Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda

Overview | Data

Queen Elizabeth National Park is located in southwestern Uganda between Lakes George and Edward, and is sometimes referred to as the "pearl" of Uganda's National Parks. Habitat types wihtin the Park range from lacustrine environments to savannahs to forests, and are home to approximately 100 mammals and 606 bird species. In addition to its status as a Ugandan National Park, Queen Elizabeth has also been named a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Biosphere Reserve, as well as a region of interest in the Man and the Biosphere Program.

The biologically-rich region encompassing Queen Elizabeth National Park also includes the Rwenzori Mountains National Park to the northwest, the Kyambura, Kigezi, and Kazinga Wildlife Reserves, the Marambagambo Forest Reserve, and the Parc National des Virunga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Collectively, these transboundary management areas afford protection to some of the last remaining large blocks of moist semi-deciduous tropical forest in the Albertine Rift; these protected areas safeguard myriad habitat types and the highly endemic and endangered species that make them their homes. However, periods of extended violence throughout the region over the last several decades have led to the widespread decimation of both habitats and animal populations by rebel militias and person displaced by conflict. Although conservation activities have recently resumed in many National Parks, including Queen Elizabeth, the damage inflicted will leave an indelible mark on the nature and ecological character of these valuable natural resources.

The boundaries of Queen Elizabeth National Park and neighboring protected areas displayed on a 2001 Landsat image. The dark blue spots are small crater lakes.

Natural Environment

Queen Elizabeth National Park is a 1,978 square kilometer protected area located in equatorial Uganda, approximately 325 km southwest of the capital, Kampala. The Park's boundaries encompass portions of Lakes George to the northeast and Edward to the southwest; the Kazinga Channel, links the two water bodies and separates the Park's northern and southern sectors. The Rwenzori Mountain National Park, also known as the "Mountains of the Moon", and Kibale National Park are located immediately north of Queen Elizabeth; the Park's southern boundary grades into the neighboring Marambagambo Forest Reserve.

The region is characterized by two rainy season with a total average annual precipitation of 750 - 1,250 mm; however, recent alterations in the seasonality of rainfall attributable to cliamte change are already affecting precipitation patterns in southern Uganda. The average temperature is approximately 25° C.

Queen Elizabeth National Park is host to a diverse range of vegetation and habitat types owing to both its rich geologic history and the presence of several permanent water bodies. The Kazinga Channel is located roughly in the center of the Park and provides vital ecosystem services to the surrounding area. The land here is generally dominated by rolling plains, but also includes stands of riparian forest and both seasonal and permanent swamps. The abundant water and relatively sparse forest vegetation make the Kazinga sector of the Park prime habitat for hippopotamus. Until the mid-1970s, roughly 16,000 of these large aquatic mammals could be found within Queen Elizabeth; due to naturla and anthropogenic pressures, that number is now less than 2,000 individuals. The Kazinga Channel is also home to a wide variety of bird species, as well as warthogs, buffalo, Uganda kob, elephants, and lions.

To the north of the Kazinga Channel is a field of late Pleistocene-era volcanic craters. This is a relatively rugged and rocky landscape, and is also the location of the highest point in the Park at 1,845 meters. Some of the deeper craters have filled in with water over time, forming small, saline crater lakes from which salt may be extracted. At the northeastern boundary of Queen Elizabeth National Park is the Kyambura (or Chambura) George. This topographic feature is filled with thick, moist semi-deciduous tropical forests that are home to several primate species, including chimpanzees, black and white colobus, and redtail monkeys.

 

An acacia tree in the Ishash sector of Queen Elizabeth park; this is a typical "lion tree".

The Ishasha sector in the southern reaches of the Park is named for the Ishasha River that flows through it, and is generally characterized by savannah and open woodland and grassland vegetation; river flats and swasonal swamps may also be found during the rainy seasons. This section of the Park is famous for its population of tree-climbing lions, as well as buffalo, baboons, elephants, and topi. The final piece of Queen Elizabeth is the Marambagambo Forest in the far southern reaches of the Park. The vegetation in this area is comprised of the regionally-representative medium-altitude moist semi-deciduous forest; volcanic craters and small lakes are also found within the Marambagambo Forest. This forest is best known for its primate populations, as well as its many species of birds and butterflies.

