Best places to find Lions in Uganda : Lions are referred to as the greatest and most fierce carnivores living creatures in the wild thus they are named as “the king of the jungle” within the Savannah national parks across Africa and Uganda. Uganda is blessed with very wonderful scenery all across, the vegetation cover is amazing as some places are covered with forests, there are places with savannah vegetation and a lot of other vegetation types. These are great homes for lions, the King of the jungle. They are found in different National Parks across the country including;
Best places to find Lions in Uganda : Kidepo Valley National Park
Kidepo Valley national park is one of the parks in Uganda located in the Northeastern part of Uganda with a steadily growing population of lions thus the reason it is ranked as one of Africa’s best wilderness national parks. Also considered the best savannah destination in Uganda to find the lions. This park is one of the unspoiled national parks and not so long ago in 2015 December CNN listed the third best tourism destination in Africa. It is distant location is probably one of the reasons why there are plenty of animals
This park is located in a very remote area along the border of Uganda and Sudan, it has that rugged kind of beautiful landscape with rocky parts, there are some parts covered by wetlands and others are savannah plains. Lions area often seen lying on top of the rocks sun bathing, they tend to lay quite under tree shades in the middle of the savannah grass covered areas and most times they are not easily see.
Best places to find Lions in Uganda : Queen Elizabeth national park
Queen Elizabeth national park is the most famous destination for lions in Uganda with the largest population of lions in Uganda. This park is located in the western part of Uganda about 6 hours’ drive from Kampala city. The park is most famous for the tree-climbing lions that are only found in the southern part of the park called the Ishasha sector. As you drive through Ishasha region of the park, you will continue to search around those big trees for the climbing lions. They spend a lot of their time of the day resting up in the fig trees and the view is so amazing especially when you find a number of them lying up in one tree. This part of the sector is one of the rarely visited parts of this park despite the existence of these lions. You have to follow the lion tracking trails that were set up and the search is much more fun and easier in the morning hours.
Other parts of the park where you can expect to see a number of lion is the northern part of the park known as Kasenyi Plains. The lions this side are not exactly the tree climbing type therefore you will find these roaming around on the ground and this is usually during the wildlife search activity/ the game drive in the northern area. Game drives are conducted both in the morning and in the evening hours and lions can be seen during any time.
Best places to find Lions in Uganda : Murchison Falls national park
Murchison falls national park is blessed with that beautiful savannah grassland studded with those huge Borassus Palm Trees and these make the park’s landscape look beautiful perfect for wildlife viewing including the lions. In Murchison falls national park, lions are often seen during the game drive on the northern side of the park where most animals found a home. An early morning game drive or very late game drive gives you a better chance of seeing the lions.
Murchison falls national park is a little bit extraordinary compared to the other parks where you can find lion because lion watching in this park is combined with the existence of the amazing Murchison Falls which will see if to take a ride along the Victoria Nile. Trip to Murchison falls national park gives you the opportunity to see all the Big-5 animals while on the same trip because you can easily incorporate the visit to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, the only place where rhinos in the wilderness are found in Uganda.
Other places that may have lions in Uganda
A few lions have been spotted in Lake Mburo National park as well as in Semliki Wildlife Reserve. It is however rare to see lions in Toro-Semliki national reserve and Lake Mburo national park. If you found some lions in this park, then you consider yourself a very lucky visitor.
The Uganda Entebbe Zoo, is another place you can visit to see the lions in Uganda. The Entebbe zoo guarantees your opportunity to see the lions in case you miss out on seeing them during your Uganda safari.
Despite the very many places where lions can be found, it is true that the total number of lions in Uganda is very small and it is because they are under threat in many parts of the country. Human activities like farming and settlement is encroaching on the lions’ habitats and people do kill lions once they become a threat to them or their domestic animals.
