Tree Climbing lions in Serengeti
Tree-climbing lions across the globe were only considered to be in specific national parks; when one talks of tree-climbing lions, only Africa comes to someone’s mind and the thoughts are clearly directed to the two main National parks those are Queen Elizabeth national park in Western Uganda around the Ishasha sector and lake Manyara national park in Northern Tanzania.
On rare occasions few tourists have sighted these rare animals in South Africa in Kruger national park though not common, with very limited chances of seeing them; in fact, it’s just a probability for one to see them. In the Savuti region of Botswana, one can also have a chance to sight these animals when resting on top of big trees at the park.
The most recent sighting involved tree-climbing lions in the Serengeti, where guests observed the largest pride ever recorded, consisting of 12 lions resting on different branches of a single large acacia umbrella tree. It was more of a miracle and unbelievable in my eyes when I saw this with our guests, a very special moment of our Tanzania safari in Serengeti, besides the usual planned must-see of the great wildebeest and the common variety of birding species at the park.
Early morning game drives to the vast open savannah reward you with the best scenic view of not only the plains of Serengeti but also the most unique tree-climbing lions.
According to the animal behaviorists, lions’ evolution does not adapt to tree climbing; only two documentations of tree-climbing lions have been recorded, leaving only the leopards to be the giants and conquerors of the trees in the bush with their unique strength that enables them to carry prey that is two times heavier than them high to the tree to feed on. The new act of the lions climbing on top of the trees has attracted more attention from tourists and researchers who want to discover the secret behind these heavy animals climbing on the tree.
Recent articles released by researchers show that these adaptations are forced upon the lions by nature, as they seek self-protection from small irritating insects that bite them while resting under the trees, especially during the hottest part of the day. The skills have been passed to the next generation through training of the cubs, as we saw cubs following their mother to climb up in the sausage tree.
On the other hand, one of the greatest factors favoring the lions climbing on top of the tree is the vegetation cover of that part of the Serengeti; the place is mostly covered by big Acacia umbrella trees and sausage trees that all give flat forms and easy climbing for the lions.
In fact, we can conclude by saying the tree-climbing lions are not as rare as before; you can miss them in Lake Manyara but almost sure to see 90% of them in Serengeti national park as the vegetation is not as thick as in Manyara and this gives one an open chance of seeing the animals.
Come enjoy a remix of nature, killing two birds with one stone: the great wildebeest migration and tree-climbing lions, all in serengeti.
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