AL-BAGEIR, Sudan — Kandaka the lioness was
once sick and emaciated in a rundown zoo in
Sudan’s capital, but thanks to
wildlife enthusiasts she now thrives in a reserve watching her cubs grow.
اضافة اعلان
She was among five lions suffering from starvation
and disease with visibly protruding ribs and flaccid skin, held in grim cages
with rusty bars in
Khartoum’s Al-Qurashi zoo.
Conditions worsened as Sudan’s economic crisis
deepened in the wake of months-long protests in 2019 that led to the toppling
of former dictator
Omar Al-Bashir.
Of the five lions in the ramshackle zoo, two died.
The animals’ plight shot to public attention two
years ago after an online campaign prompted veterinarians, conservationists and
animal enthusiasts the world over to rush to their aid.
Along with the two other surviving lions, Kandaka
was moved to the Al-Bageir reserve.
“Their health has since improved greatly,” said
Othman Salih, who founded the reserve in January 2021.
The site, an hour’s drive south of Khartoum, spreads
over some four hectares, or about the size of six football pitches.
As a testament to her recovery, the five-year-old
lioness was called Kandaka — the name of Sudan’s ancient Nubian queens.
It is a term that has come to be associated with the
women who played a vital role in the protests that unseated Bashir.
She is now thriving in Al-Bageir, one of 17 lions
from across Sudan.
Daily struggle
Keeping the reserve up and running comes with its own set of steep
challenges.
Volunteers, often juggling full-time jobs with their
passion for
animal welfare, have been struggling with long commutes, soaring
prices and limited resources.
The challenges have increased since last year’s
military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, which triggered regular
mass protests and roadblocks.
“The prices are very high,” said Salih, who travels
to the reserve all the way from Khartoum every day.
The reserve’s running costs remain high, including
providing more than 100 kilograms of meat for the big cats daily.
It has so far been kept afloat by donations and
tours for
schoolchildren and families.
But Sudan, one of the world’s poorest countries, has
been reeling from a plunging economy due to decades of international isolation
and mismanagement under Bashir.
Almost one third of Sudan’s 45 million people are
estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2022, according to the
UN.
“Lots of Sudanese people are hungry,” said Salih.
“So all aid is funneled to the people. It’s only natural.”
But Salih says the government and private businesses
have done little to support the reserve.
“We try to get by through charging for entry
tickets,” he added, with entrance costing between $2–4.
“But it is still not enough, and we often pay from
our own money to cover the cost.”
Source of hope
The reserve remains a source
of hope for many.
“I still go there every day,” said volunteer Moataz
Kamal, who lives in the capital’s twin city of Omdurman. “It’s like the world
outside doesn’t exist when I am here.”
He pointed in particular to the survival of a male
lion from the eastern city of
Port Sudan, after battling years of starvation
and severely poor health.
The lion was named Mansour, which translates to the
“victor”, for overcoming such conditions.
It is not known how many lions survive in the wild
in Sudan.
A population lives in Dinder National Park, a UNESCO
biosphere reserve, on the border with Ethiopia.
African lions are classified as a “vulnerable”
species by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Their population dropped 43 percent between 1993 and
2014, with an estimated 20,000 left in the wild.
But Salih still hopes that his reserve will push
through hardship and rescue more animals, and remind the Sudanese people of the
wildlife that has been lost from the country.
“Perhaps one day, we will be able to have elephants,
giraffes, and zebras that have disappeared from Sudan,” said Salih.
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