The Search of Tree Climbing Lions

After two large hikes, our trip was about to change pace as we headed off to Ishasha, the southernmost part of Queen Elizabeth National Park and known for its elusive tree climbing lions.  As we drove out of Bwindi, we left the "impenetrable forest" behind us and headed towards the open plains.  As we were leaving the park we saw a few kids holding sticks which were being waved and shown off to us.  From what we're used to, we expected cooked meat on the sticks.  Instead, we found out that they had Jackson's three-horned chameleons on the sticks.  They had both male and female green types as well as a brown one, so we got to see all three types that are in Uganda.  Greg and Dad held them and I acted as the photographer since I had recently held one at a friend’s house.  Other than that, the trip between parks was rather uneventful.

Greg holding a male Jackson's three-horned chameleon.

Jackson's three-horned chameleon.

Dad holding a female three-horned chameleon.

We arrived in Ishasha and instead of hiring a guide for the first day, we decided to drive ourselves around the Southern Circuit.  We saw some elephants, topi, Ugandan kob, and various birds.  However, every tree we looked in was lacking lions, the main reason for coming to Ishasha.  Before dark, we tried out the Northern Circuit and spotted some hippos fighting and baboons eating trash.

We no sooner headed out and ran into some elephants.

Ugandan Kob.

A Vervet Monkey eating some fruits.

A Crowned Hornbill.

The Baboons got into some trash.

Hippos fighting.

Topi, they're not the smartest of animals.

In Ishasha, we decided to stay in UWA owned bandas.  The main reason for this was we were only spending one night and $20 was a much better option than $200 per person at the other hotels in the area.  The bandas would have been fine had the one Greg and I stayed in not had a bad ant issue in the middle of the night.  We didn’t find out about the ant issue until about 2 AM when we woke up scratching and swiping the ants away.  I decided to spend the rest of the night sleeping in the car while Greg for some reason decided to stay with the ants in the room.

We stayed in the Tree Climbing Lion Banda.

We decided we would get a ranger for the next day’s early morning drive since it would be our last chance at spotting the tree climbing lions.  When we got to the ranger station, the safari decided to come to us as a hippo wandered past the station and grazed a short distance from us.  Hippos may look big and slow, but they are actually fast sprinters and one of the most dangerous safari animals for humans.  Our ranger showed up from the nearby village, avoided the hippo, and hopped in our car.  The ranger started us in the North Circuit and brought us to a hyena’s den.  Unfortunately for us, while we could hear the pups crying, they did not want to make an appearance.  That was quite alright with us as a hyena slowly made its way back from a night of hunting and came up right next to the side of the car.  We could have petted it if we wanted to, but the hyena may not have enjoyed it so we chose not to.  It was a pretty cool sight indeed.

Early morning sunrise.

Mr. Hippo out for an early morning breakfast.

The hippo wasn't spooked until a car drove through.

The hyena den.

Hyena making it's way home after a night on the prowl.

Hyena right next to the car.

We then traveled to the Southern section to search for the tree climbing lions.  We slowed down at every tree we passed and searched hoping to see a lion laying in it.  Each tree we drove by was empty and we started to worry as our guide told us that not everyone gets to see the lions.  Feeling like our luck ran out, we rounded a fig tree and to our surprise saw something even rarer than a lion, a leopard!  So excited to see our first leopard in the wild we all started taking pictures as our guide called other rangers to let them know our location.  I was just explaining to Dad how leopards are normally solitary animals when I suddenly spotted a second leopard a little further up in the tree.  Our ranger could not believe our luck as he said this almost never happens.  Seeing one leopard is hard enough and here there were two just hanging out in a tree in the middle of the day.  We got so many amazing photos, I didn’t want to leave but we had to make space so other tourists could enjoy our once in a lifetime find.

Our first leopard in the wild!

The tree the leopards were hiding in.

Not one, but two leopards!!

Beautiful leopard lying in a fig tree.

Our guide wasn’t giving up on us just yet and the boost of seeing two leopards led us to continue our search for lions.  Not even 5 minutes after leaving the leopards and we came across a male lion sleeping in a fig tree.  What luck we had!  Our guide once again got on the phone to start calling all the other rangers to let them know we had now spotted a lion.  We circled the tree in hopes of seeing some of the females, but unfortunately one can only have so much luck.  They were hiding somewhere close by with the cubs, but out of sight from us.  After spending a little time with the king of the jungle, our ranger seemed to think that we had a pretty good safari for one morning and headed us back to camp.

Why yes, that is a male lion relaxing in a fig tree.

King of the Jungle.

After an amazing adventure in Ishasha, it was time we made our way further up into Queen Elizabeth to see the Kazinga Channel and get in some more safari time.  To view all our photos from Queen Elizabeth, visit our SmugMug album.