Pian-Upe Wildlife Reserve - Frontier-publications.co.uk

Pian-Upe Wildlife Reserve: biological and socio-economic survey 5
Rainfall is between 1,000 and 1,250mm over most of the reserve, although it decreases to less
than 875mm in the far north-east (Department of Lands & Surveys, 1967). The mean annual
minimum temperature is between 15.0 and 17.5°C, and the mean annual maximum is over
30°C (Lubwama, 1994). Soils are mostly vertisols, with eutrophic soils on volcanic ash
around Napak and Kadam, and hydromorphic soils around Lake Opeta (Department of Lands
& Surveys, 1967).
The reserve is reached by road from Mbale, and the only ranger post is located at the reserve
headquarters at Moruajore. Basic equipment such as uniforms, boots, arms, and ammunition
is old and in short supply, and there is no working radio. The Warden In Charge has a vehicle,
but it is rarely in use as fuel is not available.
1.3 History and current situation
In the 1950s and 60s the southern sector of what is now the reserve was reportedly one of the
best wildlife areas in Africa, and in 1960 it was gazetted as the Debasian Animal Sanctuary.
In 1964 this was expanded and gazetted as Pian-Upe Game Reserve, although the boundary
was never demarcated on the ground, and the local Pian Karamojong were allowed to
continue to graze and water their cattle within it (Lamprey & Michelmore, 1996a). Since the
1960s, however, when automatic weapons were introduced to traditional cattle raiding in
Karamoja, the region has suffered from a breakdown in law and order and horrifying and
chronic violence and insecurity. While this resulted in a decrease in cattle numbers which
allowed the reversal of negative vegetation changes associated with overgrazing (Wilson,
1985), it also caused the effective abandonment by the Game Department of all of the
region’s reserves from the late 1970s onwards, leading to uncontrolled poaching and a
dramatic decrease in wildlife (Lamprey & Michelmore, 1996a).
At the beginning of 1996, however, the Game Department posted new wardens to all of the
region’s reserves, and recruited numerous local rangers. Community outreach and antipoaching
programmes were initiated, with promising early results, and in Pian-Upe, the
rehabilitation of the looted and vandalised infrastructure at Moruajore was begun.
Unfortunately, though, financial difficulties within the new UWA in 1997 lead once again to
the effective abandonment of the reserves, and a subsequent return to uncontrolled poaching.
At the time of writing, there are wardens and rangers at Moruajore again, but they are
severely under-resourced and limited in their effectiveness. Pian-Upe is not as heavily
encroached as Bokora Corridor and Matheniko Wildlife Reserves to the north, although it is
used for pasture and water by the Pian Karamojong, particularly in the dry season, and
Lamprey & Michelmore (1996a) estimated there to have been almost 20,000 cattle present in
October 1995. There has never been a management plan and there has been no official
management for most of the past twenty years, although traditional practices such as seasonal
burning, grazing, and hunting have been carried out by the local Pian Karamojong and Pokot.
Frontier-Uganda Wildlife Protected Areas Project January 1998
Baseline Surveys Programme Report No. 13