Merrueshi on the BBC

On Thursday 17 September 2026 the BBC told the story of LionAid’s Merrueshi project in Kenya. BBC South East journalist Stuart Maisner put together a filmed report for BBC South East Today and wrote the BBC News article Scheme aids lions in the wild and Kenyan villagers, and Chris Macsween, who founded LionAid, was interviewed live on BBC Radio Kent.

Watch the TV report

Listen to Chris on BBC Radio Kent

“In the whole time since we’ve run this project, not a single lion has been killed in retaliation for livestock losses.”

Chris Macsween, speaking to the BBC

What the BBC reported

The project was designed together with the Maasai communities of Merrueshi, beside Amboseli National Park, and they run it themselves. Solar panels power flashing lights around the fence of each manyatta, which keep lions away from livestock at night. In return, each household gives two head of livestock to a community insurance herd, managed by the elders, which replaces any animal lost to a predator. The same panels light the inside of people’s homes, so families no longer have to rely on kerosene lamps.

Read the BBC article →

Photographs from Merrueshi

The BBC’s coverage used Pete Haygarth’s photographs of Merrueshi. Here are a few more of them.

Thank you

A huge thank you to Stuart Maisner of BBC South East. Stuart took the time to understand the Merrueshi project, came to talk to Chris, and told the story with real care, on television, online and in the words he chose. He also sent us the broadcasts so we could keep them here. Coverage like this helps the Maasai communities and the lions far more than we could on our own.

Thank you too to the BBC South East and BBC Radio Kent teams, and to Pete Haygarth for his photographs.

We have kept copies of the broadcasts here, so they stay available long after the BBC’s own links expire.

About the Merrueshi project →Support the project →