Uganda (Bradt Travel Guides) by Briggs Philip

Author:Briggs, Philip
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides
Published: 2016-11-04T16:00:00+00:00

PIAN UPE WILDLIFE RESERVE

The little-known Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve extends over 2,788km2 of semi-arid country to the north of Mount Elgon, making it the second-largest protected area in Uganda after Murchison Falls. The reserve protects a diverse selection of dry-country wildlife, ranging from patas monkey and cheetah to Burchell’s zebra and roan antelope, but populations are very thin and scattered. Pian Upe is home to two pastoralist tribes: the Pian being a sub-group of the Karamoja, while the Upe are a Kalenjin-speaking people also known as the Pokot. The Pian and Upe have a history of armed conflict related to cattle rustling, having at times teamed up together to take on neighbouring tribes in Kenya or Uganda, and at other times have directed their violence towards each other. This insecurity is the main reason why the reserve has seen little tourist development to date, but this seems to have changed following the disarmament of the two tribes in 2011, making Pian Upe of interest both as a potential gateway to Karamoja/Kidepo and as an intriguing goal for a day safari out of the Elgon region.

FEES An entrance fee of US$10 per person per 24 hours is levied. No fee is charged for using the public road through the reserve.

FLORA AND FAUNA Pain Upe protects a tract of semi-arid country that usually receives some rain in April and more substantial showers from June to early September, but is also subject to regular rainfall failure. The predominant cover of mixed Acacia-Commiphora savannah is essentially the Ugandan extension of an eastern savannah belt encompassing much of northern Kenya and the Amboseli–Tsavo–Mkomazi complex of reserves on the border between Kenya and Tanzania.

No reliable wildlife population estimates exist for Pian Upe, and poaching has taken a heavy toll since the 1970s, but anecdotal information suggests that Pian Upe still harbours a wide variety of large mammals, and furthermore that populations have stabilised or even increased in recent years. Leopard, cheetah and spotted hyena are all seen quite regularly by ranger patrols, and a small population of lion is present. Among the ungulate species are Burchell’s zebra, buffalo, eland, hartebeest, greater kudu, topi, oribi, dik-dik and Uganda’s last population of roan antelope. In addition to the widespread vervet monkey and olive baboon, the far more localised patas monkey is quite common on the savannah.

Wildlife concentrations are highest in the vicinity of the Loporokocho Swamps, which lie near the eastern border and are inhabited by Upe pastoralists who (unlike the Pian) have no tradition of killing wild animals for food. Pian Upe is of some ornithological interest, since the dry plains harbour several dry-country species with a restricted distribution in Uganda, for instance ostrich, yellow-necked spurfowl, Hartlaub’s bustard, Jackson’s hornbill and white-headed buffalo weaver.

GETTING THERE AND AWAY The headquarters at Murujore is situated right alongside the direct Mbale–Moroto Road, roughly 90km north of Mbale (11km north of the reserve’s southern boundary) and 50km south of Nakapiripirit. Coming from the south, the first 30km, as far as the junction for Sipi, this road is surfaced and in a good state of repair.

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