movements of the animals, rangers can avert potential incursions and attacks in villages, allowing people and lions to coexist.

“The data from the collars help us to be strategic,” said Paul Bour, the Landscape Director for WCS, who assists the Cameroonian government in planning and preparing anti-poaching patrols.

“We receive lion locations four times a day, from the collars via satellite directly to our laptops, so we see which areas of the landscape lions use almost in real time. We can proactively prioritize those areas for patrols, to ensure they are well protected and poachers cannot access them,” said Bour.

The collars will also provide insights into the ecology of lions from a region of Africa where the species is poorly known, according to Dr Paul Funston of African Lion Conservation, who worked with the team to capture the lions.

“Lions are endangered across central Africa and most populations are very depleted with a high level of threat. Bouba Ndjida is exciting because lions are breeding well in parts of the park but they do not seem to be raising as many cubs as we would hope. Strong science with data from the collars will help to unravel that mystery and other unknowns in the population,” said Funston.

Classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as vulnerable, recent research shows alarming data about dwindling lions’ population on the continent with the apex predator facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. IUCN RedList Assessment published in 2023 shows the population of Panthera leo has dramatically declined in the last five years, with an estimated 20,000 – 23,000 lions in the wild on the continent now – with the most secure populations occurring in Southern Africa and parts of East Africa.

However, it is now thought there are fewer than 1,000 lions remaining in central Africa, and the species is considered regionally endangered. It is also a unique sub-species, the Northern lion, which is genetically grouped with lions in West Africa as well as with the last remaining population in Asia, in India’s Gujarat State.

Luke Hunter, the Executive Director of WCS’s Big Cat Program agrees the lion is often ignored in conservation planning because they are relatively common and easy to see in the famous, tourist-friendly national parks of East and Southern Africa, but argues that the Northern lion is in real trouble and needs urgent conservation attention.

“Bouba Ndjida is one of the only sites in central Africa where we are seeing the early signs of recovery in the population. That points to the close cooperation between the Cameroon government and WCS on the ground. With a long-term commitment to that approach, I think Bouba Ndjida is a beacon of hope for the lion in Central Africa,” said Hunter.

It is hoped that with the new monitoring technology, the lion population in the Bouba Ndjida National Park will be protected to grow and one day attract the same global attention the “Lion Man” or “Indomitable Lions” have been attracting.