Tour Guide, Kampala, Uganda
| 3 mins read
Lions are among a few big cats found Uganda’s National Parks and it is among the most wanted to be seen animal while on game drive. A fully grown lion will normally weigh between 150-250kg for males whereas females can weigh between 120-182kgs, and can live in the wild up 14years. They can live for over 15yearswhen in zoos. Females always do most of the hunting. The Male will need at least 7kgs of meat per day while females need 5kgs perday.For example after hunting a Buffalo, a lion can consume up to 30kgs of meat and can sleep by for a simple digestion to consume more of the meat if other lions fail to finish the hunt.In open areas like Murchison falls National Park, where there are many thickets, lions will normally pull Uganda Kobs, into the thickets so that they don't get any disturbance from hyenas and moving Safari cars around.
The female produce by the age of 4 years, and can mate with any male before it conceives andmating can take up to several days. The gestation period is 110days after which a female will give birth from 1- 4 cubs normally in a secluded area like thicket which cannot be easily reached especially like the Hyenas who would want to kill and eat the cubs and
The cubs normally weigh 1.2–2.1kg.The lion being found up in the tree branch is a unique adventure moment as lions are often found in the open savannah grasslands roaming around, sleeping, resting or hunting. These lions will normally climb and rest in these fig trees whenever it approaches noon. When it is raining or still slippery in the morning,it is hard to find them up in the trees.
Uganda has tree climbing lions that are found in Queen Elizabeth National Park in the Southern section near the Congo boarder.They climb and rest in the umbrella fig trees to cover away from the sun, target their prey, and sometimes run away from the mosquitoes or tsetse flies that are carried by the Warthogs and Cape Buffalos.TheIshasha Sectoris very famous because of its mystifying population of the tree-climbing lions that are a very exceptional attraction and as well one of the major highlights for which most guests visit this park. The Lions are normally seen lazily lying up within the branches of the huge fig trees staring down at the numerous Uganda Kobs that graze in the open Ishasha plains and these are actually the main prey to these lions.
Today some families of these tree lions have migrated from the south of the park (Ishasha) and have been sighted by several people in the Mweya Section of the park while on the boat ride on the Kazinga Channel and the Park’s main gate of Kabatoro on the few fig trees around.However, other tree lions have been sighted in Kidepo Valley National Park hanging in the sausage trees and also their famous resting rock places near the park’s headquarters