Gorilla Reintroduction Project, Gabon

We only have two days left but we just had to share with you these two video clips - the latest amazing footage we have received from Gabon. Without camera traps we would have no evidence of this one solitary male lion who has currently made Batéké National Park his home.

Spotted originally on camera traps back in the Spring of 2015, the first sighting of a lion in the region for well over twenty years, the cameras were placed and are maintained by the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology’s Pan African Programme, working with The Aspinall Foundation as part of a chimpanzee survey in the area. More than 200,000 lions roamed Africa a century ago, but this number has been reduced to 30,000 and is still declining. 

Genetic studies are ongoing to establish where the lion has migrated from and, in the meantime, it is the power of camera traps in the field which allows us to monitor his presence whilst under the protection of the reserve we manage in Gabon. This is an amazing opportunity, and may offer a glimmer of hope that this majestic King of Beasts can return to the region. Proof of the immense value offered by camera traps in conservation, and just one example of why your help is greatly appreciated. Thankyou for your support.