Elgon police to investigate UWA staff at Mt Elgon NP

Police in Mbale town will investigate Uganda Wildlife Authority staff at Mountain Elgon National Park. According Mr Jacob Opolot, 10 Uganda Wildlife Authority staff have been sighted in a case involving cutting down of crops belonging to the local community staying around Mountain Elgon National Park. He pointed out that before police comes looking for them, they should report themselves as they know themselves.

In order to reduce on human and wildlife conflict, the police boss ordered Uganda Wildlife Authority to leave all communities utilizing land said to belong to Mt Elgon National Park until clear boundaries are established. The chief warden of Mountain Elgon National Park Mr. James Okware also called upon and requested police to look further into this matter and carry out investigations to arrest the real culprits involved in cutting down community crops something that may result into bad blood between the local communities and conservation efforts around mountain Elgon National Park

Many accusations from the community continue to come in as investigations take shape. Others have accused Uganda Wildlife Authority staff of extorting money from them in order not to uproot their crops and others are suggesting that instead of arresting those involved, they should be identified and made to compensate what they destroyed.

Mountain Elgon National Park hours mountain Elgon that is a volcanic mountain with the largest Caldera in the whole world. Mountain Elgon National Park is located and shared between two East African Countries of Uganda and Kenya and the main activities in the National Park is mountain hiking where one can take up to four days to reach the summit.

Mountain Elgon National Park is approximately five to six hours drive from Kampala the capital city of Uganda and the journey takes you through Mabira Forest which is the largest low land tropical forest located in central Uganda, to Jinja town which has the source of RiverNile the longest River on planet earth and where many tourist activities such as grade five white water rafting, Bungie Jumping and Quadi biking take place. The journey then takes you small towns until you reach Mbale town which was designed and planned to be the capital city of Uganda by then the president of the republic of Uganda Ida Amin.

The main mode of transport to mountain Elgon National Park is by road which is very smooth and well maintained from Kampala to Mbale town. There are not many upmarket accommodation properties for those luxury clients intending to visit Mountain Elgon National Park apart from Mount Elgon Hotel

Uganda Wildlife authority needs to put the needs of the local communities living around park boundaries in order to minimize such conflicts that may in turn affect conservation efforts. Last week, the locals around Lake Mburo National Park called upon Uganda Wildlife Authority to amend the wildlife law so that those who are affected by the existence of the park and its wildlife should be compensated instead of only favouring wildlife conservation at the expense of the people. It is therefore hoped that if the concerns of the local communities are put into consideration, then we might start seeing better results and collaboration between Uganda Wildlife authority and the local communities in the near future.