Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve

About

Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve is Uganda's second-largest protected area after Murchison Falls National Park, a sweep of more than 2,000 square kilometres of open savanna in the Karamoja sub-region of north-eastern Uganda. It sits on a high plateau framed by mountains: Mount Elgon rises to the south, Mount Napak to the north-west and Mount Kadam, the reserve's highest point at about 3,068 metres, to the north-east near the Kenyan border. Few visitors make it here, which is exactly the appeal. Where Uganda's forest parks feel close and green, Pian Upe is big-sky country, with long views, quiet tracks and the sense of having a wilderness almost to yourself. The landscape is semi-arid, with rolling plains of grassland and wooded savanna dotted with red acacia and desert date trees, rocky kopjes and ridges, and seasonal watercourses that drain west towards Lake Kyoga. Much of the plain floods in the single rainy season and dries to gold afterwards, when the lower grasses are burned back each year. Wildlife here is shyer and more thinly spread than in the big national parks, but the species list is distinctive. Pian Upe is one of the few places in Uganda to see ostriches in the wild, along with secretary birds and Abyssinian ground hornbills. Oribi are the most common antelope, and the reserve also protects roan antelope, Jackson's hartebeest, eland, topi and zebra, some of which move in and out with the seasons from the neighbouring Bokora and Matheniko reserves. Giraffes, lost to poaching decades ago, returned in October 2019, when the Uganda Wildlife Authority translocated 15 Rothschild's giraffes from Murchison Falls. Elephants and rhinos once roamed here too but have not come back. The reserve's history is a long one. Its southern part was declared the Debasien Animal Sanctuary in 1958, and in 1964 it was enlarged and renamed Pian Upe. In 2022 the Uganda Wildlife Authority signed a co-management agreement with the conservation charity Space for Giants and neighbouring district governments, the first arrangement of its kind in Uganda, aimed at raising investment for security, community enterprise and tourism, and at restoring wildlife. Activities are simple and rewarding: morning and evening game drives across the plains, birdwatching, guided nature walks and hikes on the surrounding hills, and visits to rock shelters with ancient paintings. Community and cultural visits with the Karimojong communities around the reserve add another dimension, and the reserve pairs naturally with Mount Elgon and Sipi Falls to the south or Kidepo Valley National Park to the north. Accommodation is limited: UWA bandas and a campsite at the reserve headquarters, and a small tented camp, so book ahead and travel self-sufficient. Pian Upe works best as part of a longer eastern or northern circuit. It sits on the long road from Kampala through Mbale to Kidepo, a stretch with few other attractions, so a night or two here breaks the journey and adds a genuinely different side of Uganda. Bring a sturdy 4x4, plenty of water and patience: the reward is space, silence and some of the most open savanna in the country. Photo: Byekwaso Blasio / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Highlights

• Wide, open semi-arid savanna and wooded grassland with almost no other visitors
• Ostriches and secretary birds on the plains
• Roan antelope, Jackson's hartebeest, eland, zebra and oribi
• Rothschild's giraffes reintroduced from Murchison Falls in 2019
• Views of Mount Kadam, the reserve's highest point at about 3,068 metres
• Rock shelters and caves with ancient rock paintings
• An easy add-on on the road from Mbale to Kidepo Valley