KAMPALA, Oct 26 (Swara) – Conservationists and tourism investors in Uganda have voiced strong opposition to the proposed construction of a second hydropower dam on the country’s Kyambura Gorge, a magnificent ravine that hosts a mosaic of riparian forest, woodland, and swamp ecosystems.
Located on the eastern edge of Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) in southwestern Uganda, the gorge cuts a lush 12-kilometre long boundary between the savannahs of the park and the Kyambura Game Reserve. Kyambura Gorge is best known for its resident chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii), which have been a popular tourist attraction since the mid-1990s.
In addition to chimpanzees, five other primate species inhabit Kyambura Gorge. They are the Black & White colobus, Olive baboon, Vervet monkeys, Red-tail monkeys and a small population of Blue monkeys. The river within the gorge also attracts large herbaceous mammals, including elephants, and hippos are a common sight along the banks of the river.
In a notice published in the Uganda press on September 15, the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) informed the public that it had received a letter from a company known as Rubirizi Energy EP (U) Limited announcing that it intended to apply for a licence to build a hydropower production dam on River Kyambura. ERA then invited parties that would be affected by the project to raise their objections.
One of the parties to object was Volcanoes Safaris, a tour company that developed the renowned Kyambura Gorge Lodge adjacent to the Kyambura Gorge and built a series of interrelated community projects around the Lodge, including a 3.5km Kyambura buffer zone along the gorge, the Kyambura community and conservation centre, a women’s coffee cooperative, a community and conservation centre and a reclaimed wetland.
Volcanoes Safaris noted that the proposed weir for the second dam would be situated just 1.3 km downstream from the existing Kyambura hydropower dam and could affect the efficiency of the older project that was completed in 2019. Flooding during the high flow season could also inundate the first dam and damage access roads and neighbouring private land and homes as well as potentially affect the Kyambura Gorge Lodge and other projects nearby.
“This gorge is a key tourist attraction for chimpanzee tracking in the country,” said Praveen Moman, Founder Volcanoes Safaris, in a letter to ERA, Uganda Wildlife Authority and the Uganda Tourism Board. “It is home to a critically endangered group of chimpanzees in the park protected by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. In addition, Volcanoes Safaris has worked for twenty years to safeguard the chimpanzees and their habitat through the creation of a buffer zone and wetland adjacent to the gorge.
“Developing such a project will have adverse effects and maybe even cause the extinction of the chimpanzees and other animals in the gorge, leading to loss of revenue for the lodges in the vicinity and a consequent loss of jobs and livelihoods for the communities,” Moman added.
Volcanoes Safaris urged the parties seeking to implement the hydro power project to commission studies by independent competent entities to demonstrate the impacts of their proposed project, which has the potential to also adversely affect the Kyambura Gorge and Queen Elizabeth National Park.
