Wildlife in Uganda
Uganda is not your ordinary safari destination, it is a country very rich in fauna and flora which can be seen in the country’s 12 national parks. Uganda has both large and small animal species that include primates, carnivores and herbivores that include antelope; both large and small antelopes.
Primates are extremely well represented in Uganda and these include the gorilla, which is the mountain gorilla, the chimpanzee. The chimpanzee is more closely related to humans than all other living creatures, monkeys. They fall into categories of five namely; baboons, patas monkeys, vervet monkeys, blue monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, de Braza monkeys. L’Hoest’s monkey, gray checkered mangabey, black and white colobus and red colobus.
The lion, the largest African predator, the leopard is often seen in Kidepo National Park and Murchison Falls National Park, the cheetah is also more common in the wildest Kidepo National Park. Uganda also has small cats including; caracal, African wild cat, canids, jackals, bat fox, African hunting dog. Other carnivores found in Uganda are spotted hyena, African civet, genets, otters, mongoose and ratel,
Uganda has 29 species of antelope namely; Common Eland, Greater Kudu, Hartebeest, Defessa Waterbuck, Roan Antelope, Uganda Kob, Bushbuck, Sitantunga, common in swampy areas, Lesser Kudu, Grant’s Gazelle, Reedbuck, Impala, Gray Duiker, Forest Duiker, Beate’s Pygmy Antelope, Klipspringer, Oribi and Gunther’s Dick
Other herbivores found in the country include the elephant, the largest animals in the world and the most intelligent and fun to watch. Rhinoceros, hippopotamus, African buffalo, giraffe, Burchell’s zebra, warthog, hyrax to name a few.
The bird life in Uganda is so great that it is no wonder it is said to be a birder’s paradise with over 1000 species of birds including; African skimmer, black quail, Vero’s cuckoo, red-legged falcon, lesser flamingo, gray-headed tern, white and Abdim’s storks, Amur falcon, ovampo sparrow hawk, necked and saddle-billed storks, vultures and storks and rose-backed pelicans, great and long-tailed cormorants, open-billed stork, African jacana, malachite and pied kingfisher. Bwindi Forest is home to 350 species of birds, 23 species of birds endemic to the Albertine Rift and at least 14 species of birds recorded nowhere else in the country, including African green broadbill, white-tailed blue flycatcher, brown-necked parrot, white-bellied red-winged and Fraser’s owl Uganda also has reptiles namely; the incredible huge rock pythons, puffads, spitting cobras, Gabonese rippers, green mambas, tortoises and Nile crocodiles, which are the largest crocodile left from Africa.
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