Episode 124: African Wildlife Conservation with Lilian Mremi

Those of you who either read the excellent book “Cries of the Savanna” by Sue Tidwell or listened to the podcast episode with her are familiar with Lilian Mremi, a Game Scout and Tanzanian Wildlife Ranger. Shortly after the episode was published many of you expressed great interest in hearing directly from Lilian. I thought it would be an excellent idea and so today I am pleased to publish my conversation with her.

During our conversation, we touched on all the usual topics such as human-wildlife conflict, national parks, game reserves, poaching, and law and regulations as they pertain to hunting. Of course, I did not forget to ask Lilian about her views on the deteriorating public opinion of hunting and on the attempts in the USA, UK and EU to pass legislation banning imports of hunting trophies. Finally, we discussed the differences between hunting tourism and non-extractive tourism. And her answers might not be exactly what some of you would expect.

Of course, we have discussed these topics many times on my podcast. But in this episode, we have an opportunity to hear directly from a local Tanzanian ranger who lives and breathes these issues every day.