The lion gazes at the tourists in Queen
Elizabeth National Park. The writer was lucky to see the pride as they are
not easy to find. In splendor the king of the jungle lay, the calmness he
exuded would easily make one forget that he is the most feared predator. It was
great watching the lion and the at the same time watching birds
Seeing the prized lions in Queen
Elizabeth National Park is the anticipation of any tourist. Many will tell
you that they have visited five times and not seen them, but on my second
visit, I was able to see not just one, but a pride, perhaps a family.
There were the two females on the side and then a couple
enjoying an early morning bask in the sun as the skies opened. This was the
highlight of my weekend in the wild. You could wonder why the lion is so
treasured, but any tourist will tell you that it all lies in its magnificence
as a symbol of courage and might.
Excited local tourists kept clicking away on their digital
cameras at the sight of the peaceful and proud lions who were taking it slow in
the green savannah grass near a thicket as they enjoyed the last pieces of
their breakfast, most likely from a previous night’s hunt.
A first-time to be within a meter of these fierce animals
was an experience that came with mixed feelings, of tension and excitement,
before our guide, Lawrence of Nature Adventure Tours
&Safaris Ltd, put our fears at ease.
“They are not dangerous at all unless provoked,” he
comforted the faint-hearted tourists. “They are enjoying their meal and they
are used to tourists coming around, so be strong and enjoy your viewing,” he
added. “The female does the hunting as the male and the little ones stay back
to wait for the meal,” S.K, a wildlife enthusiast volunteered.
“So when she hunts and returns like it is in the traditional
African setting, she will serve her husband then the children and eat last,” he
added, something we had a chance to prove during the time we viewed the pride
in nature’s splendor.
Very few moments beat the experience of being in the middle
of the most popular national park in the pearl
of Africa, where Africa’s, and truly Uganda spirit lives on, watching the
animal whose sight startles just about any animal.
This partly explains why the lion is part of the
enchantments on this voyage of discovery. Nature’s
wonder in this park extends to vast open grasslands, elephants that
gigantically saunter through them, with gait.
You will find Queen Elizabeth along Mpondwe Road near Fort
Portal, 38 kilometers before the Congo border and at the backdrop of the Mountain
Rwenzori ranges.
According to historical records, the park was founded in
1952 as Kazinga
National Park, and renamed two years later to commemorate Queen Elizabeth
II’s visit.
From the road, as we drive through the extensive park, Lawrence
showed us the point at which the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II whose
full name is Elizabeth
Alexandra Mary, stood, to honour the park being names after her.
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