VISIT ITALIAN MOUNTAIN COUNTRY
A REMAKE OF THE LION KING HAS REIGNITED OUR PASSION FOR A SPECIES IN WORRYING DECLINE. FINDS A GLIMMER OF HOPE IN THE MASAI MARA
DEPARTING August 23, save £180pp on a two-week walking holiday through the heart of the Dolomites in Northern Italy.
Originally £2,175pp, now £1,995pp, Ramblers Walking Holidays’ (01707 331 133; ramblersholidays.co.uk) 14-night holiday, In the Heart of the Dolomites, includes return flights and airport transfers, half-board en-suite accommodation, local Mobilcard, an expert leader and all local transport costs. characters is a stand-alone study. MPCP has created a photobook to help safari guides identify key feline players, a tool used by the excellent team at Kicheche Bush Camp, who have followed many of the resident animals through various stages of their lives.
There have been births, deaths, brawls and nail-biting showdowns. Males have battled for supremacy and impassioned mothers have fought to protect their young until the bitter end. It’s a soap opera set amidst spirited plains and foreboding skies, with episodes unfurling a matter of minutes away from camp.
Guests staying with Kicheche have an opportunity to visit MPCP’s HQ on the OMC border, where computers whirling with data and graphs illustrate the research team’s findings to date. The success of lions in the Mara’s conservancies is largely due to healthy habitat and co-operation from surrounding communities.
Senior Programme Scientist Niels Mogensen shows me a new type of boma (enclosure), which MPCP is encouraging pastoralists to use for corralling their livestock. Made from recycled plastic bottles, the sturdy poles offer a far better line of defence than traditional enclosures made from branches and thorns.
Poisonings are a common form of retaliation for slaughtered sheep and cattle, so proving lions are a valuable resource, rather than a threat, is key to safeguarding the future of the species. Changes in attitude are best illustrated by a