46 wanderlust.co.ukMarch 2020
I
t’s being called a ‘silent
extinction’. Not because of the
quiet nature of giraff e, but
because their decline across
Africa is scarcely reported. I tried to
imagine a safari without them.
Their big eyes and diva eyelashes
staring watchful, ready to launch
into a slow-motion rocking gallop if
I veered too close.
“Most people don’t realise how
threatened they are,” said Dr Julian
Fennessy, of Giraff e Conservation
Foundation. Giraff e have declined
by about 30% since the mid-1980s
down to around 111,000.Threats
include hunting, habitat loss,
snares, and the trade of body parts.
The Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species
conference last August recognised
this concern and upgraded the
giraff e on its register to tighten up
against illegal and unsustainable
trade. Yet they remain in urgent
need of our help.
This has become even more
pressing, because giraff es are now
taxonomically recognised as four
genetically distinct species (Maasai,
Southern, reticulated and Northern)
of which the latter are estimated toHigh proile
(top) Mark Stratton;
Nubian gira es at
Murchison Falls National
Park waiting to be
translocated to Pian
Upe ReserveThanks tovisituganda.comImagesMusiime P Muramura/UWAnumber a perilous 5,600 individuals.
If you subdivide the northern giraff e
into its three recognised subspecies
(west African, Kordofan and Nubian)
then each of these populations are
critically endangered.
It was the Nubian subspecies
(population around 3,000) that
I went to see in Uganda.
A translocation programme is
underway from their core
population in Murchison Falls
National Park. The aim is to create
satellite populations around
Uganda, including to the remote
north-east where Pian Upe ReserveMark Stratton
Uganda may be known for its gorillas, but as the country works on a translocation programme
to protect its giraffes, it’s time the world’s tallest animal gets some much-needed attention...
The eturn of Uganda girafes
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