UWA Approves Hoima Game Hunting Deal



New Vision (Kampala)

May 3, 2004





INSPITE of the 1979 ban on hunting wildlife in Uganda, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has approved plans to expand another pilot project to promote commercial trophy hunting around the Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve in Hoima.



But Zwilling Safaris, an Austrian company that had applied for the hunting concession and estimated that it would raise an income of US$25,000 per year, has mysteriously pulled out of the hunting deal.



Maintaining that the hunting ban was still in force, UWA executive director Dr. Arthur Mugisha said Zwilling had opted out of the deal with UWA.



Mugisha said, "Zwilling has opted out of the deal with us. They say they have got a better deal with the Congolese." He did not elaborate.



Zwilling director Peter Pichler was not available for comment.



The animals to be hunted include waterbuck, hippopotamus, oribi, bushbuck, buffaloes in the 230 square-kilometre of dry thicket, grass savannah and woodland on the eastern side of Lake Albert.



Most of the animals were wiped out in the Idi Amin era, leading to the ban in 1979. Cattle keepers also recently invaded the area, which has further degraded the habitat.



UWA and Game Trails, a Ugandan company, have for the last three years been hunting zebra, topi, impala, baboons, buffaloes and others in the ranches around Lake Mburo national park in western Uganda.



The New Vision has learnt that the project has been extended for another three years. Hunting expeditions have raised more than sh100m. Local communities got 65% of the funds to build two primary schools, a health centre and a livestock watering dam in Rurambira Parish on the fringes of the park.



UWA got 25% of the money, sub-county authorities shared 5% and the community protected areas institutions took 5%. It is not clear how much Game Trails got.



Mugisha insisted, "We shall not allow hunting in the national parks.



We are managing a pilot project on the ranches around Lake Mburo National Park. If it is successful we will start hunting projects in areas that have high wild animal populations like Luweero, Nakaso-ngola and Mubende."



He said, "Wildlife outside the national parks is protected on paper but poachers kill animals.



One of the things we are doing is adding value to wildlife and making it a competitive form of land use so communities and districts benefit and participate in managing wildlife."



Mugisha said since Zwilling had pulled out, UWA would contact an American and a South African firm to continue with the experiments.



UWA director of field operation Moses Mapesa said Zwilling had a controversial concession in Kyambura Wildlife Reserve that was given by the Game Department, which UWA refused to renew.



He said, "Zwilling was undertaking activities that were contrary to the conditions of the contract. Local communities benefited from the programme through hunting of problem animals, but Zwilling failed to fulfil what was spelt out in the concessions."



He added that UWA had not stopped dealing with Zwilling.

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The area for proposed hunting is near Hoima [east of Lake Albert - the long rectangular lake in the upper left hand portion of the map]. The ranch hunting is near Lake Mburo and the Mburo National Park.



I couldn't find anything on Zwilling Safaris except that they are a registered tourist safari company in Uganda.



Here's a link to the Uganda Tourist Board. A link to the Ugandan Wildlife Authority.



It's about a 3 hour drive from Kampala to Hoima and about a 4 hour drive from Kampala to Lake Mburo.





Regards,



Terry

A pdf file with some info and map on wildlife areas in Uganda. pdf



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Humans, Mburo Animals Make Peace





The Monitor (Kampala)

May 4, 2004



Lillian Nsubuga

Kampala





Lake Mburo National Park is one of the oldest parks in Uganda having been gazetted in 1983.



The park was originally about 600 square kilometres but subsequent de-gazettement of parts of the park during the 1990s reduced its size to 260 square kilometres.



The de-gazetted areas became private ranches and were taken over by local communities and turned into settlements.



The majority of people who live around the National Park are cattle keepers and own large herds of cattle.



These people used to lead a pastoral lifestyle but are now changing to live a sedentary mixed agriculture lifestyle.



At the same time, most of the wild animal species in Lake Mburo National Park are herbivorous (grass eaters) and they include elands, buffaloes, topis, kobs, impalas, warthogs and hippos.



Unfortunately, after large parts of the park were de-gazetted, the wild animals continued to roam the areas and almost always stayed in the private ranches and the neighbouring settlements.



This always annoyed the residents of the area because it meant that the wild animals competed for grass and salts with their herds of cattle.



They were also perceived to be the source of animal diseases and ticks.



To reduce the competition for grass, the local communities brought in poachers and encouraged them to kill the wild animals as a strategy to reduce the wild animal population in the area.



This happened for many years, and as a result significantly reduced the wildlife population at the Lake Mburo National Park since the wild animals are always straying outside the park.



It is for this reason that visitors failed to see wild animals whenever they visited the park during the period.



The years 1998 and 1999 were the worst, with some animal species reducing by about 50 percent.



But since 2001 when the Uganda Wildlife Authority introduced sport hunting on the ranches neighboring the park, the population of wild animals in the park has significantly increased.



The introduction of sport hunting on the private ranches neighbouring the park helped change people's attitudes for the better.



The cattle keepers on whose lands the wild animals stay, stopped perceiving them as a problem to be done away with, and began appreciating their potential economic value.



The population of wild animals in and around Lake Mburo National Park has increased in recent years because the local communities now jealously guard the wild animals and have taken it upon themselves to arrest poachers.



This is because they get 65 per cent of the proceeds from each animal that is taken.



Sport hunting is tightly controlled and hunting quotas are strictly monitored to ensure there is no abuse of the resource.



If Uganda Wildlife Authority had not introduced sport hunting when it did, there would probably be fewer wild animals in Lake Mburo National National Park today.



The number of wild animals is increasing because the local communities now have a positive attitude towards them, and are actively protecting their habitats.



Sport hunting is not taking place within the national park, but on the ranches outside the park and it has helped increase protection for the wild animals.



Since UWA cannot possibly build adequate capacity to closely monitor everything taking place especially outside the park, it has to rely on the local communities in managing the wildlife resources.



But unless the communities are able to appreciate the value of wild animals, there is no way they will want to protect it.



Sport hunting is a management tool that can positively change the attitude of local people (land owners) to ensure survival of wildlife.



The author is the Public Relations Manager, of the Uganda Wildlife Authority based in Kampala

Sure hope it works out eventually, we have heard these rumors for a while now. At one point a French website was offering hunts, whilst the government maintained it was illegal. To be honest, in countries that are not run by the greens (read: Kenya) a peek at the financial rewards of hunting usually opens their minds to alternative tourism!

Terry, that was an fine report, and much appreciated. I hope they can finally put some wheels on the plan to reopen hunting in Uganda, but it might just be a while before they get it done, and it might never actually come to fruition at all.

Uganda is a country I'd really like to hunt someday. Ever since I read the book, "Uganda Safaris", I've been fascinated with the hunting prospects of that country.

AD

Allen,

The best thing from this report is the news aritcle written by the lady from UWA. It certainly sounds like the UWA realizes the benefits of sport hunting.

Regards,

Terry