Francis Mugerwa.
20 September 2009
column
Uganda's beautiful and largest national park protects a chunk of untamed African savannah bisected by the mighty River Nile. It is also home to a variety of wild animals and birds, boasting the world's most accessible wild population of the rare shoebill stork, writes Francis Mugerwa.
It is a sunny Saturday afternoon, and a group of both local and international tourists watch the thundering Murchison Falls with admiration.
"The roaring sound of the falls is unbelievable. The pressure of the falls as water pumps through the narrow gorge is something I will remember for the rest of my life," Jonah Akandonda, a Makerere University student, told me at the falls.
"I had never come face to face with such natural beauty," Judith Dushimimana, a second year Makerere University student of Psychology echoed Akandonda's description. Behind her, the Nile, one the world's longest rivers, explodes through a narrow cleft in the Albertine Rift Valley to plunge to a frothing pool 43 metres below.
Ms Dushimimana and her friends also went on a game drive through the park to see wild animals such as antelopes, monkeys, baboons, elephants, lions and giraffes. They also went on a lounge drive on the Nile Delta, where they viewed hippos.
Dushimimana is one of the many guests who marvel at the park's beauty whenever they visit the country's largest protected conservation area.
The park lies at the north western end of the Albertine Rift valley and covers 3,893 square kilometres; it is Uganda's largest protected area according to the protected area manager, Mr Justus Tusuubira.
Gazetted as a game reserve in 1926, the park is one of Uganda's oldest conservation areas. It covers parts of Buliisa, Masindi and Amuru districts and is part of the Murchison Falls protected area that includes the adjoining Karuma and Bugungu wildlife reserves.
In 1907, Winston Churchill visited the area and hiked, boated and bicycled up to the Nile corridor. He was followed by Theodore Roosevelt in 1909 during a hunting safari that cost, by today's prices, $1.8m.
Mr Tusuubira told me that the Park is bisected by the Victoria Nile River, which first races down 80km of white water rapids before plunging 40m over the remnant Albertine Rift Valley wall at Murchison Falls, before finally pouring the waters into Lake Albert. Tusuubira also said the park is dominated by savannah, woodland, river/wetland, and tropical forest habitats, which provide homes for over 76 mammal species and over 450 bird species.
The Kaniyo Pabidi Forest enclosed within the park is a sanctuary to the endangered chimpanzees and over 360 species of birds. The park's large mammals include lions, leopards, hippos, rothschilds, giraffes, buffaloes, hartbeets, oribis, warthogs and the Uganda Kob. The Nile corridor provides water for these animals as well as to several water birds, including the rare shoebill stork.
On June 15, Mr Jose Soler, head of the European Commission Cooperation in Uganda, joined the Amuru District chairperson, Mr Omach Atube, to commission engines worth over Shs700m used by the ferry to move guests across the Nile Delta from Paraa to Amuru District.
"Uganda is not called the Pearl of Africa for nothing. It is a country that has been blessed with diverse natural beauty. It has many pearls, such as the magnificent Murchison Falls National park," Soler told me. Soler said countries must tap revenues generated from tourism to shake off the effects of the global financial crisis.
Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) shares the money collected from gate collections with the 45 parishes that surround the park. Citizens from East African countries pay Shs5,000 to enter while foreign guests pay $30 per 24 hours spent in the park.
"The neighbouring communities share 20 per cent of the total revenues collected from the park entry fees in order to spread the benefits of eco tourism and generate local support for conservation," said Sam Mwandha, the UWA conservation director. Masindi, Gulu, Oyam, Amuru, Buliisa and Nebbi districts are set to share over Shs400m which the park collected from entry fees during the 2008/2009 financial year.
Threats to the park
The environment-protected area is threatened by poachers and climate change. Mwandha said some neighbouring communities to the park illegally hunt the wild animals. "They poach on animals in order to obtain bush meat," he said. The communities reportedly use snares, spears, arrows and pangas. Animals that survive being killed sustain injuries. "We appeal to all Ugandans to support efforts to conserve the environment. We should say no to poaching," Mwandha said.
Mwandha added that due to climate change, the volume of water in the Nile Delta has receded. "The water has reduced by over one metre. This is hampering the smooth movement of the ferry across the delta," he said.
Several tourists use the ferry to cross the delta from Paraa to Amuru District. It is also on the delta that tourists use the launch to view several aquatic creatures such as crocodiles and hippos. Mwandha says UWA plans to excavate some sand from the river so as to deepen the waters to enable the ferry sail through smoothly.
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