Carnivore Projects

Two of Africa’s most pressured large carnivores

African Painted Wolves (Lycaon pictus, also known as African wild dogs) and lions are among the most pressured large carnivores on Earth. In support of KWS and WRTI, Tsavo Trust helps monitor and protect both across the Tsavo Conservation Area.

The Impact

448

Lions estimated in Tsavo in the 2025 national census

African Painted Wolf packs confirmed and monitored

50+

Individual African Painted Wolves identified and catalogued

960

Domestic animals vaccinated against rabies near wildlife

Across Africa, large carnivores are in steep decline. Just 24,000 lions remain across the continent, down from an estimated 200,000 in 1900. Fewer than 6,600 African Painted Wolves remain, classing them as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. The Tsavo Conservation Area is one of the most important strongholds for both.

Tsavo Trust supports KWS and WRTI with carnivore work across the Tsavo’s, contributing monitoring, aerial reconnaissance, de-snaring effort, photographic identification of individual animals, and community coexistence work — so that decisions about Tsavo’s lions and African Painted Wolves rest on consistent, long-term data.

African Painted Wolf

Painted wolves into focus.

Since 2023, Tsavo Trust has contributed to structured monitoring of painted wolves in the Tsavo’s in support of WRTI and KWS, with technical guidance from the Painted Wolf Foundation and funding from the Painted Dog Fund. Over 100 painted wolves are now estimated to move across the Tsavo landscape.

Aerial reconnaissance and ground monitoring (Tembo teams), in support of WRTI and KWS
Photographic identification through coat-pattern catalogues, with over 70 individually identified painted wolves recorded across seven confirmed packs
A dedicated Wild Dog Ecologist and ground vehicle monitoring pack composition, denning success and pup survival
An annual rabies vaccination campaign along the northern boundary of Tsavo East, where four packs range, reaching 960 domestic animals in June 2026 and reducing disease risk to the wider population

Lion

Protecting a Tsavo icon.

Tsavo’s lions are world-famous and a key population for the species in Kenya. The 2025 national census estimated 448 lions in Tsavo, out of a national total of 2,512. In support of KWS and WRTI, and with the Lion Recovery Fund, Tsavo Trust helps sustain the monitoring and security that keep Tsavo’s lions safe.

Joint KWS and TT de-snaring teams reducing one of the deadliest threats to lions and their prey
Support to WRTI’s annual Tsavo East Southern Sector lion survey, and to the tri-annual ecosystem-wide census cycles
Partnership with the Tsavo Simba Research Project
Community coexistence work in Kamungi Conservancy that reduces conflict pressure across the wider landscape

Working together · Since June 2026

The Tsavo Carnivore Hub.

In June 2026, WRTI convened the first Tsavo Carnivore Coordination Forum, bringing together WRTI, KWS, Tsavo Trust and partners from across the landscape to share data and align carnivore conservation. It is exactly the kind of coordinated, evidence-led effort Tsavo’s predators need, and Tsavo Trust is proud to be a partner in this process.

Made possible by

Tsavo Trust’s carnivore work is delivered in support of KWS and WRTI, with the backing of dedicated conservation funders.

Why it matters

A landscape keeps its balance only when its predators remain.

Lions and African Painted Wolves shape the whole ecosystem around them, and both face snares, disease and shrinking space. Monitoring shows where they are and what threatens them; community work reduces the conflict that so often kills them. Together, in support of KWS and WRTI, this is how Tsavo stays a place where predators still run.

Help Tsavo’s predators run free.

Your support sustains the monitoring, protection and community work that keep lions and African Painted Wolves in the landscape.

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