The lions are back in Akagera; should the communities around the park be worried?

A story has been told of four men injured by a lion in the year 2000 and treated in Rwinkwavu Hospital after they tried to take on a lion that was barely hanging on to its life after eating a poisoned carcass of a cow in Kageyo, now in Kayonza District. At the time, Akagera National Park was not fenced and some people had settled within the park with their cattle, while many others lived on the periphery but grazed their cattle in the park. And although most of the lion population had been poisoned and eliminated by then, some survivors still roamed the vast plains and hills in and around Akagera. These last lions had tested how easy it was to kill a cow compared to a buffalo and, therefore, focused almost exclusively on night excursions into the communities to find an easy prey. Godfrey Nyamurangwa, an 8-yearl old boy at the time but now a Community freelance guide in the park, recalls the terror that night time brought to his village in Kageyo, near the park. “We were so scared of the lions that no one dared say the word ‘lion’ at night for fear they would come and attack us. People referred to them as ‘Rwabwiga’ instead. The roar of the lion is the most frightening sound you can ever hear. But often they came quietly, and when they were near we would know because the cows would all start to urinate and push closer to the house. People would shout and throw burning sticks but often, the lion made a kill”. But should the people living around Akagera today be worried about the new lions? No, I don’t think so! Surely you would imagine that by the time Rwanda thinks about re-introducing the lions back to Akagera it will have sought solutions for the root cause of their demise (conflict with humans) the first time round. Unless you are like some people from a neighbouring country who vehemently and successfully opposed the proposed donation of lions to Rwanda by their country in 2014 because they argued that the same reasons for the initial extermination could still count. Sound familiar? Two years ago in Ohio, someone asked me if there was no violence anymore in Rwanda, if it was safe to travel to Rwanda. I was taken aback. If you have been to Rwanda in the last ten years, you will know that not only would the country be a contender for ‘the safest place on earth’ award, but Rwanda is now concerned with peace for mankind elsewhere and is one of the leading contributors to peace keeping missions in different parts of the world. You would also learn that Akagera Park now has an electric fence around it to keep dangerous animals, like lions and elephants, from bothering the communities. But is the electric fence enough to keep the lions in the park? Again, YES, based on events since their re-introduction and on experiences from other fenced parks with lions. It’s been over three weeks since the lions were released into the wilderness of Akagera. Hourly signals from satellite collars fitted onto the animals showed that on day 5, they were a mere 15 metres from the fence. One female even got an electric shock when she got too inquisitive. By this time they were both thirsty and hungry (lions need to eat every three or four days but had not killed for five days) and we (at the park headquarters) were getting a little anxious. What if they saw cows on farms next to the fence? Would their desperation for food outweigh their fear of the electric fence? Apparently, not. They are probably as scared of the fence as we are of them. They have since moved on to other parts of the park and have already eaten (their natural prey) multiple times. Having said that, it is still wise for farmers who have cattle on farms close to the fence to avoid grazing their cattle too close to the fence, most especially at night when the lions are most active. African Parks, the conservation organisation that has partnered with Rwanda Development Board to rehabilitate and boost tourism in Akagera National Park, also has prior experience of re-introducing lions to a fenced park in Malawi. Four lions were re-introduced to the fenced Majete Wildlife Reserve in Malawi in 2011 and so far no breakouts have happened. When lions have no prior experience of killing cattle and have an abundance of natural prey around them (impala, waterbuck, zebra, buffalo, topi, etc) as is the case with Akagera, there is no reason for them to risk the electric shock in order to go outside of the park. The seven lions (five females and two males) of Akagera were trans-located from two South African Wildlife Reserves and have no previous record of contact with cattle. The author is the Community Liaison Manager for Akagera National Park Email: karamajoseph@gmail.com

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The lions are back in Akagera; should the communities around the park be worried?