Next month about 8 lions from Kenya will make the journey to the “Land of a thousand hills,” restoring the realm of the “Lion King.” and will be put to Akagera National Park in Rwanda
Indigenous lion populations in and around Akagera national park were wiped out in the past, by herders trying to protect their livestock and other villagers fearing raids, often using poison hence inflicting a cruel death on the big cats.
Today African Parks have upgraded the electric fence by adding both height as well as a bottom element to make sure that the lions will neither be able to jump the fence nor try to crawl through below the fence.
Bringing the king of the jungle back to Rwanda next month will provide tourists with an added attraction of now being able to see four of the big five with only the rhinos missing from the checklist. This will give Rwanda a good competitive edge over her neighbors.
Local tourism operators in Kigali expressed their appreciation that the Kenyan government has allowed the Kenya Wildlife Service to send a pride of lions to Rwanda, attributing this to the warm and friendly relations between the two countries, which together with Uganda last year formed the “Coalition of the Willing” united by common goals to improve infrastructure, increase trade, and work hand in hand on a number of other areas including security cooperation.