The lion population in South Africa is currently growing due to effective conservation efforts and unlike the rest of Africa, South Africa’s lion population has stabilized to such a point that many reserves are now overstocked with lions.

The most effective way to manage lion populations is to translocate surplus animals to new reserves. Unfortunately, because most of the reserves in South Africa are already fully stocked, there aren’t many additional safe spaces to take lions to in other African countries. So, often lions need to be culled as there is simply no other way to manage populations.

An over population of lions means that other species on the property are impacted on and eventually plains game number become so low that they become unsustainable and eventually the reserve owners have to buy more animals in, go bankrupt or manage the reserve without lions. 

When a reserve like Babanango, newly established reserve, is looking for lions to establish a new population. We get involved and try our best to find the most at risk lions to move so as to avoid culling. Therefore, four lionesses were selected to assist two reserves in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa in reducing their numbers and we moved them to Babanango. An aircraft was used to move the lions from Mount Camdeboo as this was the safest option for the lions and this proved so be successful. 

Over and Above Africa assisted us with tracking collars for the lions so that the reserve management can continuously track them and ensure their wellbeing.

Email from Dereck Milburn, Aspinall Foundation, Dec 2023