The daybreak of 14th of September has been dull one due to a heavy downpour that graced the early morning hours of this fateful day.
Little did we know that it was nature’s way of expressing its sadness and marking the end to an era of one of its own.
A few hours into what was seemingly a dull morning did sad news about the death of Letaba break the waves of the internet.
This news has really shocked the tourism and conservation fraternity in Uganda given the importance of this lion.
Letaba was a male lions that was brought to Uganda wildlife Education Center as a replacement to another legendary lion named Kibonge which had been at Uganda wildlife Education Center for over 10 years that died at a ripe age of 18 years which is a remarkable accomplishment among the lion species as many lions only get to live up to 12-15 years on average in captivity.
Letaba came from South Africa and was donated to Uganda Wildlife Education Center by the director of South Africa lion Park Mr Fyn Mark as he was so much pleased by the conservation works of Uganda Wildlife Education Center.
Letaba was donated to UWEC to help in breeding more lions in order to help in sustainable maintenance of the line population which is belived to be lingering around 400 individuals with many of these found in conservation areas around the country.
Letaba came to Uganda wildlife education center aged only 6 years in 2015 and has lived in Uganda for 4 years.
Letaba has been the ambassador of conservation education in Uganda and hid death leaves the country in disarray without a conservation education ambassador among the wild mammals.
Uganda Wildlife Education Center(UWEC) is an a government agency that is deeply concerned with rehabilating injured and rescued wild animals before releasing them back into their natural homes. It also breeds animals that are at risk of extinction just like Letaba was for.
Cause of death
In a bid to mark to mark the empaako celebrations of the Omukama of Tooro King Oyo Kabamba Iguru iv who was celebrating his 24th coronation ceremony, UWEC decided to be part of these celebrations given Tooro kingdom’s tourism potential as its home to numerous attraction sites in Uganda such as Kibale National Park Uganda which is the world’s primate capital with 13 primate species 200 butterflies and 350 bird species.
Tooro kingdom is also covers the Ndali Kasenda craters and the northern foot hills of the Rwenzori mountains.
UWEC transferred numerous of its iconic animals and Letaba was one of those animals that were put on a Uganda safari road trip to Kalenga village in Mubende district.
At the close of these celebrations on 12th Sept 2019, Letaba was put back into his crate and during his safari Uganda road trip back to Kampala the track was carrying Letaba swayed which led to the crate in which Letaba was in to open and he escaped into the nearby community animal farm.
Letaba got distressed and highly charged killing 3 pigs and injuring 1 cow. In a bid to recapture the estranged animal UWEC, partnered with UWA ranges, the Uganda police and the community leaders to search for Letaba.
The efforts to recapture the lion was no longer feasible as the animal was really agitated and it possible a serious risk of attack to the locals, the wildlife community reached a decision of putting Letaba out of action which was successful from at 09:00am on 13th Sept 2019.
Although Letaba has passed on, this surely doesn’t mark the end of a road for an encounter with these majestic kings of the jungle while on an Africa safari to Uganda.
Uganda is still a destination of choice for encounters with lions as it has many destinations that are home to these iconic big cats.
An Africa safari To Queen Elizabeth National Park, Murchison Falls National Park, and Kidepo Valley National Park gives you an opportunity to meet these African big cats.
Un like Africa wildlife safaris to other east African destinations such as Serengeti national park in Tanzania, Masai Mara in Kenya and Ngorongoro conservation area in Tanzania an Africa wildlife safari to Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth or Murchison falls also gives you an opportunity to engage in a spectacular boat cruise to the bottom of the Murchison falls in Murchison falls national park and also in along kazinga channel in queen Elizabeth national park.
You can also compliment your Uganda wildlife safari with an epic Uganda gorilla safari since Uganda is home to the elusive mountain gorillas.
A Uganda gorilla trekking safari takes you on a Uganda safari tour journey to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or Mgahinga Gorilla National Park which are found in south western Uganda.
An Africa gorilla safari to any of these national parks gives you an opportunity to meet any of the 19 gorilla families that are available for an epic Africa gorilla trekking safari adventure.
Prime safaris and tours is one of the best local agencies that is highly rated for its customized safari packages that come in short Uganda wildlife safaris and long Uganda wildlife safaris. Short Uganda gorilla safaris and long gorilla safaris. Here are some of the packages here.
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