A growing human population of 60,000 in Niassa that needs food and income poses challenges to the reserve’s 800 lions. With few opportunities for education and employment, many families rely on the use of natural resources—particularly fish, skins, ivory, and bushmeat—to support their subsistence lifestyles. The greatest threat to lions in Niassa comes from snares that are set to capture bushmeat and a growing trade in lion skins, claws, and teeth.
Niassa Lion Project (NLP), which combines scientific rigor with passion, empathy and sound management practices, is as much about people as it is about lions. The team aims to build a sustainable lion-friendly community by working closely with community members, government officials, reserve management team, and tourism operators. They consider everyone a participant in conservation.
Hungry people cannot care about conservation.Dr. Colleen Begg
Keith and Colleen Begg met next to an elephant carcass in South Africa’s Kruger National Park more than twenty years ago and have been studying and protecting carnivores together ever since. Their first great love was the honey badger.
In 2002, Keith and Colleen set out across Africa on a 21,000 mile trek to find a place where they could make a real contribution to wildlife. When they arrived in Mozambique’s Niassa National Reserve, a place they had never heard of, they found their home. They climbed one of the mountains and sat there for days, seeing signs of both the abundance of and looming challenges for the Reserve’s wildlife.
Keith and Colleen established Niassa Lion Project in 2003, and employ only local Mozambicans. They live in Niassa National Reserve for most of the year with their two children.
Tackling Wildlife Crime
Reducing Conflict
Scientific Research
Expanding Education
Empowering Women
Boosting Local Economies
Guiding Policy
Honoring Culture
NLP’s anti-poaching program aims to reduce the illegal activities of snaring, mining, and elephant poaching in the Niassa Special Reserve. NLP strongly believes that reducing illegal wildlife activities can only be achieved through a holistic approach. Well-disciplined anti-poaching is performed in equal partnership with long-term community development and education programs that increase income and food security.
NLP’s Wildlife Guardians are committed to promoting coexistence in villages that share space with wildlife. The Guardians collect information on fishing activities, human-wildlife conflict, and species sightings, while also educating their communities to reduce threats. The Guardians are all in frequent mobile communication to create a community of conservationists that report on conflict quickly.
NLP’s research and monitoring efforts are specifically intended to inform their conservation efforts, as they consistently adapt approaches in response to new scientific data. NLP establishes baseline information about lion populations to monitor population trends over time, along with socio-ecological surveys to collect data about human behaviors and threats from carnivores.
NLP’s Mariri Environmental Center hosts children and their teachers from across Niassa Reserve to play conservation games, climb mountains, go on game drives, debate conservation issues, and learn about alternative livelihoods like gardening, livestock breeding, and beekeeping. NLP also provides secondary school scholarships for children in remote villages that only have access to primary school.
Kushirika, which means “to come together,” is a handmade crafts program focused on the development of new skills and ensuring that traditional skills, such as basket weaving, are passed down to younger generations. Participants, including both men and women, have rules for joining the group, including no snaring or illegal activities. All income generated from their sale goes directly to the producers.
Slash and burn agriculture is common in Niassa National Reserve, leading to low soil fertility. NLP works with farmers to improve soil productivity through their farmer field school, teaching techniques like low tillage, crop mixing, and mulching. Improving food security is essential for conservation to be successful, so NLP also leads beekeeping, small livestock breeding, and craft making programs.
The decision to allow sport hunting in Niassa Reserve rests with the Mozambican Ministry of Tourism. Sport hunting of underage leopards and lions can be a threat to wildlife populations, so NLP helps to ensure sport hunting is sustainable. To do so, NLP developed a monitoring and quota-setting system, offering incentives for compliance and disincentives for violations, which was implemented by the Niassa Management Authority.
Each year, NLP celebrates culture and conservation at their annual Lion Fun Days. In addition to playing games, school children put on theatrical performances and local dance groups develop special dances to share conservation lessons while honoring local culture and tradition. These festivals spread positive messages about safe behaviors, safe shelters, and the importance of wildlife.
Tackling Wildlife Crime
NLP’s anti-poaching program aims to reduce the illegal activities of snaring, mining, and elephant poaching in the Niassa Special Reserve. NLP strongly believes that reducing illegal wildlife activities can only be achieved through a holistic approach. Well-disciplined anti-poaching is performed in equal partnership with long-term community development and education programs that increase income and food security.
Reducing Conflict
NLP’s Wildlife Guardians are committed to promoting coexistence in villages that share space with wildlife. The Guardians collect information on fishing activities, human-wildlife conflict, and species sightings, while also educating their communities to reduce threats. The Guardians are all in frequent mobile communication to create a community of conservationists that report on conflict quickly.
Scientific Research
NLP’s research and monitoring efforts are specifically intended to inform their conservation efforts, as they consistently adapt approaches in response to new scientific data. NLP establishes baseline information about lion populations to monitor population trends over time, along with socio-ecological surveys to collect data about human behaviors and threats from carnivores.
Expanding Education
NLP’s Mariri Environmental Center hosts children and their teachers from across Niassa Reserve to play conservation games, climb mountains, go on game drives, debate conservation issues, and learn about alternative livelihoods like gardening, livestock breeding, and beekeeping. NLP also provides secondary school scholarships for children in remote villages that only have access to primary school.
Empowering Women
Kushirika, which means “to come together,” is a handmade crafts program focused on the development of new skills and ensuring that traditional skills, such as basket weaving, are passed down to younger generations. Participants, including both men and women, have rules for joining the group, including no snaring or illegal activities. All income generated from their sale goes directly to the producers.
Boosting Local Economies
Slash and burn agriculture is common in Niassa National Reserve, leading to low soil fertility. NLP works with farmers to improve soil productivity through their farmer field school, teaching techniques like low tillage, crop mixing, and mulching. Improving food security is essential for conservation to be successful, so NLP also leads beekeeping, small livestock breeding, and craft making programs.
Guiding Policy
The decision to allow sport hunting in Niassa Reserve rests with the Mozambican Ministry of Tourism. Sport hunting of underage leopards and lions can be a threat to wildlife populations, so NLP helps to ensure sport hunting is sustainable. To do so, NLP developed a monitoring and quota-setting system, offering incentives for compliance and disincentives for violations, which was implemented by the Niassa Management Authority.
Honoring Culture
Each year, NLP celebrates culture and conservation at their annual Lion Fun Days. In addition to playing games, school children put on theatrical performances and local dance groups develop special dances to share conservation lessons while honoring local culture and tradition. These festivals spread positive messages about safe behaviors, safe shelters, and the importance of wildlife.
local people directly employed by Niassa Lion Project: 103 permanent staff, 200 seasonal staff, and 38 wildlife guardians receiving stipends
$60 pays for a four night bush visit to Mariri Environmental Center for a local child or month’s worth of food for a scout.
$2,400 pays a scout’s salary for one year.
$4,000 will buy a radio collar to keep track of lions near villages.
Donations of any amount can help support training courses at the Mariri Environmental Education and Skills Training Center .
