There are 17,200 lions in Tanzania | Country boasts the largest number of Panthera Leos in the world
Presenting the results in Arusha, the TAWIRI Director General, Dr. Eblate Ernest Mjingo, revealed that the Northern Zone circuit has the biggest share of the lions in the country, totaling to 5,844 such cats equivalent to 33.7 percent.
Black News 
Tanzania has a total of 17,200 lions, according to the just released wildlife census.
The number of Panthera Leos accounts for around 68.5 percent of the total count of lions existing in the world today.
The Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) has tabled the latest results of the wildlife census, which was conducted within the 2024/2025 fiscal year, the first full count after ten years.
Presenting the results in Arusha, the TAWIRI Director General, Dr. Eblate Ernest Mjingo, revealed that the Northern Zone circuit has the biggest share of the lions in the country, totaling to 5,844 such cats equivalent to 33.7 percent.
Not surprising, because the Northern Zone Circuit is also the hub of tourism industry in Tanzania, being home to the Legendary Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, Arusha and Tarangire National Parks.
On the other hand, the Western Tanzania zone, which has a total of 5,601 lions, comes second in the count at 32.6 percent.
This is then followed by the Eastern Tanzania Precinct with 2,442 lions, accounting for 4.6 percent.
However, all the above counts of the Leos are those were listed inside protected areas.
As far as the new census results are concerned, there are other nearly 3118 lions that are roaming freely outside protected areas and these account for 18.1 percent of all lions currently hunting in Tanzania.
Globally it is being reported that there are 28,000 lions today, as counted by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) which means the lion’s share of the ferocious cats’ population is in Tanzania.
Things are also getting elephant
Meanwhile, the number of elephants in the country is clocking at 66,714 Jumbos at the moment.
However, the number of elephants has plummeted by over 47 percent and the current count, is only 53 percent of the 136,000 jumbos that were counted ten years ago during the 2014/2015 wildlife census.
It seems cases of Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC) are the major drivers that lead to declining number of elephants as the giant mammals are constantly being killed after either destroying farms or attacking people.
This is because, the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute report also points out that elephant poaching incidents have significantly dropped by over 90 percent, which means illegal hunting is no longer a big threat for the Jumbos.
With that, Human Wildlife Conflict remains the main culprit affecting Jumbos’ population in Tanzania.
The National Wildlife Census was conducted at the cost of 4 billion/-, or disbursed from the central government.
Natural resources and Tourism Minister. Dr Ashatu Kijaji who graced the census report launching event in Arusha, lauded TAWIRI for accomplishing the task successfully.
“It all indicates that the conservation efforts in the country are executed well and therefore Tanzania continues to shine internationally for having abundant number of important wildlife species,” she added.
