Best places to see Elephants in Uganda – Gorilla tracking safaris in Uganda.

Uganda’s top locations for elephant viewing Uganda now has around 5,000 elephants. The majority of these may be found in the Kidepo, Murchison-Semliki, and Queen Elizabeth, Bwindi, and Mgahinga national parks’ Greater Virunga Landscape.

Within Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth Park, elephants wander kilometers of uninterrupted grassland. The park is home to 2,500 elephants, a sharp increase in population after widespread poaching in the 1980s.

Elephants who tread and devour crops are killed by the locals outside the preserve; however, assaults have decreased because trenches have been dug to keep wild animals out of fields. More than any other animal, elephants have lengthier pregnancies. A cow will typically give birth to one calf every two to four years, and they will carry their offspring for 22 months.

Because of low rates of reproduction, elephant populations across the world are considered vulnerable by the IUCN. Elephant population is under significant strain due to high levels of commercial poaching, which are mostly linked to the illicit trade in ivory and its byproducts.

The loss and degradation of habitat are mostly brought on by changes in land use brought about by an increase in the number of people living in the area. The African elephant suffered greatly in Uganda throughout the 1970s and early 1980s due to anarchy that led to widespread commercial poaching, mostly for ivory and flesh. As a result, the number of elephants decreased from an estimated 30,000 in the 1960s to around 2,000 in the 1980s (Lamprey et al. 2003).

Elephants are essential to Africa’s ecosystem. As a keystone species in habitat modification, elephants are crucial to maintaining the equilibrium necessary for all other species to survive in their ecosystem.

They also open up forest habitats to form grasslands and firebreaks, create water pools for other wildlife, and leave behind nutrients that are necessary for the growth of certain faunal species and flora. Elephants, also referred to as the “gardeners,” are crucial to the spread of seeds that preserve tree variety in the wild (Scriber, 2014). Despite all of this, little is known about how elephants contribute to the improvement of ecosystems.

Elephants used to have a wide variety of habitats and could travel large distances throughout the nation via migratory routes. However, the range of appropriate habitat for elephants in Uganda has shrunk due to the present growth in human population combined with the need for arable land and development.

Elephant habitats are becoming more fragmented as a result of this development, which has also had an impact on the animals’ migratory patterns and dispersion tendencies. Elephants are thus restricted to protected areas, with the exception of a small number that may be found in sporadic habitats outside of wildlife protected zones. The current limitation on elephant migratory and dispersion behavior is a result of the absence of functional or effective corridors.

The largest populations of elephants in Uganda are currently found in Queen Elizabeth National Park (2913). A smaller number of elephants can be found in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Rwenzori Mountains National Park, Toro Semliki Wildlife Reserve, Katonga Wildlife Reserve, Budongo Forest Reserve outside Murchison Falls Protected Area, Karenga Community Wildlife Area, Otze/ Dufile, Aswa Lolim, and East Madi Wildlife Reserve. However, the majority of elephants can currently be found in these protected areas.

Elephants are said to be roaming and using habitats beyond Tanzania’s and Uganda’s shared international border in search of water and food. Elephants have also been seen in Sango Bay.

In the major elephant Protected Areas of Queen Elizabeth National Park, Murchison Falls National Park, and Kidepo Valley National Park, the elephant population has gradually increased since the late 1980s. Elephant assessments in residual wooded regions outside national parks and wildlife reserves might reveal a larger number of elephants than the current estimate of 5,564 in wildlife protected areas. Elephant populations have recovered from 2,000 in the 1980s to 5,564 now, partly because to the Uganda Wildlife Authority’s effective conservation initiatives, better laws and conservation regulations, and the stability and security of the nation.