It’s an uphill task moving giraffes in Murchison Falls park

Tall and majestic, eight Rothschild’s giraffes (five male) stand proud, locked up in a Boma made from strong, wooden poles reinforced with metal wires. In the early morning, they gaze down at the humans watching them curiously. There are two sections in the Boma; one has six giraffes while the other has two.
The Boma is a few feet away from where the game rangers of Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP) have been camping, in makeshift tents, for the last three weeks. A few feet away, a troop of baboons is visible in the grass.
This is the last lot of 20 giraffes that were captured for the purpose of translocating them from their natural habitat in the northern bank of River Nile to the southern bank.
MFNP is divided by the river, with the northern side in Nwoya District and the southern side in Masindi District.

Dr Patrick Atimnedi, the head of the veterinary unit of Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) says the few days in the Boma are enough to help the giraffes get accustomed to human beings.
“Two of them are going to Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) so in the Boma they have become used to being handfed on pellets. These pellets are nutritious and give them energy for the journey.”
The rangers talk in fairly low tones as they approach the Boma so that the animals can know a friendly person is approaching with water and browse (food).

Why the translocation
In wildlife conservation, translocation is a fairly common practice. For instance, the open northern grasslands of MFNP have a lot of animals while the woodlands of the southern part are sparsely populated. Dr Andrew Seguya, executive director, UWA, says the translocation exercise will establish a giraffe population in the southern bank.
“In their current range (northern bank), there are a lot of oil and gas activities going on and this exercise is intended to expand their range. Of course, this will also boost tourism south of the Nile.”

Jossy Muhangi, public relations manager, UWA adds, “The movement will also increase educational awareness for those tourists who only visit the heart of Murchison Falls on the southern bank.”
In the heart of Murchison Falls, in between Labongo and Budongo forests, there are many open areas where the MFNP management has opened tourist tracks. Animals such as Kobs, Jackson’s Hartebeests, and herds of buffalos congregate in these areas. This is where the giraffes will be released.

The six giraffes being moved will bring the total number of giraffes to 18.
“Working with the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, we have done reconnaissance and established that there are enough water sources for the giraffes to survive,” says Muhangi, adding, “Some are radio-collared for monitoring purposes after release.”
Dr Atimnedi says a 2014 census established that there are 960 giraffes in MFNP. “Another photography system showed that there are 1021 of them so translocating 20 will not affect the population.”
In June 2015, 15 giraffes were taken to Lake Mburo National Park. In captivity, a giraffe can live for up-to 50 years but in the wild, they can live for 25 years. This is mainly due to predation by lions.

Two female giraffes will also be transported to UWEC to give companionship to a lone male giraffe.
“Two females died in 2014 and 2015 so it became imperative for us to replace them,” says Belinda Atim, public relations officer, UWEC, continuing, “The male giraffe is facing loneliness and its welfare is in jeopardy.”
The giraffes will be hand-raised in the Kidepo Exhibit of UWEC.
“We try to simulate the vegetation of the park and I believe the animals will get on well, although in a smaller space.”

How the giraffes were captured

A joint effort of experts from the veterinary unit of UWA, MFNP, and Queen Elizabeth National Park identified healthy giraffes in the wild and brought them down with shots from dart guns.
A dart gun is non-lethal and uses a syringe to inject chemicals into the animal, which immediately becomes sleepy and falls unconscious.
“We used Azaperone, Dyclonine and Etorphine hydrochlorides in the syringe,” says Dr Atimnedi, adding, “When the animal is down, the rangers move fast to secure it with ropes within 10 minutes. We also monitor the heart rate to ensure that they are still alive.”

When the animal wakes up, the rangers pulling on the ropes, drag it to the recovery cart, which then takes it to the Boma.
Dr Atimnedi adds, “Because we are looking at breeding and multiplication, we only captured the young ones and those in middle age.”
In a day, only two or three can be captured. After it has woken up, rangers have to beware of its lethal kicks, known to dent metallic poles.

Tough and dangerous business
“The pulling of the giraffe is not easy and men sustain slight injuries. On average, a giraffe weighs between 800-1200 kilogrammes, yet an average ranger is around 80 kilogrammes.”
He also says a mistake can lead to a fracture in the giraffe’s neck or legs. “When it lies down, the position of the heart and the brain are different so it can easily go into respiratory impairment.
He also talks of the danger from other wildlife. “As we were running after one giraffe, there was a leopard among us. The grass is tall and our focus was on the giraffe so we did not see it. Luckily, our colleagues on top of the car saw it and alerted us to return to site.”
The large holes made by the Aardvark, a burrowing mammal, also posed a danger to the tyres of the cars.

Besides these challenges, the cost of acquiring equipment was also high, with Dr Atimnedi saying the truck to transport the giraffes, ordered from TATA in India, cost $37,500.
“It had to be fabricated for the transportation at a cost of Shs40million. In the three weeks we have been here the staff costs have been Shs50 million.”
The fabrication of the truck was overseen by Mr Kennedy Oyet of UWEC.
As a ritual, the rangers slaughter a goat every evening for their meal.

Journey to southern bank

The evening before the trasnlocation, rangers lined the truck with cushion and browse. Since the giraffes’ necks are long, the cushioning helps to shield them from the metals. The browse is to feed them along the way.
At around 9am, rangers carrying blue tarpaulin climb to the top of the Boma to herd the giraffes onto the truck, which is already in place at the entrance.

The giraffes move onto the truck and off again.
On the third attempt, there is stampede as they try to get off. Quick as lightning, the warders lock the truck and it moves away from the Boma.
Sighs of relief fill the air. According to the rangers, this has been the easiest loading. One time, it took an entire morning.
A few feet away from the Boma, the truck stops for Mr Oyet to nail the doors properly. At 9.15am we begin the slow drive to the ferry crossing at Paraa. Driving at a speed of 10kmph, the journey takes two hours.

There are only two stopovers; one to add more separators in the cage, and the second one when one giraffe goes down.
It is a tense moment as rangers rush to the truck. There is much shouting and anxiety as they try to get the giraffe to its feet again. Luckily, it springs up and we continue without further incident.
At the river, the heavy truck is driven onto the ferry and within 10 minutes, we are on the southern bank.

Releasing the giraffes
From then on, it is a pretty fast and rough ride for an hour on the dusty track until we reach the release site at 12.45pm. The excitement is tangible as the rangers remove the locks from the cage and move out of the way. When the door is opened, the giraffes look confused.
Then, they see the open door. In a split second, they run off the truck and disappear from view. At a distance, through the tall grass, one can catch a glimpse of their long legs tearing through the grass.
Three weeks of hard work have finally come to an end and the translocation team jubilates with a Swahili song of victory, especially since Dr Seguya promises them a bull for a job well done.
But, there is still more work for the UWEC team as they drive back to the northern bank to collect the two remaining giraffes.

About Rothschild’s giraffe
known as the Baringo giraffe or the Ugandan giraffe.
Rothschild’s giraffe is an endangered species and currently, there are only thirteen populations remaining in Uganda and Kenya.
Its pale patches tend to be less ‘jagged’, in a cream coloured background. There are no markings below the knees (as if they are wearing cream stockings). They also have five ossicones (horns) as compared to two which other giraffes have.
Rothschild’s giraffes produce one calf at every birth with a gestation period of 15 months. Calves typically weigh 100 kilograms at births, although the males weigh more than the females.
Additional information: Internet sources