WOW Review: Volume XVII, Issue 2 • Page 6 of 9 • Worlds of Words

Lion Lights: My Invention That Made Peace with Lions
Written by Richard Turere with Shelly Pollock
Illustrated by Sonia Possentini
Tilbury House Publishers, 2022, 32 pp (unpaged)
ISBN: 9780884488859

Richard Turere tells the story of how he invented a system of lights to protect livestock from predators, now used in many places around the world. Richard is Maasai, and was trained from the time he was a young boy to herd sheep and goats, moving on at age nine to guarding the family’s mobile wealth, his family’s cows. The family farm borders the unfenced south side of Nairobi National Park in Kenya, so lions target the easy prey of cattle instead of faster zebras. The cows are herded each night into a boma or corral, constructed of thorny acacia branches. The bomas keep the cows in but are not effective at keeping the lions out.

Richard tries all kinds of ways of keeping the predators at bay; fires and scarecrows work temporarily, but lions are smart and not easily fooled, quickly figuring out that the scarecrows or fires stay in the same place so can be circumvented. Desperate farmers kill and poison lions, while conservationists try to protect the disappearing lions by paying for dead cows, building chain-link fences, or offering guard dogs. Nothing works–lions keep killing cows and Maasai men keep killing lions. When Richard discovers the family’s bull dead from a lion attack, he realizes he needs to either outsmart the lions or hate them.

Richard has always been curious and takes electronic items like TVs and radios apart in order to figure out how they work. One night he notices that lions stay away from his moving flashlight when he patrols the boma. He finds and collects spare electronic parts like light bulbs, wires and switches. He experiments until one evening, after wiring flashlight bulbs to the boma fence posts, he flips a switch and the bulbs flash on and off in a circular fashion so it looks like someone is constantly walking around the boma. The lions stay away night after night. The Lion Lights keep the cattle safe! Richard has saved the family’s cows, which is a Maasai warrior’s duty, but the lights also keep the lions safe. Since then, he has refined his invention so that the sequence of flashing lights varies and lions are unable to learn the light patterns.

The World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature/Kenya estimates that 43% of the African continent’s lions have disappeared over the last 20 years, and one of the main reasons is human-lion conflict and the lack of incentives for communities to tolerate lions. Richard’s Lion Lights won the European Patent Office’s Young Inventor Award, and are now used around the world with wildlife including elephants in other African countries, pumas in Argentina, and tigers in India. They are an example of creative ways humans adapt techniques so that they can live in harmony with wildlife.

The illustrations by Sonia Possentini use dramatic colors to underscore the life and death struggle of cattle with predators and the zeal of herders and conservationists to keep all animals safe. The realistic paintings portray the gorgeous landscapes of the Kenyan savannah, but also the drama of Richard trying to protect his family’s cattle, the lions trying to survive, and the Maasai people trying to meld their traditions with reduced grazing land and the need to support Kenya’s tourism trade.

Many themes suggest possible book pairs. One theme is other ways in which humans have learned to live in harmony with wildlife. Structures to facilitate wildlife crossings are explained in Make Way for Animals!: A World of Wildlife Crossings (Meeg Pincus & Bao Luu, 2022), and Crossings: Extraordinary Structures for Extraordinary Animals (Katy Duffield & Mike Orodán, 2020). In The Lion Who Stole My Arm (Nicola Davies & Anabel Wright, 2013) a boy in Mozambique loses an arm in a lion attack but gains knowledge from scientists who help him change from a focus on revenge to understanding the plight of lions and working in conservation. Another theme is the value placed on cattle by the Maasai, vividly portrayed in 14 Cows for America (Carmen Agra Deedy, Thomas Gonzalez, & Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah, 2008).

The back matter includes a two-page history of the Maasai, a glossary of Maasai words, and print and digital resources to expand learning. This history gives additional information that explains the cultural significance for the Maasai of cattle. Author Shelley Pollack has created an impressive website to support extended learning about Richard Turere, Lion Lights, and the conservation of wildlife.

Richard Turere invented Lion Lights at the age of 12. He is now a graduate of the African Leadership University where he studied wildlife conservation. He presented a 2013 TED talk in California at the age of 13, became a National Geographic Young Explorer in 2020, and won the European Young Inventor’s Prize in 2023.

Shelley Pollack taught school for decades. When she heard the story of the Lion Lights, she knew that children needed to hear about Richard and his invention; however it took years and many tries to get the story published. Find out more about the book on her website.

Sonia Possentini is an award-winning painter from Modena, Italy. She is a professor of illustration at the International School of Comics in Reggio Emilia and at the University in Padua. She is passionate about art, gardening, and her two dogs who go everywhere with her. Her favorite spreads in the book to illustrate were the lions, and she hopes to someday see a live one! More information can be found at the website for Lion Lights.

Susan Corapi, Trinity International University

Authors retain copyright over the vignettes published in this journal and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under the following Creative Commons License: