Dr. Laurence G. Frank Living With Lions Project Director

Laurence has been a research associate at the University of California, Berkeley since 1984, first as part of the Berkeley Hyena Project and currently in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology.

He spent twenty years studying the behavioural ecology and endocrinology of the spotted hyena before turning to conservation research. Laurence directs the Living with Lions project in Kenya.

Alayne Cotterill Project Biologist, LPP

Alayne has been awarded a Kaplan fellowship from Panthera, and is now commencing her PhD studies at Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit. She has an MSc in Tropical Resource Ecology from the University of Zimbabwe where her thesis was a cost benefit analysis of keeping lions on a commercial wildlife ranch. Alayne has been trained in the chemical and physical capture and restraint of wild animals, and has extensive big cat field research experience in Africa. She is currently focusing her research on determining which factors are most important in the development of livestock depredation behaviour in lions.

Leela Hazzah Lion Guardians Director, Carnivore Conservationist, APP

Leela obtained her MSc from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and has completed her first year of PhD studies there. Her research focuses on the motivations behind lion killing and attitudes of Maasai towards carnivores. She has a Biology degree from Denison University, is fluent in Swahili, and has worked as a GIS analyst and researcher in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Leela has been awarded a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Fellowship, a Kaplan Fellowship, a Fellowship from Wings WorldQuest and a Jordan Prize for African Studies.

Read Leela's MSc thesis

Stephanie Dolrenry Carnivore Conservationist, APP

Stephanie has completed her first year of PhD studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her research focuses on lion and spotted hyena conflict in Maasai communities and the link between carnivore predation on livestock and retaliatory poisoning. She is also analyzing lion and hyena movements and foraging ecology around Maasai homes. Stephanie has a National Science Foundation Doctoral Fellowship and a Kaplan Fellowship. She has a Wildlife Conservation and Management degree from Missouri State University and has spent the past ten years as a field biologist in the US, the Caribbean, Hawaii and Kenya.

Steven Ekwanga Research assistant, LPP

Steve’s main area of expertise is community relations and predator-problem troubleshooting, as well as lion captures. He has been with LPP for several years and is highly competent at most aspects of the running of the project.

Amy Howard Media and communications manager, LWL

Amy has a BSc in Zoology from Edinburgh University and an MSc in Biological Photography and Imaging from Nottingham University, UK. She wrote, designed and developed this website, also providing much of the photography. She manages the website and the Lion Guardians blog, as well as the communications and media for Living with Lions. She also helps run the Lion Guardians program.

Antony Kasanga Lion Guardians Assistant Director

Antony is currently studying for a Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice at the University of Oxford. We hope he will bring his newly learnt skills back to his home in Maasailand to continue working with the Lion Guardians on Mbirikani Group Ranch when his course finishes in November.

Sara Blackburn Project Biologist, MPP

Sara recently graduated from the University of London with a BSc in Zoology, and is running the new Mara Predator Project (MPP). She is responsible for building the identification database of MPP lions, and designed the Mara Lion ID Database website. Her main roles include assessing the lion population, noting cases of livestock conflict, and identifying how both lions and the local community can benefit from future conservation efforts. Sara is also developing ways for visitors to contribute reliably to predator distribution data by involving lodge guides and guests in lion identification.  

Philip Briggs Lion Guardians Co-ordinator

Philip was born and raised in Kenya and lived in the Chyulu Hills as a young child. Returning to this area again to help with its conservation is a goal that Philip had been striving towards for a number of years. He has recently joined the Lion Guardians team where his role is co-ordinating the program in Mbirikani, and starting up the new Lion Guardians on Olgulului and Eselenkei group ranches. Philip is also a wildlife photographer and his images can be viewed at www.philipjbriggs.com.

Kylie McQualter Project Biologist, KLCP

Kylie completed a Bachelor of Biological Science at La Trobe University (Australia) then moved on to the University of New South Wales for her Honours year for which she examined the feeding ecology of baboons in South Africa.

After gaining further field experience working for an environmental and wildlife consultancy in Australia and doing three years of chimpanzee conservation work in Uganda, Kylie has shifted her focus to lions and is now the biologist for the Kilimanjaro Lion Conservation Project. She is hoping to start a PhD in the near future.

Eric Ole Kesoi Lion Guardians Co-ordinator - Eselenkei Group Ranch

Eric, a Maasai from Eselenkei Group Ranch is fluent in Maa, Swahili and English and trained as a community development worker, working for an NGO in Kajiado, Southern Kenya before joining the project.

He is highly respected by his community and is very influential both within his own group ranch and outside it. Eric is an excellent tracker and has participated in several successful lion hunts in the past. He is now working with the Lion Guardians project to help conserve his local lion population.

Lisette Gelber Project Manager and Administrator, LWL

Lisette Gelber left a successful career in financial services to take on organizational, financial and administrative responsibilities for LWL. 

She is based in San Francisco but travels to Kenya frequently, where she can be found visiting the different projects.

Mary Smulders Spatial Analyst, LWL

Mary is a GIS and spatial analyst. Alongside the project biologists, she has been collecting and analyzing lion and habitat-related spatial data. Analyses include assessing lion pride dynamics, relationships between lions and cattle bomas and lion habitat selection.

Mary obtained her MSc in Geography from the University of Victoria, Canada, where she studied grizzly bear movements and habitat selection models. Mary also has an Advanced Diploma in GIS from the Centre of Geographical Sciences, Canada.