Fire guts two parks in Kasese

Fire rages at Mt. Rwenzori National Park on Saturday. Uganda Wildlife Authority officials said the fire killed several animals. PHOTO BY THEMBO KAHUNGU

What you need to know:

Fire raged for several days in Mt. Rwenzori and Queen Elizabeth national parks in Kasese District, bringing tourism business to a standstill.

Kasese

Wildfires have destroyed parts of Mt. Rwenzori and Queen Elizabeth national parks in Kasese District.

Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) officials have attributed the fires to poachers and effects of climate change. A team of firefighters from UWA and the army battled with the inferno in Mt. Rwenzori National Park for nearly a week before finally putting it out last Saturday.

The fire broke out last Monday when about 30 tourists were hiking in the park, about 4,600 metres above sea level, according to Mr Fred Kiiza, the senior warden in-charge of Rwenzori National Park.

“It has always been wet up there during dry season but this time climate change has taken an extra toll to deprive Uganda of its pride as global warming takes its toll on the tourism industry,” Mr Kiiza said.

“Our team has worked round the clock since the fire was reported,” Mr Kiiza added. He said several wild animals and birds were killed by the fire.
As a result of fires, hiking of Mt. Rwenzori through the Kilembe trail has been suspended.

Mr John Hunwick, the director Rwenzori Trekking Services, said the fire destroyed some of his facilities. Mr Hunwick added: “I had more than 20 clients on the mountain by the time the fire broke out but we managed to rescue them.”

Queen Elizabeth Park fire
The Mt. Rwenzori fire follows a recent inferno which raged in Queen Elizabeth National Park, destroying several cottages at Kyambura Safari Lodge. The fire spread to areas near the park, burning several cotton fields and killing 40 goats in Mubuku.

The Queen Elizabeth National Park area conservation manager, Mr Nelson Guma, said: “We have been fighting the fires but the challenge is that we can not do it during the day due to wind that spreads it to the rest of the park.”