Uganda and WCS to co-manage tree-climbing lions’ sector

The Uganda Wildlife Authority and the Wildlife Conservation Society have signed a 10-year agreement to co-manage part of Queen Elizabeth National Park, which is famous for its tree-climbing lions. The society will take over some day-to-day work in the Ishasha Sector in the south of the park, including managing biodiversity, working with communities and developing tourism businesses, says Simon Nampindo, the society’s country director in Uganda. The authority will keep responsibility for law enforcement and wildlife protection.

The deal follows a wider trend of public-private partnerships between African governments and conservation groups to run parks. Ishasha covers around 500 square kilometres of the park’s 1,978.

Ishasha’s lions have long drawn tourists, but they are becoming rare. According to the authority’s figures, the lion population of Queen Elizabeth fell by more than 90% between the late 1970s and 2022, from 400 animals to 39. Nampindo says there are now fewer than five lions in Ishasha, and unless the group is topped up, probably by moving animals from elsewhere, it cannot recover on its own.

The lions have faced conflict with local herders, loss of habitat and snares set by poachers. Nampindo says these causes must be dealt with before any lions are translocated.