biodiversity facts on semliki

The Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve is extremely high in biodiversity and its valuable ecosystem supports a variety of wildlife.  It is a unique habitat that is home to both East African and West African species. Several animal species exist only in this reserve in Uganda so it is a very important wildlife haven and of high ecological significance to the country. 

Forest elephant ©WILDPLACESTRUST

Within its borders, the reserve has so many different habitat types that it earned the nickname “Little Tanzania” because you have to travel through all of the country of Tanzania to experience the many habitats included in Semliki.  Open grassland savannahs give way to riverine forests that slope into the river valleys.  Swampy marshland covers large areas and attracts herds of buffalo and elephant.  Borassus palm flatlands lead down to the edge of Lake Albert, the second largest lake in Uganda. 

Hallmarks of Biodiversity:
•Forest elephants, a mainly West African sub-species, coexist with savannah elephants.

•48% of East Africa’s bird species are found in this valley. It is one of Uganda’s most reliable places to see the rare Shoebill, the Holy Grail of birdwatchers. (Boat trips in 2007 had a 100% success rate for shoebill sightings.) 

Shoebill ©WILDPLACESTRUST

•Dry habitat chimpanzees, unique among all Ugandan chimp communities, are the focus of ongoing research in the reserve. 

•West African species overlap is unique in East Africa.  Several West African species can be spotted in TSWR making it one of the few places to view these creatures in all of East Africa. 

Wet season savannah ©WILDPLACESTRUST

Importance to Conservation:

•Valuable Resource: Watershed into the reserve feeds into the Nile River via Lake Albert, making the reserve one of the many sources of the Nile.  Water sources are vulnerable because the tributaries to the reserve’s main watercourses all originate outside the reserve.

•Safe Passage: From the Democratic Republic of Congo through the Semliki river marshes, there is a wildlife corridor from troubled, unprotected areas in the Congo.  Many of the reserves elephant, buffalo and lion are believed to have entered the reserve via this corridor.

•Scientific Research Potential: The reserve is understudied, yielding mysterious species occurrences previously unrecorded in the area.  This indicates potential for new species discoveries and a need for biological assessments and updated censuses.

•Forest elephants, a mainly West African sub-species, coexist with savannah elephants.

•48% of East Africa’s bird species are found in this valley.
 
•Shoebills: It is one of Uganda’s most reliable places to see the rare Shoebill, the Holy Grail of birdwatchers. (Boat trips in 2007 and 2008  had a 100% success rate for shoebill sightings.)

•Dry habitat chimpanzees, unique among all Ugandan chimp communities, are the focus of ongoing research in the reserve.

•West African species overlap is unique in East Africa.  Several West African species can be spotted in TSWR making it one of the few places to view these creatures in all of East Africa.