Kibale National Park as a Conservation Area
Kibale national park as a conservation area is a very important gift given by nature both to the wildlife living within the forest and also the human beings staying around the forest. Kibale National Park is a conservation area recognized by the Uganda Wildlife Authority given its diversity of flora and fauna with a moist evergreen forest and it is one of the remaining forests with a diverse array of landscapes including both lowland and montane forests. Kibale forest is a water logged forest reserve with a terrain elevation of 1,233 meters above sea level. In 1932, the forest was gazetted as a forest reserve before it was formally established in 1993 as a national park to protect the flora and fauna of the national park. Kibale national park consists of large landscape eco-systems with a global significance. The park contains great natural occupancies with viable populations in their natural pattern of distribution. It’s at this fact that the land under the forest cover has been disappearing for the last 40 years hence a threat to the eco-systems.
Apart from being a tourist attraction for visitors looking for primates and forest wildlife, Kibale national park as a conservation area is a diverse botanical resource with over 229 tree species where 100 percent of these trees are in full representation of all the existing tree species found in Uganda. Some endangered tree species include; Lovoa swynnertonii, Cordia Millenii, Entandrophragma Angolense, and the forest understory is dominated by ferns, broadleaf grasses, shade-tolerant shrubs and herbs like Pollia condensata and Palistota schweinfurthii.
Kibale national park as a Conservation Area is a natural habitat with over 70 mammals including the globally endangered species (Chimpanzees) hence Kibale National Park is one of the most rewarding tourist destinations for visitors looking to have a full adventure in the park. Kibale national park has 9 animal species including forest elephants, leopards, buffaloes, giant forest hogs, bushbucks, red and blue duikers, warthogs, African golden cats, and several mongooses. On rare occasions do lions visit the park given the adjoining corridor to Queen Elizabeth national park. A mention of Chimpanzee Trekking cannot end without Kibale National Park as it’s the only national park conserved for the existence of the endangered primates. The endangered chimpanzees are one of the 13 existing species of primates in this conservation area. Other primates that are found in Kibale conservation area include; Red Colobus monkeys, L’Hoest’s monkey, black and white colobus, and the Blue monkeys to mention a few. In addition to the Fauna, Kibale forest is an epic destination for birding activities. The forest boasts of the existence of over 375 different bird species including the Olive long-tailed cuckoo the western tinker bird, the grey parrot, the African and Green-breasted bird and also to mention the ground thrush to mention but a few.
Conservation in Kibale national park also includes its benefits to the people living around the park. Kibale national is a water catchment area protecting existing rivers namely; Mpanga and Dura rivers from any kind of pollution as the river flows to Lake George. Kibale forest as a conservation area creates community profitability, for example, the local communities gain fundamental resources such as local medicines, food and wild coffee from the forest. In addition to this benefit, Kibale forest supports the climate as it controls and protects the water catchment areas.
