Giraffe numbers increase in Lake Mburo National Park
Giraffes play as a warthog walks past them.
What you need to know:
- In 2015, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) translocated 15 giraffes from Murchison Falls National Park to Lake Mburo National Park located in Kiruhura District to increase their breeding capacity.
The number of giraffes in Lake Mburo National Park has increased by four-fold following the translocation of more wild animals from Murchison Falls National Park, authorities have announced.
In 2015, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) translocated 15 giraffes from Murchison Falls National Park to Lake Mburo National Park located in Kiruhura District to increase their breeding capacity.
And now UWA says in a space of eight years, the 15 Rothschild giraffes that were relocated to Lake Mburo National Park have since reproduced to 65.
“Lake Mburo National Park is known as one of the giraffe parks and as such, there is an amazing multiplication of them (giraffes). Giraffes have been translocated from different areas to here, many people thought we would lose them and fortunately that didn’t happen,” Mr Bashir Hangi, the UWA head of communication and public relations, said on Wednesday.
UWA attributes the increase to limited numbers of predators and favourable habitat conditions.
“When you see the animal [giraffes] population increasing, it is a clear manifestation that there is a good conservation work that is being done in terms protecting them from poachers, diseases and treating them in case they fall sick,” Mr Hangi said.
Ms Rebecca Asingwiire, the ranger guide at Lake Mburo, said seeing giraffes at the park is much easier compared to other places due to their location on the cattle corridor.
“Most of the tourists we receive here love seeing the giraffes because they are beautiful animals, they are the tallest mammals in the world, they are more attractive and it is easy here because of the topography,” she said
Like many other conservation areas in the country, Lake Mburo also faces a challenge of poor road network, which limits its accessibility.
“There are quite a number of things that we need to fix to boost the tourism products that we have. If we had a hot air balloon around, tourists who come here one would come back with colleagues,” Mr Hangi said.
Background
Lake Mburo National Park is located in Kiruhura District in southern Uganda. The park, which covers 370 square kilometres, is host to 70 species of mammals, including zebras, hippopotamus, impalas, warthogs, elands, buffaloes and 350 species of birds. Predators include; leopards, hyenas, crocodiles and genets.
