Kidepo Valley National Park Uganda

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Tucked away in the semi-arid Karamoja region of north-eastern Uganda, the Kidepo Valley National Park has witnessed decades of turmoil and strife. Horror stories abound that political chaos and insecurity in Uganda - not to mention the protracted civil war in southern Sudan - has left Kidepo's biodiversity in tatters.

Sitting in Kampala, we had heard the stories of wildlife in the north-eastern region of Uganda having been decimated. I here was no reason to doubt them, judging by what we had seen - or not seen - on two earlier foot safaris through the Karamoja plains and mountain forest. On the plains we had encountered no 'big five' mammals, only smaller creatures such as the ubiquitous helmeted guineafowl, ostrich and Kirk's dikdik. In the highland areas of Karamoja we fared no better. Large game such as eland and common waterbuck that once roamed on mountains like Moroto (3 084 metres), one of the half dozen volcanic massifs that dot the region, have now given, way to lesser mammals like bushbuck and warthog.

But I was put into more optimistic mood by two palaeontologist friends who, recently returned from Kidepo, raved about the diversity of wildlife they had encountered.

A two-day drive via Mbale, Soroti and Moroto covers the 400-kilometre distance between Kampala and Kipedo. The last 170kilometre stage from Moroto in central Karamoja was long, hot and dusty, and we were glad to drive through Kidepo's Natabalokure gate, having already encountered some signs of life as we approached: a snake slithering across the road and a healthy antelope bounding across our path.

Kidepo Valley National Park was originally declared a game reserve in 1958 and was gazetted a national park in 1962, the year of Uganda's independence. It covers an area of 1 442 square kilometres, with Sudan at its northern border and Kenya to the east. The park contains two shallow valley systems, the Kidepo in the north and the Narus in the south, and these are spectacularly hemmed in by remnant volcanic mountains and low hills that date back some 20-25 million years to the Miocene period. The altitude within the park ranges from 914 to 2 749 metres a variation that has created a pleasing diversity of habitats, including montane forest, grassy plains, open tree savanna, dry thorn scrub, thick miombolike woodlands and borassus palm forest, as well as rock outcrops known as koppies.

There is one rainy season and it usually begins in April and ends in September (although in l 1997 the El Niño weather phenomenon brought l rains as late as October). During the remainder l of the year hot north-easterly winds caused by l the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) as it l moves to the southern hemisphere - parch the l surrounding countryside so that the wild game l is drawn to water sources that remain in the l Narus valley.

Kidepo is unique. The only Ugandan national park situated in a semi-arid environment, it supports a much wider diversity of mammals than any other park in the country. Its 80 or so species include elephant, buffalo, Rothschild's (or Baringo) giraffe, Jackson's hartebeest and lesser kudu. Moreover, some 28 species do not exist anywhere else in Uganda; these include the cheetah, greater kudu, Beisa oryx, Grant's gazelle and klipspringer.

When we arrived, the lower Narus valley, where the park's headquarters is located, was breathtakingly verdant with tall, tawny-coloured grasses swaying in the late afternoon breeze. Both the celestial and terrestrial activities of the night awakened my blunted urban senses. Constellations of stars blanketed an ink-blue sky, and dancing fireflies added their yellowish luminescence. The stillness was punctuated by streaking meteors vaporizing in the earth's atmosphere and by the deep sorrowful bellows of a lone buffalo.

As the sun rose the following morning it illuminated the surrounding foothills and slopes of Mount Morungole (2 750 metres), Mount Zulia (2 149 metres) and the Nyang'i-Napore range. I imagined what this scene might have looked like during the early Miocene period when Karamoja was dominated by a chain of massive volcanoes. The geological events which shaped this now-arid landscape were catastrophic. There were earthquakes, lava flows and violent explosions when blocks of rock were blown out of volcanic craters. During calmer periods dense vegetation re-colonized the fertile ash slopes, and with the return of the vegetation wildlife also gradually occupied the new habitats.

