Uganda Wild life
To preserve Wildlife, Uganda gazetted different
areas as National Game Parks where different species of birds
and animals could survive favourably.
These National Parks have today become the most popular destination
for tourists in Africa and a preference for film and video production
involving the jungle, wild animals, or nature in general. Uganda
has seven unique National parks and four Wildlife Reserves.
Bwindi Impenetrable
Forest National Park - Gorilla Tracking
Bwindi is located 530km south west of Kampala, an 8.5 hour drive
from the capital Kampala
Nestled down in the south west of the country, on the edge of
the Western Rift Valley, this 331km² of montane rainforest
is the only forest in the World where gorillas and chimpanzees
occur together. The world population of mountain gorillas is currently
estimated at 600, half of which live in Bwindi, alongside an estimated
350-400 chimpanzee. In addition to the gorillas and chimps, this
ancient rainforest - one of the few in Africa to have flourished
throughout the last Ice Age (making it over 25,000 years old)
- is home to several other mammals (approx. 93 species) as well
as over 360 species of bird.
Kibale Forest National Park - Chimpanzees
Kibale is 350km west of Kampala, which is a 4.5-hour drive from
the city. This 760km² area of rainforest, interspersed with
patches of grassland and swamp, supports a rich variety of fauna,
250 species of animal and over 300 birds. There are 13 different
primates here, the highest total for any Ugandan National Park.
It is home of a large population of chimpanzees, some of which
have been habituated. The Prigogine's ground thrush, the only
bird that is endemic to Uganda, can be found in this Game park.
Kidepo National Park- Enchanting
Kidepo is 840km north east of Kampala, a 1.5 hour flight or 2
day drive from Kampala. Tucked into the corner of Uganda's border
with Sudan and Kenya, Kidepo is a truly stunning park boasting
of a real sense of wilderness that enchants visitors. The mountainous
terrain of the park is broken by the Narus Valley in the southwest
and the Kidepo Valley in the northeast. Whilst the park is large
(1,442km²) most of the wildlife is concentrated within the
Narus Valley revealing fantastic panoramic views of vast herds
of buffalo with elephant, giraffe, waterbuck and zebra grazing
alongside. There are also a number of predators present including
lion, cheetah, leopard, and spotted hyena.
Lake Mburo National Park - Zebra, Lakes & Rolling Grassland
Lake Mburo is 230km south west of Kampala, a 3.5-hour drive from
the city. With a varying landscape of open plains, acacia grasslands
and marshes, this park is a home to a huge array of flora and
fauna. About 68 different species of mammals can be found within
its 260km². The park also has approx. 313 different species
of birds including Uganda's national emblem, the crested crane.
Murchison Falls National Park
- Uganda's Largest Park
Murchison Falls is 300km North West of Kampala, a 6-hour drive
from the capital. The park is vast and beautiful. Predominantly
wooded savannah, the 4,000km² area is a home to many of Africa's
best-known plains animals including giraffe, lions, leopards,
elephants, buffaloes, wildebeests and many more. The sight of
the Nile River, the world's longest river, winding its way through
the park and plunging through a narrow gap is unforgettable. The
falls are stunning, notable not so much for their size as for
their immense power, caused by the 50m-wide Nile being funneled
through a narrow cleft (7m-wide) in the rocks before falling into
a pool 43m below. Fishing beneath the falls is quite an experience
where Nile perch and tiger-fish provide an exciting challenge
to anglers.
Queen Elizabeth National Park - Incredible Biodiversity
Queen Elizabeth is 435km south west of Kampala, a 5.5-hour drive
from the city. Lying across the equator, this 1,978km² park
is bordered to the southwest by Lake Edward and to the Northeast
by Lake George with the Kazinga Channel connecting the two. Serene
and teeming with animals, Queen Elizabeth boasts of being one
of the highest biodiversity ratings of any game park or reserve
in the world, with almost 100 mammal species and an incredible
606 bird species. To support such biodiversity the vegetation
is hugely varied from open savannah to rainforest, from dense
papyrus swamps and crater lakes to the vastness of Lake Edward.
The rainforest in the Kyambura Gorge is home to chimpanzees and
the remote Ishasha sector is famed for its tree-climbing lions
with flamingoes providing a stunning splash of colour on the crater
lakes.
Semliki Valley Wildlife Reserve - Uganda's
First Protected Area
Semliki Valley is 375km west of Kampala a 6-hour drive from the
capital. Previously known as the Toro Game Reserve, Semliki Valley
Wildlife Reserve is the oldest protected area in Uganda. It is
unique, gifted with geographic barriers that have formed a natural
haven for wildlife. It is where the savannah is criss-crossed
by shining river valleys, and the escarpment, the edge of the
Western Rift Valley, plunges into Lake Albert. The habitat diversity
(Riverine forest, woodland and savannah) within the 558km²
area of the reserve supports a huge array of fauna including lion,
leopard, elephant (both savannah and forest species) buffalo,
and chimpanzees as well as a staggering number of birds (over
400 having been recorded), thought to occur nowhere else in Uganda.
Hot Springs, Forests and Pygmies also habituate this reserve.
It derives its name from the river that forms the Congolese border
and it protects an extension of the Congo's vast Ituri Rainforest.
Mt Elgon- National Park
It is 1.121 sq km², near Mbale on the eastern
boarder with Kenya. The spectacular Mt. Elgon area provides some
of the most incredible countryside in Uganda and it encompasses
the 4,321m mountain from which it is named. The mountain is said
to have one of the largest surface areas of any extinct volcano
in the world and is peppered with cliffs, caves, gorges and waterfalls.
The caldera covers some 40 square km at the top of the mountain.
The Sipi falls in the foothills of the mountain is the most beautiful
and romantic waterfall in the country. Here you will find monkeys,
leopards, elephants, buffalos, sitatongos and duiker plus 300
species of birds.
Rwenzori Mountains National
Park
This 998 sq km² park found on the boarder
of the democratic republic of Congo close to Kasese, is regarded
as the legendary “ mountain of the moon”. It features
an outstanding tropical rainforest environment, full of sensational
beautiful crater lakes. You will marvel at Kabalore’s own
“Garden of Eden” which offers prime gazing buffalos,
elephants, and various antelopes and about approx 600 species
of different birds.
Mgahinga-Gorilla
National Park
The 38.6 sq km² national park located at the
furthest southwest, bordering Rwanda and Democratic Republic of
Congo, 14 km from Kisoro town. It is the smallest national park
in Uganda. The park protects the Virungas, a chain of six extinct
and 3 sporadically active Volcanoes. Mgahinga was proclaimed with
the aim of providing sanctuary to the rare mountain Gorillas.
Some 300 gorillas live in the Virungas. Gorilla tracking remains
the most preferred activity here though it depends on the habituated
groups. It supports a diverse forest and moorland fauna notably
the localized golden monkey and at least 12 bird species endemic
to the Albertine Rift. It also has a small population of elephant,
leopard, buffalo and the black and white colobus monkey.
Katonga Wild
life Reserve
Only recently developed for tourism, this 211 sq
km reserve is located in the central region of Uganda, 200km west
of Kampala, (3 hours drive from the city). The Reserve protects
a network of forest-fringed wetlands along the Katonga River.
Best explored on foot and by canoe. Katonga supports some mammal
and at least 150 bird species, many specific to wetland habitats.
Most visible are elephants, waterbucks, reedbuck, colobus monkeys
and river otter. This is one of the best places in Africa to look
for the elusive sitatunga, a semi-aquatic antelope with webbed
hooves that forages almost exclusively in swamps.
