Lions, a symbol of Africa, are disappearing from West Africa

Lions, that symbol of Africa's wild beauty, power and freedom, no longer roam in Mali. Or in Ivory Coast or Ghana or war-shattered eastern Congo. Or most of the rest of West Africa.

Three years of searching and no sight of a lion for Philipp Henschel, lion survey coordinator for the New York-based Panthera conservation group.

Then he saw it, his first lion in West Africa. And in of all places, Nigeria.

"It came as a big surprise because Nigeria has by far the biggest human population on the continent, and the national parks are fairly small . . .