Miocene age fossils from Karamoja reveal local variations in the fauna which suggest that there were differences in the ecology similar to ones which can be observed within areas like Kidepo today. At some localities ruminants and primates were numerous, while at others the mastodon, ancestor of the modern elephant, ruled the roost. In aquatic and semi-aquatic areas there were crocodiles and terrapins, which can still be found in Kidepo today. The primates included monkeys, great apes and possibly man, represented by the arboreal/terrestrial Morotopithecus bishop), a hominoid fossil said by some American palaeoanthropologists to be, at 20.6 million years, the oldest common ancestor of both humans and apes.

On our first morning we went for a short game drive, but even before we had left our camping site at Apoka Lodge we saw a dozen or so Jackson's hartebeest grazing nearby. Visitors to Kidepo can often see just as much game from their bandas (thatched rondavels) or tents as they can from their vehicles. As we drove along one of the many roads through Kidepo a family of guineafowl stepped jauntily across our path. Further on, what at first sight were two large, black granite rocks turned out to be a pair of buffaloes Iying motionless in the low grass. Then one of them stood up and barked, disturbing a white-headed buffalo weaver from its back. We passed large sausage trees Kigelia aethiopica, the fruit of which is currently being investigated as a possible cure for some cancers, and, on rounding a bend, came across a herd of zebra grazing about 100 metres off the road.

Widespread poaching has had a heavy impact on Kidepo and its environs since the 1970s and 1980s, particularly during former president Idi Amin's murderous regime. The police post at Pirre, on the park's eastern boundary, was abandoned, as was the ranger post at Kananarok hot springs, some 30 kilometres north of Apoka Lodge, after it was attacked by the local Ik community. Modern assault rifles are commonplace, and not only in the hands of such factions as the Uganda People's Defence Force, Karimojong vigilantes and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) they also became readily available to the pastoralist inhabitants of the region at the time of Idi Amin's overthrow.

It would be unrealistic to think that the civil war currently raging in the south of Sudan has not affected Kidepo's biodiversity. A 45-kilometre border separates the park and Sudan, but offers the animals no protection against the SPLA. Contrary to some claims that the SPLA has become increasingly protective towards the wildlife areas it controls from time to time, its members are known to enter Kidepo to poach. And, not only do they hunt the park's animals, but they also disturb its natural habitat by starting fires. At the time of our visit, however, Kidepo had enjoyed almost a whole year without any serious poaching activities. The park's chief warden, Angelo Ajoka, told us that the poaching still occurring was restricted to the part of the park nearest Sudan, and was carried out mainly by the Didings and Biira communities there. 'Sometimes the poachers can number up to a hundred,' said Ajoka. 'During the dry season they even bring their women with them to carry the meat.'

With the northeastern part of Kidepo - about two-thirds of its extent - almost devoid of game due to poaching, most of the wildlife is concentrated in the lower Narus valley of the south and south-west. And it is here that most of the ranger stations are located. By concentrating their conservation activities on the one-third of the park where most of the animals are, the park officials aim to establish this area as a viable breeding ground where stock can increase. Then, as the herds require a larger grazing area, they will eventually spread into other parts of the park.

The species that has perhaps suffered most from poaching is Rothschild's giraffe. Besides meat, it supplies the raw material for such traditional items as shields, sandals and sleeping mats. Its stringy black tail is used for making a woman's arm ornament and, l am told, even its two horns have their use. According to the 1967 Uganda Atlas, giraffe distribution in Kidepo a generation ago included an area with a seven- to ten-kilometre radius west of Apoka Lodge and one with a similar radius along the eastern border region with Sudan as far as seven kilometres south of the Kananarok hot springs. By the mid 1990s Kidepo's giraffe population had dwindled to a measly five: four males and a lone female which was interbreeding with her own male offspring. For a long time Ajoka tried unsuccessfully to persuade certain conservation organizations to provide funds for translocating more giraffe into the park, but his pleas were met with profound pessimism. That is until 1996, when through the efforts of the Frankfurt Zoological Society, the European Union and USAID, four Rothschild's giraffes, one male and three females, were transported from Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya to Kidepo. The Nakuru giraffes integrated very quickly with Kidepo's existing population (which by this time had dwindled to three), although sadly the young male was killed by one of the park's 25 lions six weeks after the translocation.

