areas in Uganda of former occurrence
Ceratotherium simum - historical survey. Its extreme southern limit was the river Ora which enters the Nile opposite Wadelai, from where it extended northwards along the western bank of the Nile through to Shambe, and then north-west through the Bahr el Ghazal drainage to the borders of Chad, where in the 1890s it was abundant. Harper reported the collection of many rhino horns yearly in Abecher. At the beginning of this century Sidney described the species as numerous in the upper waters of the Bahr Azoum and the Bahr Aoule, plentiful in the Birao area, fairly numerous north of the Uele river in what is today in Zaire's Garamba National Park, and abundant in Okolo, Aringa and West Madi in Uganda. Rhinos were so common in all these areas that in 1919 Theodore Rooseveit's headquarters for the Smithsonian African Expedition collecting rhino products was named Rhino Camp. Here in 1932 Captain Pitman encountered 30-40 groups of at least seven individuals each within a day's walk, and he could approach to within 7-8ft because they were unharried by hunters and poachers.
In 1956 the Game Department and the National Parks considered introducing the species into Kabalega Falls National Park, where strict protection was assured, and in March 1961 ten animals were taken there. Four of the ten died, but in June 1964 six more were successfully translocated. These 12 animals were the nucleus of a population considered to be the only hope for the species' survival in Uganda. In the next ten years they multiplied, and by 1974 there were at least 30. By 1967 there were 18 in Kabalega Falls National Park. In an aerial elephant count in December 1978 the author recorded 13 rhinoceroses in Kabalega Falls Park, and they were still there in April 1979 (Mr Paul Ssali, pers. comm.). * = numbers in Kabalega Falls NP only, after translocation of 10 in March 1961 and 6 in June 1964 from Ajai game reserve. 1961, 6 (Savidge 1961) 1964, 12 (Foster 1967) 1967, 18 (Foster 1967) 1974, 30 (KFNP) 1977, 16 (KFNP) 1978, 13 (Edroma 1980) Apr 1979, 13 (Chief Warden P.Sali-Naluma, pers.comm) Jan 1980, 2 (Chief Warden A. Labongo, pers.comm) Feb 1980, 0 (E.L.Edroma) Jul 1980, 0 (E.L.Edroma) End
Pitman suggested that there were more rhinos in the Era Forest Reserve than in both the Mountain Kei and Otze Forest Sanctuaries combined. In 1949 he estimated 24 animals in the Mount Kei Reserve. But in the Ajai-Inde Swamps and the Otze and Kei Sanctuaries poaching was so heavy that the population dropped from over 335 in 1958 to a mere 80 in 1962. In 1975 the National Wildlife Committee of Uganda regretfully recorded the white rhino absent in Mount Kei and Otze and other areas.
Extinction white rhino in Uganda. Causes for Decline The reasons for the rhino's extermination are not difficult to identify. Until 1950 the decline was due to loss of the borne range due to increasing human population, agricultural land use and illegal hunting, coupled with the rhino's relatively slow reproduction rate, which, under natural conditions, is once nearly every four years, although two-year intervals have been reported in zoos, and the unusually high infant mortality, which is very important in the wild. The recent accelerated decline stems from the enormous value of rhino horn. Today one kilo of rhino horn fetches nearly US$700 in East Africa and US$950 in the Yemen and Far East countries. Law enforcement authorities have been unable to cope effectively with this problem.
1982, E.Africa, Rhino horn US$700 per kg
