An adult lioness has been photographed for the first time in six years in Bamingui-Bangoran National Park in the Central African Republic. The photo, taken in April by a camera trap installed by the Wildlife Conservation Society, shows a lactating female, possibly with cubs nearby, wandering the forest at night — the first evidence of a breeding female in this landscape.
“This is a truly exciting and hopeful sign for lions in the region,” Armand Luh Mfone, WCS’s director of programs for CAR, said in a press release. Camera traps so far have recorded only males, so this latest sighting “demonstrates that with strong protection efforts, this landscape still has the potential to support a thriving lion population.”
Bamingui-Bangoran National Park is part of the Northeastern Central African Republic (NCAR) Biosphere Reserve, a mosaic of protected areas that spans more than 113,000 square kilometers (about 44,000 square miles), a sixth of the country’s total area. NCAR also includes Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and other interconnected reserves that form vital wildlife corridors.
Historically, wildlife in the region, including northern lions (Panthera leo leo), have been threatened by hunting and illegal mining for gold and diamonds, as well as charcoal production. Armed conflicts have also fueled regional insecurity, threatening conservation. Lions, in particular, have been impacted by retaliatory killings by locals and a decline of their prey populations. Just a few dozen lions remain in NCAR today.
WCS has managed NCAR since 2019 as part of a 25-year partnership agreement signed with the CAR government. The NGO and its partners implement antipoaching patrols, park management, law enforcement and community development. They work with migrating herders to get them to go around national parks instead of passing through them, reducing human-lion conflicts.
The lioness sighting, WCS says, is the result of years of management that give wildlife a chance. A network of camera traps in NCAR has captured other carnivores — leopards (Panthera pardus), caracals (Caracal caracal), African wildcats (Felis lybica) and servals (Leptailurus serval) — returning after years of absence. Lions, too, may now have a chance to roar again at a time when their numbers are dwindling across Africa.
“Lions have suffered greatly due to decades of persecution,” said Luke Hunter, executive director of WCS’s big cats program, adding that low human densities in the NCAR landscape offer a chance for lions to recover. “If effectively protected, the two national parks alone could support 500 lions — a crucial boost to the roughly 750 Central African lions.”
Samantha Nicholson, carnivore scientist at the Endangered Wildlife Trust, called the sighting “significant” as breeding females are “the foundation for population recovery.” With sustained conservation efforts, she said, CAR could become a critical stronghold for northern lions. “Any sign of population recovery or potential increase gives cause to be optimistic for lions in central Africa.”
Banner image: Image of a lioness in Bamingui-Bangoran National Park, CAR. Image ©️ WCS.
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