Predator pressure in Kidepo is high, with giraffe and young zebra the main prey of the lions. Dr Gladys Kalema, the veterinary officer at the Uganda Wildlife Authority who oversaw the translocation, believes that if more ungulates were introduced into Kidepo, the lions' voracious appetite may be diverted away from the giraffes and young zebras and give their populations a chance to recover. A candidate for such translocation would be the Uganda kob, of which there are an estimated 30000 in Queen Elizabeth National Park in western Uganda.

In order to check the movements of Kidepo's newest inhabitants, a giraffe-monitoring station was built. The station, a thatched hut perched strategically on a hill overlooking grassy savanna, is manned by two uniformed rangers with binoculars and walkie-talkies. When we visited, the two rangers on duty said they could see a few giraffes far off in the distance. We drove down to have a closer look. The giraffes' slinky neck movements were just like the movements made by the Matheniko clan of the Karimojong during their ceremonial dances, and the clan totem is the giraffe. This set me thinking that perhaps mankind's singing and dancing culture may have originated as an imitation of the natural world around us.

The Uganda Wildlife Authority is also giving consideration to returning the black rhinoceros to Kidepo, although such an action would require the implementation of maximum security in and around the park Tribal elders in northern Karamoja can recall a time when the black rhino roamed these northern territories, frequently chasing young herd-boys as they tended their cattle. According to the Uganda National Parks Handbook and the Uganda Institute of Ecology Reports, in 1971 there were 50 black rhinos in Kidepo. By the late 1980s they were gone, or so we think. As recently as 1996, though, there have been reports of rhino sightings by villagers in areas outside the park, including Pirre to the east and Mount Zulia to the far north. Such claims, however, are difficult to verify. But it does make a kind of perverse sense, since in some insecure areas of Karamoja (the Pirre-Mount Zulia region is a firearms-trafficking route from Sudan, and frequently the location of armed clashes between regional pastoralists) animal populations have had a chance to recover.

Within Kidepo too, some species are making a recovery. During the late 19th century and before the First World War, northern Karamoja's vast elephant population was decimated by marauding bands of Abyssinian (Ethiopian), Greek, Arab, American, Swahili and European hunters for its precious ivory. Today there are about 350 elephants in residence at Kidepo. One early afternoon as we took refuge from the midday heat on the large verandah at the back of Apoka's main lodge, we saw some three dozen elephants, including their young, approaching. One by one more pachyderms came into view. When they finally stopped I counted almost a hundred elephants; some relaxed in the shade of an acacia, some foraged in the high treetops, and others played with and tended their young.

Bright's gazelle seems to be also attempting a comeback. On a one-day safari out to Kananarok hot springs, where we crossed the impressive Kidepo River with its sandy beaches and borassus palm forest, we spotted a few of these cotton-tailed antelope at a place called Moru Apol. Angelo Ajoka was delighted when we reported this to him, telling us that they had not been seen for a good number of years. African wild dogs were believed to be extinct in Kidepo until 1996, when about 30 dogs were seen around Mount Lomej, just inside the park boundary.

Why are some of these animals returning? Christopher Tiyo, the warden in charge of community conservation and tourism, attributes their comeback to Kidepo's successful conservation education efforts in the local community and to the involvement of park officials in the welfare of the community. In the past, park management policy excluded the local people from the conservation equation. For instance, user rights for the locals were not clear-cut, and the hands-off policy operated by the now defunct Game Department (which merged with the Uganda National Parks in 1996 to form the Uganda Wildlife Authority) tended not to encourage the local people to identify with the park's resources.

