Protecting Lake Munyanyange

Cows graze near Lake Munyanyange in Kasese. Photo by Felix Basiime

What you need to know:

In a bid to protect the migratory birds that use it as a habitat and to ensure conservation of the crater lake, Lake Munyanyange is going to be fenced off.

As hundreds of tourists every year visit Queen Elizabeth National Park to see wild animals, others visit the salty Lake Katwe to see how people mine different types of natural salt.

But a number of others particularly come to watch and listen to the sweet sounds of birds at Lake Munyanyange, a few metres away from Lake Katwe in Katwe-Kabatooro town council.

“Bird watching is a growing venture in the tourism sector in Uganda and here at Lake Munyanyange, visitors enjoy sporadic musical calls of birds imitating other birds calls,” said Mr Richardson Ouma, a birding specialist and field guide at Katwe Tourist Information Centre (Katic).

Lake Munyanyange attracts birds that migrate from as far as Kenya and Canada among other countries including the White Browed Robbin Chats, Black Headed Gonoleks, Long Tailed Starlings, African Hoopoes, Winding, Zitting, Flamingos and Desert Cisticolas.

Lake Munyanyange is a small seasonal shallow crater lake located to the North East of Katwe town. The lake is an important habitat for migratory birds and has one of the largest concentrations of the lesser black-backed gulls, Larus fuscus and other waders.

These birds are Palearctic migrants arriving in October and departing in April. Thousands of these birds roost at the lake.

Ouma reasons that most birds find Lake Munyanyange most safe for them as at one stage of the year it turns muddy and that makes it difficult for wild animals to wade through the mud and prey on them. During this period, the birds roost in the middle of the lake.

“Most water bird species that migrate from Europe and within Africa, that is to say Palearctic and intra-African migrants, find it the ideal stop-over and roosting area,” says Ouma.

It is this reason that Katic has planned to fence off this lake from other animals like cows, an exercise that will be monitored by Nature Uganda, an NGO.

“We are just waiting for officials from Nature Uganda who will monitor this exercise so that the fencing does not affect the birds’ habitat,” said Ouma.

Martin Kikoni Muhindo, the Katwe-Kabatooro Town Council Clerk says they have committed Shs5m from the council to Katic for mitigations on the environmental threats in the two lakes.

This follows the September 2011 partnership reached by the urban authority and Katic towards management of crater lakes in the town council.

Ouma says about 32 water bird species have been recorded at the lake and during the waterfowl counts of July 2010, a total of 410 birds representing 11 species were recorded.

The fencing of this lake also aims at ensuring the protection and conservation of the crater lake from agricultural encroachment and other potential degradation actions, promoting ecotourism development for sustainable biodiversity conservation, and generating revenue for the council and Katic.

This move has also been supported by Usaid-Star as part of managing wildlife outside protected areas and using ecotourism as an incentive for protecting biodiversity.
Bird watching on Lake Munyanyange has grown as it is a unique sanctuary with varieties and migratory birds such as flamingos and seagulls.

According to records at Katic, in 2009, a total of 10,234 visitors mainly school groups, visited lakes Katwe and Munyanyange which accounts for about 17 per cent of all the visitors to Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Mr Muhindo says Katwe-Kabatooro town council gets over Shs24m as revenue per year from Lake Katwe alone in taxes.

Other important birding sites in Uganda

Kibale Forest National Park that borders Kamwenge, Kabarole and Kyenjojo districts.

Mpanga forest, located about 54km along Kampala-Masaka road.

Entebbe Botanical Gardens and Lutembe Bay situated on the northern shores of Lake Victoria.

Ziika Forest, is among the smallest central forest reserve that is situated along Entebbe-Kampala highway.

Nsuki Forest, is a privately managed natural forest on the shores of Lake Victoria just opposite Lutembe beach.

Uganda Wildlife Education Centre, Entebbe

Source: Bird Uganda Safaris Ltd