UWEC unveils Letaba, Kibonge's heir

By Agnes Nantambi  

It took time for many tourists at the Uganda Wild life Education Centre (UWEC) to notice what had happened at the lion's confine.

As people and school children thronged it, little did they know that it was time to unveil the heir of the late Kibonge which was the oldest lion at center.

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Kibonge Died at the age of 18 years yet the life expectancy for lions is estimated between 10 and 16 years.

Kibonge a Kenyan origin was donated to UWEC in 1999 after it was abandoned at Nairobi Park, where he was raised by the animal care givers until he made three years.

Unveiling the heir of Kibonge sparked off blissful moments at the den as it was such an interesting moment and could easily attract one's attention.

The tourists took time to ably look at the new fierce heir Letaba who was acquired from safari packs in South Africa to join the three lionesses.

The huge, muscular and fierce Letaba, surprised everyone as it rushed to befriend the lionesses.
Looking at the entire process, one would think that Letaba was ready to capture something for a meal.

When it roars you would think the clouds on the sky are preparing for rain to fall.

Nicholas Muhindo, the animal keeper at the UWEC explained that the six year old Letaba has already established himself as the boss because he is strong enough and muscular.

"As soon as we let it out, it started guarding against the hyenas who are always the competitors of the lions by keeping them away while the lionesses where busy feeding, "he said.

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He said, "Letaba has established himself in the zoo, and we hope sometime soon he might breed and we might have more lions come up in the zoo.”

Jennifer Nandutu, the animal keeper and head of section for cats and hoof stocks explained that the bringing Letaba has already attracted a number of local and foreign tourists which is greatly increasing the revenue.



She said that since the death of Kibonge, the Lion Confine was so boring which had lowered the number of tourists.
She however expressed concern over Letaba's consumption rate saying in a day it consumes 10 kilograms of meat unlike the lionesses which consume only 8 kilograms.

The executive Director UWEC, James Musinguzi applauded the South African government for donating Letaba saying that they enabled Uganda save over sh30m which would have been used to procure the best breed of a lion.

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