Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF), the leading international organisation dedicated to giraffe conservation and management in the wild, shared a tweet in what it described at “some good news” and also when a well laid out plan works for giraffe conservation in Uganda.
Uganda is home to one of the most threatened subspecies of giraffe: the Nubian giraffe. Once free ranging across western Kenya, western Ethiopia, southern South Sudan and Uganda, the Nubian giraffe has been largely eliminated from much of its former range.
The number of the world’s tallest mammals has been steadily declining in recent decades. Habitat destruction, illegal hunting poaching, and civil unrest drove giraffe populations into a freefall.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) population census on giraffes released in 2016, indicated that just over 97,000 giraffes remained in the wild in 2016, highlighting that giraffe population has suffered a decline of 36 to 40 percent from 1985.
In 2010, it was estimated that only 250 Nubian giraffe (then considered Rothschild’s giraffe) lived in their native range in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda’s largest national park and wildlife conservation area.
Consequently, Rothschild’s giraffe was listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2010. Giraffe Conservation Foundation became actively involved in giraffe conservation in Uganda in 2013, when its team conducted the first surveys and genetic sampling at Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda.
This initial field work has formed the base for a long-term close collaborative giraffe conservation programme in Uganda involving GCF, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), Dartmouth College and other partners.
Ongoing conservation and research efforts by all partners indicate that giraffe numbers are higher than initially estimated and continue to increase.
Due to concerted efforts to increase giraffe numbers in the country, Uganda is now home to over 1,650 Nubian giraffe – still a precariously low number that highlights the need for ongoing monitoring to ensure their survival.
According to Giraffe Conservation Foundation, 14 critically endangered Nubian giraffe were translocated from Murchison Falls National park to Kidepo Valley National Park in Uganda in a team effort by Uganda Wildlife Authority UWA and Giraffe Conservation Fund (GCF) to bolster the small existing population of then 36 giraffe.
Latest survey report on giraffe population in Uganda’s national park of Kidepo Valley, north of Kampala show an increase from 36 to 80 giraffe.
With only 3000 Nubian giraffe remaining in the wild, Uganda’s Kidepo Valley National Park (kvnp) is now home to their second-largest population and has developed into an important stronghold. What a fantastic conservation success story!
Kidepo Valley National Park has a remote location in the extreme northeast of Karamoja sub region, more than 500 km from Kampala, Uganda’s capital, bordering South Sudan to the northwest, and only 5km from the easterly border with Kenya.
Notable for its rugged mountain scenery and compelling wilderness atmosphere, Kidepo Valley national park also offers some exceptionally good game viewing safari destination, particularly in the Narus Valley with its dense populations of lion, buffalo, elephant and many smaller ungulates.
Prior to 2011, the expense and difficulty of reaching the Kidepo Valley national park meant it attracted a low volume of visitor tourists, but this has changed in recent years as a result of increased stability in northern Uganda, greatly improved approach roads, and the opening of several lodge accommodations.
Even so, Kidepo Valley national park retains a genuinely off-the-beaten-track character by comparison with most other comparably wildlife-rich savannah reserves in East Africa.
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To find out more about Giraffe Conservation Foundation’s ongoing work on Nubian giraffe in Uganda, download its field reports on the link here:
Follow Giraffe Conservation Foundation on Instagram: @giraffe_conservation
