Vegetation of Uganda

Uganda is located in eastern Africa, west of Kenya, south of South Sudan, east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and north of Rwanda and Tanzania. It is in the heart of the Great Lakes Region and is surrounded by three of them, Lake Edward, Lake Albert, and Lake Victoria. While much of its border is lakeshore, Uganda is Landlocked with no access to the sea.

The country is mostly plateau with a rim of mountains.

The climate is tropical and generally rainy with two dry seasons (December to February, June to August). It is semiarid in the northeast.

Uganda covers a land area of 240 840 km² between latitudes 1°30′ south and 4° north and between longitudes 29°30′ and 35° east. In addition, 41 500 km² of the country area are open water and swamp.

Physically, the country consists of a plateau generally between 1 200 and 1 500 m dissected by numerous streams. In the west, this plateau is interrupted by an escarpment forming the lakes Edward and Albert, with the up trust of the Ruwenzori mountains (5 110 m) in the center between the lakes. In the extreme north, the plateau extends across the Nile into the district of West Nile. The south-west is very hilly and higher than the rest of the country. In the east, along the border with Kenya, three high mountains dominate Elgon (4 321 m), Kadam (3 068 m), and Moroto (3 083 m).

The Nile divides the country into two parts, flowing from Lake Victoria at Jinja through Lake Kyoga to the northern tip of Lake Albert, and then north to Sudan. A significant proportion of the southern part of Uganda contains swamps.

The climate is tropical, with 1 000 mm or more rainfall over most of the country. In the extreme northeast, in the Karamoja region exists a small zone with less than 500 mm of rainfall recorded.

The population is estimated for 2020 at 42 million inhabitants, with an annual growth rate of about 3.7%.

The country does, however, face many threats to its Natural habitats – particularly forests and wetlands – are being lost at an alarming rate, while poaching is also taking its toll on vulnerable species. The discovery of oil and gas within the Albertine Graben biodiversity hotspot and the impacts of climate change also have the potential to wreak havoc on Uganda’s vitally important natural environment.

Eastern Uganda

The eastern part of the country is generally flat and swampy as it is a huge water source as the Lake Victoria and the Nile all lie in the region, the country’s landscape starts changing towards Mbale at the base of Mount Elgon and mounts Tororo as the mountain range stretches through Sipi falls before hitting the Kenyan border and then continues towards Nakapiripiiti and Moroto as it bounces to the Turkana land in Kenya before curving to Mount Murongole where the extreme indigenous IK Tribe lives in Uganda near Kidepo valley national park open savannah grassland, the Karamoja region is one of the greatest areas in Uganda where you will still experience the diverse cultural experiences in the country during your safari.

Western Uganda

The western part of Uganda lies just above the Albertine Rift valley and follow along the ridge of Lake Albert and the country has a lot of plateaus and green tropical lowland forest making having greener vegetation and it also lies within the Rwenzori mountain section of Uganda and just below the mountain lies Queen Elizabeth national park which is lower in terms of Altitude making it much hotter more especially in Kasese town. However, the Semuliki region lies in the Congo basin home to Uganda’s Semuliki Forest national park and Toro- Semuliki national reserve and offering some of the insane landscape views in Uganda.

Southern Uganda

The most spectacular mountain ranges in the whole of Africa are found in the south of the country and its one of the areas holding the country’s tropical rain forest which lies in Bwindi impenetrable national park and Mgahinga gorilla national park which is the home to the world’s half population of mountain gorillas left in the wild. The rolling hills with some of the countries scenic volcanic crater lakes of Bunyonyi in Kabale, Mutanda in Kisoro, and Chahaffi in Kisoro near the border with Rwanda and Lake Mulehe also within the Kisoro Area are one the treasures of the region.

Central Uganda

The central part is mostly semi-arid towards the shores of Lake Victoria and the Lake Mburo national park area is pretty flat and the area is dominated by the cattle keepers commonly known as the Ankole keeping one of the Unique Long-horned Ankole cattle which have extremely longhorns.

And the areas towards Kampala the main city do receive rains due to the presence of the lake and the Entebbe area is mostly a peninsula covering the shores of Africa’s largest freshwater body covering an area of over 64,000 square kilometers bordering three countries of Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, on the Ugandan side the Mabamba bay is one of the best areas to see the endangered shoebill stork whose habitat in Africa heavily destructed due to Human activities and traditional norms that have seen the bird drop to the Critically endangered species list.

Northern Uganda

This one of the country’s flat topography as it’s the base of the Albertine rift valley base where lake Albert and the Albert Nile begin their course as it drops through south Sudan to northern Sudan before meeting with the blue Nile that starts from the Ethiopian highlands before crossing through Khartoum into the Mediterranean sea, however high towards south Sudan border their lies mountain ranges of Wati, Liru, and Kei respectively and most the areas of Arua, Maracha, Aringa, and Koboko are mountainous.

Other areas like Gulu, Kitgum, Lira, and others are generally flat though due to the low altitude the area is much drier and hotter compared to the south and west of the country, and here lies the country’s largest conservation area the mighty Murchison falls national park.