World’s leading wildlife channel National Geographic has given tribute to the Lions of Kenya. The source shared a picture clicked by the wildlife photographer Beverley Joubert, and extended a tribute to the Kenyan Lions and around the world on ‘World Lion Day’.
Beverley is an award-winning photographer and filmmaker. On her personal Instagram handle, she shared a collection of pictures that she clicked on her vacation she spent in Kenya and among its wildlife territory.
While extending the tribute, Nat Geo shared a note with the image that says, “A male lion striding across the Kenyan grasslands is such a powerful symbol of wilderness. Outside of protected areas, the population of lions have declined dramatically all across the Africa.”
The geography channel praised Kenya and expressed, “Kenya stands out as a stronghold that will be critical in the fight to conserve them. The loss of any single species sends in the wildlife, ripples through the entire ecosystems, but if big cats were to disappear, the impact would be devastating, on a truly profound scale.”
“As apex predators, they play an outsize role in maintaining the delicate balance that makes for healthy and resilient ecosystems. If we want to protect the planet’s rapidly diminishing biodiversity, focusing on big cats makes sense,” writes National Geographic.
They further added, “When wilderness is protected to provide predators like lions with the space they need to thrive, a multitude of other species benefit. Without any control, the fate of big cats is inextricably linked with the fate of Africa’s natural heritage. #WorldLionDay”
Beverley Joubert on World Lion Day 2024
In her latest Instagram post, the photographer Beverley Joubert herself shared a picture on World Lion Day, that she clicked on her visit to Kenya.
Sharing the photograph she writes, “After decades of documenting Africa’s big cats, the sight of a male lion in his prime – statuesque and regal – still leaves us breathless. These cats are symbols of nature’s remarkable beauty and raw brutality.”
“It’s no wonder then, that lions have inspired animated films and been immortalised in statues around the globe,” captioned the Photographer.
She expressed further that, “Sadly, there are more statues of these cats in the world today than there are actual lions living in the wild.”
Joubert confirmed that; Habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict and poaching continue to decimate lion populations and they now occupy as little as 5% of their historic range. But all is not lost.
She mentioned that to combat this rapid decline, they set up the Big Cats Initiative in 2009, together with the National Geographic.
The Initiative is now run by Great Plains Foundation, it supports the efforts to save big cats through assessment, on-the-ground conservation, education, and global public-awareness campaigns.
To date, the BCI has funded more than 150 projects, in 28 countries and has impacted massively on the future of these threatened cats.
Beverley urged, “This #WorldLionDay let’s unite in our efforts to protect lions and ensure that their roar continues to echo across Africa for generations to come.”
World Lion Day
World Lion Day is an annual event, which is observed on August 10th. This year, in 2024, it was celebrated as the 10th World Lion Day.
It was founded in 2013 by Derek and Beverly Joubert with the intention of raising awareness about the challenges that are faced by lions in the wild.
Prior to this, the Joubert couple also partnered with ‘National Geographic’ to create the Big Cat Initiative. And, this initiative is being focused again, on trying to stop the rapid decline in lion populations.