This summer, five Nicholas School students are traveling to southern Africa to survey for lion and lion prey species. Working with a group of researchers of out the Conservation Ecology Research Unit (CERU) at University of Pretoria in South Africa, we will be traveling to the Tete Province in Mozambique. The Tete Province is a remote area in northwestern Mozambique and is bordered by Malawi to the northeast, Zambia to the north and west, Zimbabwe to the southwest and the Zambezi River and Lake Cahora Bossa divide it through the middle.

The Tete Province is adjacent to several protected areas, most notably the Lower Zambezi National Park. Locals report lion incidents, but reports are few and contradictory. No one is sure whether the lions are a resident population or simply migrants from the surrounding protected areas. We will be filling in these gaps of knowledge this summer for lion and lion prey by assessing the amount, locations and type of human/lion conflict. We will also collect data on lion density, but this aspect will be limited by time constraints.

We will be in Africa from July 18 – August 25 and will be in the field from August 2 – August 20.