UGANDA: Kidepo Park Community Receives U.S$42000 From UWA

Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) recently gave out $42000 (Ush143,850,000) to communities adjacent to Kidepo Valley National Park (KVNP) for the financial year 2015/16,to implement livelihood projects.

The funds which were released to the Kaabong district leadership, is 20 percent of the park entry revenue that has accumulated over the last three years. Under Wildlife Act, UWA is mandated to give 20% of the park entrance fees to the district local governments that surround the protected area.

According to the Kidepo Valley Conservation Area Manager (KVCA) Johnson Masereka, the three benefitting sub counties were Karenga, Kawalakol and Kamion. Following a successful vetting of the projects from the beneficiary sub counties, Kaabong District Local Government endorsed the following community projects as part of the district development plan for 2015/15.

In Karenga sub country, 46m/= was approved for construction of a cultural centre at Opot pot while in Kawalakol sub county, 45m/=was endorsed for the construction of a cultural centre at Moruita.

In Kamion sub county, a sum of 21m/ was allocated for solar power system at Lwakwakaramoe primary school. In the same sub county of Kamion, 10m/= was approved for installation of solar power and its accessories at Lwakwakaramoe health centre II while 15m/= will be for the provision of a grinding mill for Morungole parish.

Of the 143,850,000/=a sum of 6,850,000/=will be shared between the district and the sub counties as monitoring and supervision fees as provided for under the revenue sharing guidelines.

At the same function, the management of Kidepo Valley Conservation Area declared a total of 116,362,841/ = due for utilization in the financial year 2016/17.The Conservation Area Manager(CAM) Mr. Masereka asked the district leadership to ensure project proposals for the utilization of the declared funds. He challenged them to also consider projects that will mitigate Human Wildlife conflict.

The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Kaabong district Charles Otai applauded UWA management for the transparent manner of disbursing the funds to benefit the communities who co-exist with the wildlife and at times bear the blunt of its destruction in case of crop raids by the animals.

He urged the new leaders at all levels to ensure the right proposals benefitting the communities are put forward and the proper utilization of the funds for maximum benefit and accountability.

He called for a symbiotic relationship between wildlife and the communities where people position themselves strategically to benefit from the sprouting tourism activities.

The chairman Kaabong District, Mark Abuku hailed the cordial relationship between UWA and the district and urged his technical staff to ensure wide publicity of the community benefits from neighbouring the protected area. He said in other areas like Amboseri National Park in Kenya, pastoral communities had been sensitized well to benefit from wildlife on their land through construction of hotels and other facilities to tap into the revenue from the tourists. He also urged government to expedite the amendment of the Wildlife Act to cater for compensation of the victims of wildlife injuries and death.

The chairman promised to intensify the sensitization of the communities neighbouring protected areas to positively change their attitudes towards wildlife as a source of economic development.

UGANDA: Kidepo Valley National Park Home To World’s Most Rare Animal Species

That Uganda is gifted by nature is an assertion very few can dispute, especially when you taste nature by visiting Kidepo Valley National Park.

When most people talk about Kidepo Valley National Park, what strikes their mind are the elephants.

Although elephants are herbivores known to consume only plant life, there is a rare species called Bull Bull that takes kwete, a local brew, and residues of a local potent gin, (ajono), as food.

But beyond the elephants, the park is home to the giraffe (Giraffa Camelopardalis), an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant.

Its species name, girraffe Camepardalis, refers to its camel-like shape and its leopard-like colouring.

“Kidepo Valley National Park is a biodiversity park. It is not only about elephants but also the famous giraffes,” said Phillip Akorony, a guide.

Akorony says the giraffe is the tallest mammal in the world with new born babies being taller than humans.
According to him, it is the only mammal that spends most of its life standing because it even sleeps, gives birth standing.

“Giraffes often spend 10 minutes and two hours asleep making it the only mammal with the shortest sleep requirements,” added Akorony.
He said giraffes are sociable, peaceful animals that rarely fight although males perform a behaviour called necking where they hit the necks, however, these encounters really last more than a couple of minutes and seldom result in injury.

The warden in charge of information, research and tourism, Herbert Kitimbo, says just like snowflakes and human finger prints, there are no girraffes having the same spot pattern.

“Their tongues are about 45cm long and are especially adapted to allow girraffes to forage trees that other animals would avoid such as acacia which are thorny. The giraffe is a symbol of intuition and flexibility,” said Kitimbo.

When it comes to giraffes, Kidepo park stands out, this invaluable natural resource has been visited and revisited and its extra-ordinary features shape its outstanding beauty, which remain a myth to those who have not visited it.

Records at Kidepo indicate that the park has about 36 giraffes spread all over the area.

“When we visited the park to do statistics, we found 36 but later when tourists came around to see them, they walked and managed to only get 32 giraffes, so this means that we have between 30 and 38 giraffes at the park,” said Mr Kitimbo.

Kidepo Valley National Park was established in the 1960s under the first rule of president Milton Obote (1962 - 1971). The national park overlooks the expansive grassy plains dotted with big rocky outcrops and flanked by steep jagged mountains with the summit ridges of Napore Range, Taan hills and Natera hills, part of Nyangea, Morongole and Zuulia forest reserves are located within the park.

The few who make the journey north through the wild frontier region of Karamoja to visit it, would agree that it is among the most magnificent in Africa’s finest wilderness.

The area conservation manager, Johnson Masereka, says Kidepo has the most exciting fauna of any Ugandan national park with 77 species of mammals, several of which are (in Uganda) restricted to Kidepo Valley National Park.

Just look at those localised carnivores, the bat-eared fox, the stripped hyena, Aardwolf, Caraca and Cheeta, lion, leopard, spotted hyena and black-backed and side stripped jackal, these are not in any other park.

He said besides the giraffes and carnivores, there are other large ungulates animals that make up the main tourist attraction at Kidepo and they include zebras, bush pigs, warthogs, water bucks, lions, reedbucks, oribi, buffaloes, crocodiles, elands, Jackson’s hartebeest, and five species of primates are also found in the park, including the endemic Kavirondo bush baby.

“The park also boasts about an extensive bird list of 463 species confirmed and 26 unconfirmed, second only in Uganda to Queen Elizabeth National park,” says Akorony.

Kidepo Valley National Park is a 1,442-sqKm (557 square miles) national park in the Karamoja sub-region of northeast Uganda, Kaabong District to be exact.

It is located approximately 220 km (140 miles), by road northwest of Moroto, the largest town in the sub-region. Kidepo has rugged savannah, dominated by the 2,750 metres (9,020 feet) Mt Morungole and transected by the Kidepo and Narus rivers. Tucked in Uganda’s most remote north-eastern corner, some 700km from Kampala and tucked between borders with Sudan and Kenya, Kidepo valley is an isolated park.