 

Land Use

Volcanic activity over the last several millions years in the Albertine Rift region has imbued southwestern Uganda with nutrient-rich soils; the combination of fertile land and favorable climate makes this region relatively suitable for agriculture. The vast majority of poeple here are engaged in subsistence farming; in limited areas, coffee, cotton, and bananas can be grown on a commercial scale and exported as cash crops. Despite the natural fertility of the soils, high population densities and unsustainable farming practices have put a strain on the ability of the land to consistently provide food for the inhabitatns of the region, resulting in widespread poverty.

Much of the area surrounding Queen Elizabeth National Park is dedicated as protected land, thereby limiting the degree to which local inhabitants can extract resources from the natural environment. Many of the parks, including Queen Elizabeth, have management plans that permit some forms of land use and resource utilization. Within the Park boundaries, there are designated "Integrated Conservation Zones" in which regulated extraction of papyrus, medicinal plants, and fuelwood is permitted. Additionally, park management has aided in the establishment of eleven fishing villages on the shores of Lakes Edward and George and along the Kazinga Channel. THe incorporation of sustainable land use projects into the Park's management strategy led to its designation as a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve.

 

Threats to Conservation

The greatest threat to the ecological integrity of Queen Elizabeth National Park is posed by the poaching of macrofauna for bushmeat. Although hunting of animals is prohibited within the Park boundaries, killing large mammals for either local consumption or sale in commercial markets remains commonplace. The inability of the surrounding croplands to supply adequare food to the region's growing populating leads to illegal raids on protected wildlife to provide supplemental protein; some species are also targeted because their poarts can be sole on the black market, such as elephants' ivory. Poaching has been especially problematic in recent decades, as thousands of persons displaced by civil wars and ethnic conflicts within the region have found refuge in the nearby foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains and the tracts of remaining dense forest within protected areas. These landless refugees often have little choice but to rely on illegally taken animals in order to survive. Killing of protected species also occurs when individual animals cross the Park boundaries and enter into adjacent agricultural fields. Animals that consume or otherwide destroy food crops grown by subsistence farmers create further tensions between Park managers and residents trying to sustain themselves on relatively meager resources outside the protected areas.

Fire has long been used as a management tool in the savannah and woodland ecosystems of Queen Elizabeth and the surrounding region. Burning on an annual or sub-annual rotation has helped to maintain the open landscape, as well as providing substrate for new vegetative growth on which to graze cattle and other livestock. In recent decades, however, increased population pressures and frequent burning have begun to test the land's ability to recover from each successive fire. Additionally, fires that escape into the neighboring protected area have threatened to permanently damage the delicately balanced ecosystems within the Park. Park managers have adopted the practice of strategic, preventative burning in Queen Elizabeth--setting fires in certain areas on a regular schedule to regulate fuel-loading and make it less like the Park will burn on a large scale. The long-term effects of this relatively new, intensified fire regime on the land, vegetation, fauna, and human populations of Queen Elizabeth National Park have yet to be determined.

The anthropogenic use of fire in and around Queen Elizabeth NP has increased drastically in recent decades. The dark brown-black patches on hillsides in the photogrpaph on the left are areas that have burned within the last ?? months. The image on the right is a Uganda kob standing in the middle of an open area that has recently been cleared by fire.

Recent migrants to southwestern Uganda include herders from the DRC that cross the border with their herds in order to escape continuing violence. Even relatively small numbers of cattle can cause massive environmental degradation and lead to widespread and permanent changes to ecosystems through grazing of native species, soil compaction, excess nutrient loading, and introduction of invasive plant species. As violence in eastern DRC persists, more and more familits are moving across the Ugandan border to the land immediately surrounding Queen Elizabeth, amplifying the already severe strain under which natural resources exist.

Illegal harvests of fuelwood, medicinal plants, and other non-timber forest products pose a threat to Queen Elizabeth in two ways: selective depletion and destrcution of specific plant species, and the opening of formerly undisturbed areas wtihin the Park to human influence. As an increasing number of people rely on natural resources derived either legally or illegally from protected areas, the ability of the land, vegetation, and animal species to recover and subsist is diminished.

 

Overview | Data