Tiptoe, camera clicks and fear of being prey as one tracks tree-climbing lions

On a Thursday morning in November 2023, I and five friends embarked on a journey to Queen Elizabeth National Park in Kasese District. It was the second destination on the itinerary of a road trip around tourism sites in western Uganda after Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Kanungu District where we participated in gorilla tracking. 

The main activity we were to do at Queen Elizabeth was tracking tree -climbing lions. From Bwindi where we started off the journey in a Toyota Land Cruiser TX at 8am. It took us approximately five hours to Kasese District. The journey was long because of bumpy murrum stretches that slowed down the vehicle. At the time, Kasese was hot and we wore light clothes but packed enough soft drinks and snacks.  

Check-in and debrief
After checking-in and visiting the park headquarters at 2pm, we had to drive for approximately one hour to Ishasha Game Reserve. This is one of the few areas in Uganda famous for tree-climbing lions and leopards that belong to the cat family.

There, we met Emmanuel Esabu who served as our ranger guide for the afternoon. 
What scared me was that Esabu and his colleague are stationed in a bushy area in the middle of nowhere in two steel uniports. One serves as an office and another as a resting place. There was also a relatively small brick house a few metres from the uniports where I found out the ranger guides sleep. When I stood in the bush under one ranger’s eye, my legs were literally covered by shrubs.  

As we received a briefing from Esabu under a tree, I was less attentive because my eyes scanned the bushes in my vicinity. I was imagining a lion emerging from the bushes at a terrific speed, grabbing and tearing me or any of my friends into pieces. The closest I had ever been to a lion was in a cage at Uganda Wildlife Education Centre at Entebbe.  

The tracking
After briefing, the adventure started following the route that Esabu had taken through with previous trackers shortly before we arrived. We drove for approximately five minutes through bushes with no marked road and we were face to face with two lions lying on a fig tree branch. None of us, even Esabu who was armed with an AK-47 gun, could risk disembarking from the car. The best we could do was lower the car windows. 

“Seeing lions is luck because they are only 17 in the sector and are mobile. They live in a pride and mostly climb trees and rest on branches to avoid bites from tsetse flies,” Esabu says. 

“They aerially survey where their prey is as they wait for evening hours to descend and start hunting by taking the direction where they saw the prey and ambush at once. It doesn’t take much time before they have their prey,” he adds. 

Face to face with the lion
We interacted with the lions for approximately an hour. In this time, the only way of communication in the car was whispering. Only camera flash and clicks were louder than the whispers. The car engine was also turned off, or else it attracted lions to descend to the car. As we watched the two lions in the tree, the third, slightly younger than those in the tree, emerged tiptoeing towards the car on the side of the lowered car window. 

We had all not expected it, save for Freddie, who occupied the extreme rear seat of the car, after seeing bushes through which the lion moved, shaking. When the engine started, we had to raise the window, the lion ran to the bushes to join the others in the tree. 

About lions        
According to Esabu, lions have a lifespan of 12 to 17 years. Females live longer than males because they do more hunting, after which they invite the males and the cubs to eat first.

When a lioness  makes a kill, it sucks out blood that contains haemoglobin that satisfies them fast. Females also live longer than males because they do more exercises compared to males.  

Lions normally give birth to a maximum of six cubs and a minimum of four. When cubs are produced, they spend approximately 18 months with their mothers. After six months, the mother starts training them how to hunt and climb trees.

They start with trees that have been collapsed by elephants or fell on their own. After six months of learning how to climb trees, the cubs separate from the pride to form their own. Lions adopt fast because of genes in their blood. 

“Tree climbing lions are some of the animals that attract tourists in the park. We do a lot of interaction with communities inside and outside the park because the park is neighboured by communities. We interact in good and bad ways. Good through sharing resources and bad in human wildlife conflict,” says Esabu. 

About the park 
Queen Elizabeth is a man and biosphere reserve. Biosphere means wildlife coexists with humans within the protected area. The park has 11 fishing villages, all within the protected area. It is home to approximately 612 bird species, 35 reptiles, nine primate species and 17 lions within the Ishasha sector. 

The park is located within the Greater Virunga landscape (GVL) shared between Uganda, Rwanda and the DR Congo. What affects wildlife in one country affects Queen Elizabeth National Park and vice versa. On the Ugandan side, Virunga landscape is in the Southern side of the park at Bwera. It is also known for birding and connects to Kibaale and Rwenzori National parks.

The park has the highest public road network that connects the fishing villages and falls within the rift valley that crosses Murchison Falls National park up to Mgahinga. 

The rift valley is one of the areas with many ecosystems that overlap and is diverse with different animal species and lakes, George and Edward. 

Tip

What you ought to know.
Cubs spend approximately 18 months with their mothers. After six months, the mother starts training them how to hunt and climb trees. They start with trees that have been collapsed by elephants or fell on their own. After six months of learning how to climb, the cubs separate from the pride.

Butterfly tourism...Melody of wonders
Queen Elizabeth National Park is also known as the melody of wonders. The national park is also home to Kyambura gorge. On top, the gorge is savanna and a rainforest at the bottom. It is where you can track chimpanzees in Uganda.
The park has 11 fishing villages, all within the protected area. It is home to approximately 612 bird species, 35 reptiles, nine primate species and 17 lions within the Ishasha sector.