Kyambura Game Reserve or Chambura Game Reserve, which includes the Kyambura Gorge, adjoins the

Queen Elizabeth National Park Queen Elizabeth National Park is a national park in Uganda. Location Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) is in the Western Region of Uganda, spanning the districts of Kasese, Kamwenge, Rubirizi, and Rukungiri. The park is approximately by ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

. It is home to a variety of

wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...

. The area is an important water source for many animals and is surrounded by

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

, but is generally noted for its high concentration of primate life located in the gorge.

History

Kyambura Game Reserve was formed as the Kyambura Controlled Hunting Area in 1962, and upgraded to game reserve status in 1965. In the 1980s the southern area was colonised, but these people were evicted in 1990, and the land rented out to a private concessionaire called Zwilling. After the Uganda Wildlife Statute of 1996 changed the name of all game reserves to wildlife reserves, the reserve became formally known as the Kyambura Wildlife Reserve. The hunting concession was terminated in 1999 due to illegal hunting. Kyambura Gorge in Kasese western Uganda

It serves as a buffer zone to the Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP).

Geography

Kyambura is located on north-eastern side of QENP, approximately 30 km from QENP Headquarters. Kyambura Gorge spans a distance of 11 km and links to the

Kazinga Channel The Kazinga Channel in Uganda is a wide, long natural channel that links Lake Edward and Lake George, and a dominant feature of Queen Elizabeth National Park. The channel attracts a varied range of animals and birds, with one of the world's l ...

, which forms the northern b Infobox protected areaoundary of the reserve. Village and plantations lie to the south. The reserve's mean altitude is 1100 m.a.s.l. The total area of the reserve is 156 sq. km. Kyambura and QENP, together with Maramagambo Forest and Kigezi Game Reserve, all adjoin, and are r eferred to as the Queen Elizabeth Protected Area (QEPA), this borders Parc National des Virunga (

Virunga National Park , iucn_category = II , iucn_ref = , location = Democratic Republic of the Congo , map = Democratic Republic of the Congo , relief = 1 , coordinates = , area = , established = , nearest_city = Goma , photo =Virunga National Park-107997 ...

) in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, and together these areas completely encircle

Lake Edward Lake Edward (locally Rwitanzigye or Rweru) is one of the smaller African Great Lakes. It is located in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, ...

. Other nearby protected areas are Kibale National Park to the northeast and

Rwenzori Mountains National Park Rwenzori Mountains National Park is a Ugandan national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Rwenzori Mountains. Almost in size, the park has Africa's third highest mountain peak and many waterfalls, lakes, and glaciers. The park i ...

to the northwest. The landscape is gentle rolling savanna grassland, but is deeply cut by the 16 km Kyambura Gorge, which supports a thick riverine forest and the Kyambura River. Dominic Johnson classifies the bird communities of the game reserve according to thirteen

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

types.

Wildlife

Kyambura is the only place in QEPA where habituated chimpanzees are seen. Other types of primates include

red-tailed monkey The red-tailed monkey (''Cercopithecus ascanius''), also known as the black-cheeked white-nosed monkey, red-tailed guenon, redtail monkey, or Schmidt's guenon, is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is found in Angola, Cameroo ...

, black-and-white colobus,

baboon Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chacma ...

s and

vervet monkey The vervet monkey (''Chlorocebus pygerythrus''), or simply vervet, is an Old World monkey of the family Cercopithecidae native to Africa. The term "vervet" is also used to refer to all the members of the genus ''Chlorocebus''. The five distinct ...

s. The park is also known for its variety of avian species including various

falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene. Adult falcons ...

s, the

blue-headed bee-eater The blue-headed bee-eater (''Merops muelleri'') is a species of bird in the family Meropidae. It is found in forest habitats in tropical West and Central Africa, including in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic ...

and the

African finfoot The African finfoot (''Podica senegalensis'') is an aquatic bird from the family Heliornithidae (the finfoots and sungrebe). The species lives in the rivers and lakes of western, central, and southern Africa. Description The African finfoot is ...

. The chimpanzees in Kyambura Gorge were isolated after the forests connecting it to larger forests like Kalinzu and Maramagambo were cleared. Conservationists are worried that this could lead to inbreeding and mutations. While tracking chimps, visitors are treated to views of the "underground forest" (the forest growing in the gorge), birds and smaller primates.

References

{{authority control National parks of Uganda Game reserves of Uganda Important Bird Areas of Uganda Wildlife sanctuaries of Uganda