African lions are declining across much of their range, yet robust measures of population densities remain rare. The Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area (QECA; 2400 km2) in East Africa’s Albertine Rift has potential to support a significant lion population. However, QECA lions are threatened, and information on the status of lions in the region is lacking. Here, we use a spatially explicit search encounter approach to estimate key population parameters of lions in the QECA. We...