Karamoja: UWA restocks Pian Upe Game Reserve
The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has completed the process of translocating 29 giraffes from Murchison Falls National Park to Pian Upe Game Reserve in Nakapiripirit district in Karamoja.
The move is aimed at boosting tourism in the area.
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The programme that started in 2019 was completed on December 3 with the translocation of the last batch of giraffes bringing the total number to 29.
Pian Upe Game Reserve is one of Uganda's traditional tourist centres located in Nakapiripirit district, along Muyembe-Namalu-Nakapiripirit road.
For some time, Pian Upe had existed in name with less tourist activity due to the extinction of the wild animals coupled with the poor road network.
UWA has now embarked on restocking the game reserve by re-introducing the animals which had been lost to poachers.
The move is part of the authority's plan to upgrade the game reserve to a national park.
The Mt. Egon conservation area Chief Warden, Fredrick Kizza, attributed the decline in the population of wild animals in the game reserve to massive poaching.
He said the authority has laid out a new strategies such as increased community sensitisation and intensified patrol to counter the vice.
UWA veterinary division head Patrick Atimnedi explained it took the authority two years to translocate the 29 animals to from Murchison falls to Nakapiripirit because the giraffes are delicate animals given their body structure.
Tourism operators in the region have applauded the move as one that will give a big boost to the sector.
