Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda: January 14, 2023

Roadside Photo Op

From the equator we moved on to visit Hamukungu fishing village one of the 11 communities within Queen Elizabeth National Park. These communities existed before the land became Kazinga National Park in 1952. The name was changed to Queen Elizabeth National Park in 1954 when the new Queen visited this part of Uganda. Hamukungu fishing village has existed in this spot since the 17th century.

Arriving at the fishing village, we were quickly surrounded by curious kids. 

But we were here to see the fishing operation followed by the fish auction. Fishermen go on Lake George the late afternoon, fish all night for tilapia, catfish, and lungfish, and at daybreak haul their catch back to the village to be auctioned/sold.

 

The auction was well attended with customers coming from all over the region including the DRC (Congo) which is only about 24 miles/40 km away.

After the auction, we visited one of the community projects both Eric and Richard are involved with. The project is Lights for Lions. Being within the park creates quite a bit of wildlife/human interaction. People in the community raise various kinds of livestock that are penned next to their homes. Lions and Leopards easily jump the fences to feast upon the penned livestock. Lights for Lions is a project that installs solar powered lights around the perimeters of homes and livestock pens. At night the lights flash on and off randomly. There has been a huge reduction in lion/leopard attacks on livestock in these communities. As a result, lions/leopards are not being killed by community members.

(l-r) Head of Village and Eric (our guide) standing next to the solar light system

From the solar battery, wires are run through conduit (to protect the wire from termites) to lights installed around the perimeter of house and livestock pen. These lights come on at random intervals during the night.

A small light bulb connected to the wiring powered by the solar battery

This livestock pen is at the home of a man who had had numerous lion/leopard attacks on his livestock (cattle and goats). He reported that since the solar light system had been installed, he had lost no livestock.

Whether the random bright lights are confusing the lion/leopard's night vision or the cat just thinks humans are walking around with flashlights, this lighting scheme has been a success for the villagers and for keeping lions alive. The lion population in Queen Elizabeth NP is about 130.

If interested in contributing to this project or other Wildlife Uganda projects, donations can be made through a US company in Davis, California, at http://www.wildlifeuganda.org/our-programs/. Dan and I are now sponsors of one of the lighting systems.

Young Male Lion resting in a Euphorbia Tree in Queen Elizabeth NP

Our lodging for two nights was at Elephant Plains Lodge. The lodge is situated almost on the equator at N*S 0.0,25.172.

Our room

Particulars:

Lodging/meals: Elephant Plains Lodge. Everything about the lodge, the meals, the staff was wonderful. One day when we returned from our game drives, we found the bed sprinkled with flower petals.