A boma or kraal is an African livestock enclosure built like a corral or fort. Keeping animals in bomas can protect the livestock from carnivore attacks. The effect may, however, be context dependent and the most effective design is the one that best targets the entrance technique of the carnivore that is threatening the livestock. A pole construction can reduce the predation risk on sheep and goats by spotted hyenas, but at the same time be less effective than a bush fence construction to protect them from leopard attacks. Fortified, or improved, enclosures can also reduce the predation risk by lions. Where multiple carnivore species are present it is possible that an enclosure design that prevents one type of carnivore from entering, facilitates the entrance of another and thereby the total predation risk may remain at a similar level.
