Growing Conservation Impact in the Greater Kafue Landscape
Hello from Musekese Conservation – a Zambian conservation organisation working in the Greater Kafue Landscape protecting wildlife and restoring the ecosystem through resource protection, community engagement and research and monitoring!
Our partnership with NatureSpy began in the research and monitoring programme’s early days in 2021, when their camera traps helped us run density surveys across our core area establishing large carnivore baselines. Since then, both our work and the role of these cameras in our research have grown significantly.
In 2023, a new collaboration with Panthera for a cross-landscape survey using their camera traps meant that we could redeploy the NatureSpy units in new and innovative ways across our study area.
A curious spotted hyena approaches the camera
Strengthening Conservation and Tourism Links
In 2024, we placed NatureSpy cameras with several collaborating lodges. This gave tourism operators the chance to see what wildlife was moving around their camps when no one was looking. The result was fascinating footage, lively guest conversations, and a stronger understanding of how conservation and tourism are connected.
These partnerships have since developed into a citizen science network: guides and guests now record wildlife sightings during game drives, adding valuable data to our records.
Monitoring Human Presence & Predator Activity
We also deployed cameras in and around our research camp to study how human presence—whether from tourism operations or research activities—affects the behaviour of lions, leopards, and spotted hyenas. Camps, whether research or tourism, operates only during the dry season, but a small maintenance team remains during the wet season.
By comparing footage from both seasons, we aim to learn whether predator activity patterns change when human activity drops. The 2024 data set is promising, but we will collect a second year of data in 2025 before beginning full analysis. You can see a sneak preview in two compilation videos of our two of our target species - leopards and lions.
New Research Pilots in 2025
This year, NatureSpy cameras are contributing to several exciting pilot projects:
- Cheetah Marking Sites – In partnership with PhD student Anna Kusler, we are monitoring shared cheetah marking hubs to identify individuals, understand their space use, and highlight areas for targeted protection.
- Wild Dog Dens – With the Zambian Carnivore Programme, we are monitoring three active dens to confirm pup numbers, document behaviour, and assess survival rates.
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Wild Dog Density Pilot – Testing a new method to estimate population density by focusing on shared wild dog marking sites. In 2025, we will identify these sites; in 2026, we plan to run a full survey that could produce robust density estimates with far less effort than traditional grid-based methods.
The Musekese team installing trail cameras in new locations
Expanding into Mumbwa GMA
Mumbwa Game Management Area (GMA) is a mixed-use landscape zoned for development, resource use, tourism, and conservation. Despite these zonings benefiting both local communities and wildlife, illegal settlements and resource harvesting remain a serious challenge.
Since 2023, Musekese Conservation, working with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), has run both law enforcement and community engagement programmes in Mumbwa GMA. In 2025, our research and monitoring programme is joining these efforts to measure the positive impacts of our work.
With NatureSpy’s support, we are combining methods:
- Lions – Surveyed via Search & Encounter vehicle transects from August 1st – October 31st.
- Leopards, Spotted Hyenas, and Other Mammals – Surveyed via a three-month NatureSpy camera trap deployment from September 1st to November 30th.
Musekese Conservation’s research and monitoring programme is growing rapidly, and NatureSpy’s continued support is helping us expand our reach, trial new survey methods, and increase conservation impact across the Greater Kafue Ecosystem.
Blog by Charlotte Krag - Research & Site Manager at Musekese Conservation
