Wilderness Safaris Renews its Commitment to the Lionscape Coalition

Showcasing its long-held commitment to lion conservation in Africa, Wilderness Safaris has renewed its membership of the ground-breaking Lionscape Coalition for a further two years, contributing to the protection of even more lions across the African continent.

“As a founding member of the Lion Recovery Fund’s (LRF) Lionscape Coalition, Wilderness Safaris remains devoted to helping the LRF achieve its vision of doubling the number of lions in Africa by 2050”, says Wilderness Safaris Group Sustainability Manager, Neil Midlane.

An innovative conservation collaboration to protect wild lion populations in Africa, the Lionscape Coalition works in partnership with the Lion Recovery Fund (LRF), which has since deployed more than USD8.2 million towards 86 projects run by 35 conservation partners across 20 countries.

With Africa’s lion population having nearly halved in the past 25 years, the species is now classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN, with the West African subspecies listed as Critically Endangered. Factors such as habitat loss and fragmentation, illegal wildlife trade, bushmeat poaching and human-lion conflict can be counted amongst the main contributing factors that continue to threaten lion numbers.

“This initiative has made it possible to reach out and protect lions, even in the most remote areas that are often far off the beaten track for most travellers, and not able to benefit from tourism. We believe that renewing our membership will make a notable difference to these landscapes and look forward to continuing on this journey”, concludes Neil.