Lise Hanssen is a well respected specialist in the field of conservation, with experience in a number of areas. Lise has over 14 years of experience in large carnivore conservation. She founded the Africat Foundation, and held the position of director of the foundation for ten years, as well as being on the board of trustees. For a period of eight years she was a co-owner of a tourism lodge and developed eco-tourism ventures related to the carnivore conservation field. During her time at Africat Lise hand-reared a number of rescued animals including a lion cub and a leopard cub as well as numerous Cheetah.

After leaving Africat she went on to study Namibia's desert lions with Dr Flip Stander before moving on to start her own research project - the Caprivi Carnivore project. This will look at the conflict between humans and wildlife in the Caprivi area of Namibia and will focus initially on the Spotted Hyena as it is responsible for most conflict with humans.

Interview conducted in association with the Predator Conservation Trust - www.predatorconservation.com

How important for you is it to have the financial backing of the Predator Conservation Trust and the exposure their website and publicity offers you?

Without financial backing from PCT I would have been unable to conduct the initial fact finding field trip in order to apply to the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism for a research permit. After I received my permit I was able to get started immediately with another grant received from PCT. I have had a solid relationship with PCT over a long period of time and essential and costly equipment as well as hard to fund items have been taken on by the trustees of the PCT.

Their website has been invaluable to my conservation involvement in many ways. The information on carnivores is regularly updated and the trustee’s personal photos and video clips taken during field trips to their various projects are shared with the public. They make all field reports and newsletters and even anecdotal news stories accessible to the broader public. They also update the public on the progress of their various projects and report on expenditure of funding in a transparent manner. The website has become an important tool for conservationists, students, etc and has reached an incredibly broad circulation which many of the field projects are unable to access on their own.

In the conservation field, where there are so many entities seeking funding, how do you approach each application and what do potential funders seek from your work?

When seeking funding I do thorough research on organisation’s funding criteria or various programmes in which my research could fit a piece of the puzzle. I think that funding priorities have changed and adapted over time to the various needs in the field. It seems that a lot more funding is steered towards collaborative projects on a government level. I also think that funders are seeking more measurable outcomes from projects that they fund, not just publicity and PR.


How does this current project, the Caprivi Carnivore Project compare with previous projects you have undertaken and what new results do you predict that differ from / or further serve to reinforce, previous hyaena research?

The Caprivi Carnivore Project is a huge challenge for me firstly because it involves a species (the spotted hyaena) that I have never studied and know very little about. In addition, the project is taking place in a rather unique area of which I know even less and hope over time to get to know.

The results may differ and reinforce previous research findings at the same time. The reason for this is that population ecology studies for a single species may vary considerably in different habitats or different areas, depending on the constraints of survival, but in order to effectively manage a species for the long term, the more baseline information the better. It adds to the bigger picture and all research and conservation makes an important contribution.

Why chose to study the spotted hyaena when in your own words - "Spotted hyaenas are the most abundant large carnivore in sub-Saharan Africa occurring in a wide range of habitats". What makes this study more important than the study of a critically endangered species in the same environment?

This study is not more important than any other study of any other species, critically endangered or not. At the end of the day conserving biodiversity for the long term is key, not conserving one species over another. It is an unfortunate state of affairs that there is only so much funding and so few individuals that are available to work on conservation issues and my field is large carnivores.

Livestock farmers in the Caprivi Region suffer losses to all species of carnivore including crocodiles. Spotted hyaenas are the cause of over 50% of the total losses as a result of large carnivore predation in the area which means there is a pressing need to study them and to attempt to address the associated conflict issues.

Spotted hyaenas have always fascinated me. Besides being endearing creatures, the more one learns about them the more intriguing they become. They have never been studied in the Caprivi Region so their ecology is a mystery. It is assumed that they are abundant in so many habitats, but they are extremely vulnerable and there seems little chance that live stock farming and spotted hyaenas could ever live in any kind of harmony which means that the protected areas are critical to the long term survival of this particular species.

How do you envisage increased tourism in underdeveloped safari destinations such as the Caprivi Strip impacting on wildlife, environment and communities? And in your opinion what is the road map to ensure that each aspect benefits from such an upturn in visitors and increased income?

As I have only spent a short time in the Caprivi Region and my observation of tourists, communities and wildlife is most probably biased I only make the assumption that increased tourism will impact in the most positive way all around. The communities, especially in the west Caprivi are extremely marginalized and could only benefit from job creation or community benefits coming from tourism operations developing in the area. A number of NGO’s in Namibia have been extremely active in driving community based natural resource management and related tourism activities among the communities in the rural areas with tremendous success. The benefits of this are immediately obvious. There is huge scope for more tourism enterprises especially those that are owned by the communities themselves.

From driving in the protected areas, it seems to me that many of them are extremely under utilized by tourists, having never bumped into a tourist car there myself. Much tourism activities centre around the rivers, including mokoro rides, etc, so there is huge potential for increased tourism in the parks.

As far as wildlife is concerned, with the focus of conservation and tourism changing to include community input and related benefits, I can only see tourism helping to support improved conservation measures in the region.


What are the difficulties experienced in working in such a region of Caprivi and how self sufficient does one have to be when undertaking such a project? Aside from the research aids what does your "Packing List" consist of for this amount of time in the bush?

On the last most recent field trip I found that getting stuck in the thick sandy areas a real problem especially as I did not have a hi-lift jack. This has since been remedied - after two trips to Katima Mulilo I finally have a very large solid jack. Something that is a personal difficulty is my fear of elephants. They terrify me. Luckily I have not encountered them too closely at this point, but it is only a matter of time. This is something that I will have to work hard to overcome as during the dry season the Caprivi is crawling with Pachyderms.

Although not a huge problem if one is prepared, the unpredictable fuel supply can be an inconvenience. Occasionally one ends of driving over 100Km to Katima Mulilo just to fill up the petrol tank. At the moment I carry extra jerry cans but I am hoping to arrange some 200 litre drums of fuel at a base camp area.

If one is spending long periods of time in the bush it is probably best to be as self sufficient as possible. Besides research equipment and camping gear, a few essential items on my field trip list include Peaceful Sleep mossie spray, a torch, GPS, spare batteries, extra water and fuel, matches, sunblock and cellphone with a charged battery.

Water is another essential, which was a lifesaver when we got stuck for four hours in thick sand. Although one is surrounded by perennial rivers in the Caprivi, they are full of crocodiles so getting water from them is a hazardous undertaking.