Today officials at Kidepo, and indeed at other national parks and protected areas in Uganda, are very much concerned with providing appropriate assistance to inhabitants of the surrounding areas, encouraging the locals to perceive the park as beneficial to them. In Kidepo's case the revenue collected at the entrance gates is paid to the local government, and about 20 per cent is passed on to the community. Locals are sometimes offered free transport to neighbouring areas, and they are helped financially by being allowed to sell produce in the park.

Christopher Tiyo, who pays regular weekly visits to communities around Kidepo, attributed the 1997 decline in poaching to conservation education programmes. 'We have been visiting communities around the park and we have been discussing with them how we can use these resources now and in the future,' Tiyo says. He adds, 'They have partly seen the point. And then some of the elders have narrated exactly how many animals there were in the past.'

Still, local grievances do surface now and again. One recurring complaint is the raiding of crops by elephants, buffalo and baboons in particular. To make matters worse, the raids sometimes coincide with periods of famine which hit the entire Karamoja region in four- or five-year cycles. In a recent incident the United Nations' World Food Program was requested to provide relief for the inhabitants of Lokori, a village adjacent to the park, after their crops had been raided by Kidepo animals. Tiyo believes that such food relief can be beneficial in that the locals see it as an alternative to poaching.

Kidepo still has a number of hurdles to overcome, one of the most important of which is paying the park employees' monthly salaries on time. The pay, averaging UgSh 45 000 (US$40) a month, can take up to several months to arrive. Many rangers in the park are polygamous, with more than five children to support, as well as other dependents. On duty for 24 hours a day (in theory, at least), they have little alternative but to poach to survive. Lack of supervision in protected areas like Kidepo exacerbates the problem, as many field-based senior Uganda Wildlife Authority staff have abandoned their duty stations because there are no funds to manage their programmes.

As we were enjoying breakfast on our last morning at Kidepo, a dove crash-landed after flying into one of the lodge's glass windows. Isaac Okello, one of the young staffers at the lodge, picked it up, cradled it in his hands and then placed it on the table. I thought it was dying; its eyes were closed, its breathing low and its feathers were badly ruffled. After some 10 minutes, when I looked at it. again, the bird opened its eyes, spread its wings and flew away as if nothing had happened. This seemed to be an allegory for Kidepo. Although the park is ailing in some respects, there is still a pulse which, if sufficient attention is paid to it, might become strong enough to restore full life.

SCIENTIFIC NAMES OF SPECIES MENTIONED IN THE TEXT (IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY APPEAR)

MAMMALS
Kirk's dikdik Rhynchotragus kirki
Eland Taurotragus oryx
Waterbuck Kobus ellipsiprymnus
Bushbuck Tragelaphus scriptus
Warthog Phacochoerus oethiopicus
Elephant Loxodonta africana
Buffalo Syncerus caffer
Rothschild's giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi
Jackson's hartebeest Alcelaphus buselaphus jacksoni
Lesser kudu Tragelaphus imberbis
Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus
Greater kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros
Beisa oryx Oryx beisa
Grant's gazelle Gazella granti
Klipspringer Oreotragus oreotragus
Uganda kob Adenota kob
Black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis
Bright's gazelle Gazella granti brighti
African wild dog Lycaon pictus

BIRDS
Abyssinian ground hornbill Bucorvus abyssinicus
Helmeted guineafowl Numida meleagris
Ostrich Struthio camelus
White-headed buffalo weaver Dinemellia dinemelli
Great white egret Egretta alba

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03/14/04 22:30 GMT Uganda World Watch Advisory vacationtechnician.com

A ban on smoking in most public places took effect in Uganda March 12, 2004. Penalties in effect. Ugandan authorities imposed a smoking ban in all public places March 12. Smoking is prohibited in restaurants, educational institutions, bars and other places where people gather. Fines will range between USD 10-50.