Teso Wildlife and Environmental
Conservation Project
The Teso Wildlife and Environmental Conservation Project plan will rehabilitate natural
areas in order to encourage and promote ecology, conservation, and tourism.
Environment and Wildlife
Uganda used to have many wildlife conservation parks and
animals throughout the country. These were generally destroyed during the years
following independence by a combination of factors that include uncontrolled poaching, negligence, insecurity, and
community ignorance of the values of wildlife conservation.
Governments before and soon after independence initiated wildlife and natural resources conservation. A number of areas were set aside as
forest reserves, game parks or game reserves. Some areas in the region were set aside as man-made forests. The idea was entirely
government-driven and when government supervision and protection weakened, poaching and illegal lumbering ensued. To date, nearly all the forests
have been depleted and wild animals in the game reserves nearly wiped out.
Tourism and wildlife are effectively non-existent in Teso and generally in the north and east. A combination of factors that include
traditional hunting, human resettlement, proliferation of small arms in Karamoja, weak government protection, support and supervision of game
reserves, with a general lack of knowledge of the benefits of tourism, have resulted in the total depletion of wild animals in the region.
All that remains to attract tourists to Teso, or to the east in general, are the Ngero rock paintings in Kumi and the transit route
for those traveling to Kidepo National Game Park by road.
The Teso Wildlife and Environmental Conservation Project will provide the first-ever planned and comprehensive attraction for tourists between Mt. Elgon in Mbale and Kidepo
Valley National Game Park in Kotido district.
Our Vision
The key initial principle idea of the programme is to acquire land and property on a seven square mile area in Soroti, just over seven miles
from the town.
A section of the property will house a school, a child trauma treatment centre, and a medical facility. The other sections of the property
will be developed into a forest, a small wildlife reserve (zoo) and a recreational park for tourism.
Strategies
The strategy for implementation of this project is based on the following cardinal principles:
- Starting Small - the project will start in Soroti district with the establishment of a community park. The park will provide
the nucleus for other project investments and later expand in both geographical coverage and diversity of activities in Teso, Lango and
the rest of the northeastern region.
- Encourage Natural Conservation Activities - the project will combine a zoo
with a small wildlife reserve park. The idea is to make wild animals easily
accessible to the public and generate more income from daily visitors, local and
foreign, while raising the
awareness of the importance of conservation. Other activities will include reforestation and
management of forests, and restocking, rehabilitation, and community education on sustainable environment management.
- Tourism - with the coming in of tourists, the project intends to develop or encourage the development of complementary tourism
activities, like traditional artifacts, furniture, etc. to be marketed in the park. Employment will be given to the local community and
these will spin-off some economic activities in the area. It will also contribute to the general development/rehabilitation of social
infrastructure in the surrounding communities in the form of schools, health facilities, roads and wildlife educational facilities.
Key Outputs
- Community park with wildlife reserve/zoo
- Recreational center to provide accommodation and refreshments to visitors of the park and zoo.
Opportunities
- Lack of a park in any nearby area
- This is the first park in the area and will attract maximum support and interest from the locals,
people in the district and all over the country. The only other zoo is located in Entebbe - approximately 350km south of Soroti, while
the nearest game park is approximately 450km away in Kidepo.
- Willingness of government to provide support
- The local leadership is equally excited and supportive of the project
- Opportunity for development in the area
- The area is poorly developed and the project has opportunity to bring social and economic transformation
in the area
- High unemployment rates in the area
- Through its employment of the community and creating jobs for the people involved in the outreach programs,
the project has opportunity to create jobs for the local people and thus provide employment.
- Availability of basic communication infrastructure
- These include roads. With roads already in place, there is a basic infrastructure that can be developed
for the project, minimizing costs of infrastructure development.
