By Namale Agnes

Figure 1 Photo Credit: Saad Shots: Lions fighting over a meal.

Have you ever experienced something so phenomenal you are short for
words? I have.
It is not entirely a safari in Uganda if you do not get to view any of the
animals in the cat family and that means lions and leopards but usually it is
from a distance with binoculars until when maybe they choose to display
their magnificence by walking majestically across the narrow marram roads
and eventually disappearing into the wilderness.
Even though, this has been the norm on a game drive highlighted by the
ranger guides signature disclaimer; “let’s hope nature provides” things
seem to be taking a drastic turn in queen Elizabeth National Park as the warden of tourism queen Elizabeth national park Mr. Nyadru Stephan enthusiastically informed us!
“However much we keep increasing the price, tourists still prefer taking on
this thrilling activity” he said.
“And it is not in vain because 10 dollars on top of the required fees to take
on an experiential game drive goes to improving community live hoods” he
added.
Now I couldn’t wait to see for myself what this ‘experiential package’
entailed.
Apparently at least one of the animals in a lion pride is collared with a
tracking device not only to know where they are for display but to know
when in an unfortunate event there happens to be a problem animal
causing a human wildlife conflict spotted in the communities adjacent to
these parks.
“Collaring these animals especially in the cat family only started in the early
1990s” said Daniel Tiromwe a ranger guide in queen Elizabeth national
park.
“Researchers had discovered a virus known as the canine distemper in
neighboring Tanzania and the animals needed to be monitored to track
their behavior. “He added.
Not so long after his briefing our safari truck came to a stop when we
spotted a pride of three female lions calmly sunbathing.

It was clear they were resting from a night of hunting for prey or better still
waiting for prey. They laid there un bothered by the onlookers for a while
until one of them majestically rubbed her chick on the other and forward
they went.
As much as it was a close interaction, I must say I wasn’t as much
impressed until we ran into yet a bigger pride of the kings of the jungle.
At least 6 of them gathered in a group as a seemingly rather advanced in
age male sat quietly on the sides with its collar intact.
The six seemed to have been laying strategy to capture a stray young
water buck standing near our truck. Tense. We all looked on as one of the
six that had huddled together before effortlessly run towards the puzzled
water buck and held him by the neck.
He ran towards his fellows and the strangling of the catch began. Three of
them sat on the already suffocating water buck and sucked the life out of it.

Figure 2 Photo credit: Saad Shots

Now don’t get me wrong I do not enjoy watching murder, but this is the way
of the ecosystem, the predators feed on the prey as humans feed on
chicken!
Grumbling. The scuffle begun as neither of these males seemed to want to
have the smaller share.
As they all held on tight the female ones hovered around calmly and the
seemingly older king of the jungle did not bother to make a move.
From a distance an un identified man sat patiently on his motor cycle
behind the tourist vans waiting patiently for a chance to move forward
“These are the challenges we face daily “came Hangi Bashir’s voice from
the back of the truck.

“These community people have adamantly refused to heed to our advice
and instead persisted on using these unsafe paths the predators use” He
added.
The motorcyclist seemed to have been coming from Kasenyi fishing village
a community not far away from where we were witnessing a fierce ‘lion kill’.
The predators continued grumbling loudly for a piece of their small kill until
one of the females fled away with a big piece of meat dangling in her
mouth.
“The lions are usually led by females,” came Daniel Tiromwe’s Voice.
“Even though the male is always responsible for trapping and driving the
prey towards the females, the queens normally do the capturing and when
the kill is done the male who caught the meal is served courteously with a
big share that has come to be referred to in the human vocabulary as ‘the
lions share’” he added and we all marveled in silence.
“Havoc is about to take course in this pride though,” he continued
“For there seems not to be a leader among them” he explained.
Now that the meat was almost done, the calm lion on the sides stood up
and went his way and we all wondered why it had not partaken in the
scuffle for a bite.
“It was simply paying respect to the ones that had pioneered the kill” Daniel
said as we all agreed, that was a premium experience!

Figure 3 Photo credit: Saad Shots.

We managed to catch a glimpse of the rather rare species in the cat family
resting in one of the dominant cactus trees. The Leopard. Unlike its counter
parts, the leopard seemed to prefer a nap rather than expose its
magnificence!
Later during the day, we had a chance to visit the newly construct electric
fences put in place by Uganda Wildlife authority to control the human
wildlife conflict in the most troubled areas like Katunguru town council.

Figure 4 photo credit: Saad shots

“I can confirm now that the human wildlife conflict has reduced drastically”
said Godfrey Kagoro, a community member who got a job opportunity to
supervise and maintain the fences.
“These electric fences are for now only put in those places that had been
fiercely suffering from problem animal interactions but our aim is to make
sure people and animals live peacefully in their intended biosphere “added
Sylvester Masereka a ranger guide in Queen Elizabeth national park.

Courtesy photos