African Inventor of the Month – Richard Turere

Richard Turere is a young Maasai inventor who created the famous Lion Lights. Created out of the need to protect his family livestock from roving lions, Richard has gone on to hold a Ted Talk while his invention has been replicated in other communities.

The Problem

Richard Turere and his Maasai family lived on the outskirts of Kenya’s Nairobi National Park in the plain of Kitengela. At the age of nine, he became responsible for his family’s livestock, which included a herd of cattle. Home to some of the continent’s large predators, the National Park is not fenced along its southern border. This left rural communities, including Richard’s family settlement, prone to attack by marauding lions seeking game. The cattle, sleeping in pens around the homes, were most vulnerable, and the lions killed them off regularly. Richard Turere’s family were losing up to 9 cows per week to marauding lions.

As the herdsman of his Maasai family cattle, Richard Turere found it his responsibility to rectify the solution. Cattle were the a store of wealth for the Maasai people, after all. As they lost their cattle, the people sometimes vented their frustrations by killing the lions in retaliation.

Richard imagined that lions generally kept their distance from humans. He therefore erected a scarecrow near the animal pen, and for some time, the lions kept away. But they soon became clever to his antics and continued feeding on his family’s livestock. When he built a darker shed so the lions couldn’t see, it wasn’t enough to keep the cattle safe.

Lion Lights

Eventually, Richard came to realise that lions kept their distance from people patrolling with bright flash lights. He thought the lions were scared of the moving lights and, therefore, engineered an LED light device to try out his intuition. He fit the lights on poles that he planted around the cattle enclosure, allowing the bulbs to face outward instead of inward. When switched on, the LED lights flashed across the pen, mimicking the movement of a person. Ever since his invention, Richard Turere’s family hasn’t suffered a lion attack on their livestock.

Richard had taught himself how electricals operated prior to creating the led light. He used to break up electronic devices to see what was inside and, in the process, built useful household appliances like electric fans. His curiousity paid off when he managed to create the LED lights using solar panels and an old battery from a broken vehicle.

Richard was 11 years when he created Lion lights.

Impact of the Lion Lights

Since its creation, Richard Turere’s Lion Lights have been replicated in over 750 farms across Kenya. Lionlights, the organisation under which Richard deploys his inventions, is said to employ 50 youths.

Because majority of the people who use the lights don’t know how to operate it, Richard has had to tweak the Lion Lights to make them automatic. After installation, all it took was a switch for the Lion Lights to light up. The Lion Lights cost about $200 now, and international organisations help the locals by taking up half of the cost.

For days when the weather is overcast with great cloud cover, the solar technology becomes quite useless. Richard Turere, therefore, created a new version of the Lion Lights that came with a wind turbine to protect the community’s livestock from wildlife without any loss of life.

The humane defense against wildlife has earned Richard Turere notable sponsorship especially for his Lion Lights. African Wildlife Foundation, Big Life Foundation, and Wildlife Direct, are some of Richard’s partners who are excited that lions are being protected alongside human life and livestock.

Ewaso Lions, a group dedicated to promoting peaceful co-existence between communities and wildlife, have used the Lion Lights in two Communities in Kenya. With five Lion Lights in two separate communities, Ewaso has reported a 100% success rate in protecting lions and the livestock in those communities.

Lion Lights have become the perfect defense against predators including hyenas, leopards, and even elephants.

Scholarship

Richard Turere received a scholarship to Brookhouse International School, a prestigious school in Kenya, due to his invention. In 2013, he spoke at a Ted Talk about the invention that made peace between his Maasai family and the lions. Richard has also met Jack Ma, founder of China’s Alibaba. Richard Turere patented the technology to became Kenya’s youngest patent holder at the age of 15.