Lion Tracking Experience in Uganda
Lion tracking experience in Uganda is an amazing experiential tourism activity that has travellers tracking down lions to their exact location, and spending a longer time with the lions. Lion tracking experience in Uganda can only be done in Queen Elizabeth National Park. Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of the best national parks from where one can experience a true and typical Africa safari experience.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is located in the south western part of Uganda, having been established in 1952 as the Kazinga National Park then. Queen Elizabeth National Park is a thrilling wilderness of vast savannah plains and amazing landscapes, savannah grasslands, plains, crater lakes, gorges say the Kyambura Gorge, forests like the, Maramagambo forest, woodlands, with the Ruwenzori Mountain giving an a mazing backdrop to the park. All of these features in Queen Elizabeth National Park inhabit a variety of wildlife; Queen Elizabeth National Park hosts over 95 mammal species as well as over 617 bird species freely roaming the park. Among the various wildlife in Queen Elizabeth National Park include large numbers of buffaloes, elephants, serried ranges of hippos, crocodiles in the Kazinga channel, kobs, hyenas and the lions especially the tree climbing lions in Ishasha Sector, among so many others.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is a lion conservation unit, with about 250 cats found in both the northern and southern sectors of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Queen Elizabeth National Park, for this reason, is the best and only place where lion tracking experiences in Uganda can be done. Apart from the lions, the park hosts a number of tree climbing lions especially found in the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park, and has the largest population of tree climbing lions in the world. Travellers can encounter these tree climbing lions by having a game drive in the Ishasha sector of the park, an activity that shall leave you very thrilled. Much more than encountering the tree climbing lions, a lion tracking experience shall leave you literally speechless.
Lion tracking experience in Uganda, in Queen Elizabeth National Park, only takes place in the northern sectors of Queen Elizabeth National Park, which is the Kasenyi plains. Lion tracking is one of the top things to in Queen Elizabeth National Park, for it gives travellers an opportunity to encounter the lions.
Lion tracking experience in Uganda, especially in Queen Elizabeth National Park, is done either in the early morning, or in the afternoon hours of the day. Lion tracking in Queen Elizabeth National Park has travellers following a pride of lions, with one of them, usually the dominant lioness of the pride, having a radio collar attached to the neck. The lion tracking experience activity involves closely following the lions to learn of their behaviours, feeding habits as well as get acquainted with their natural habitat. During your lion tracking experience in Uganda, in the park, information about the pride shall be shared by the researchers.
During lion tracking, the driver can drive off track, unlike when on the usual game drive where travellers follow a particular trail. The device on the collar of the dominant has batteries, and a GPS location which the researchers follow. When almost reaching the pride, the researchers are notified by a beep in one of their devices, and thus slowing down or even switching off the engine of the safari vehicle. If lucky, you may get to see the researchers on your lion tracking team collecting DNA, blood, urine, saliva, ticks and so much more from the lions, after of course tranquilizing them.
The lion tracking experience in Uganda is done in the company of a team of researchers from the Uganda Carnivore Program. The Uganda Carnivore Program (UCP) is a department under the Uganda Wildlife Authority, a body responsible for the protection and conservation of all the Uganda national parks, and the UCP focuses mostly on conservation and research of the predators in the park. While on a lion tracking experience in Uganda, in Queen Elizabeth National Park to be exact, travellers can still spot a number of other predators like leopards, hyenas, and so much more.
To be able to take part in a lion tracking experience in Uganda, one needs to book well in advance to be able to be part of the party that is to track the lions in Queen Elizabeth National Park. Lion Tracking experience in Queen Elizabeth National Park costs USD100 for foreign non-residents and foreign residents, while East African citizens pay only ugx100000, with payment being made at the Mweya Information Centre or you may do so through your preferred tour operator. Lion tracking in Uganda has a limit to the number of travellers that can a research team per session per day. Limiting the number of people in the team helps to make the lion tracking experience not only more personal but also not to stress out the lions and other wildlife in the park.
Whereas there are early morning and evening lion tracking sessions, night lion tracking can also be arranged. For which ever time or session you are booked for to do the lion tracking experience, be sure to keep time to make it to the briefing time. During briefing, you shall be told of what you should expect, do and not do while out tracking lions in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
The best time to do lion tracking in Queen Elizabeth National Park is during the dry season, when the roads are more passable and the grass shorter that viewing the lions is easier. However, irrespective of the season, Queen Elizabeth National Park can be visited all throughout the year, even during the wet season.
Other than lion tracking, there are a number of other tourist activities in Uganda and Queen Elizabeth National Park that travellers can do, say game drives, bird watching, boat safaris on Kazinga channel, community tourism, among so many other activities in Queen Elizabeth National Park. Combining a lion tracking experience in Uganda safari with a gorilla safari in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park for example is a great option. Take time and reach out to a knowledgeable tour operator to help you put together an amazing Uganda safari, and get to enjoy a lion tracking experience in Uganda.
