A male adult chimpanzee was captured on video slapping a passenger riding on a motorcycle along the road that winds through Kyampisi Central Forest Reserve in Mubende District, Central Region. The chimpanzee didn’t harm anyone and quickly vanished into the forest, however. The unexpected encounter left riders and pedestrians worried that it might become aggressive and attack residents.
Local authorities immediately alerted the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) about the incident. A specialized team of veterinarians and rangers, trained to respond to wildlife emergencies, rushed to the scene and began tracking the chimpanzee. After hours of searching, the animal was located, safely captured, and later transported to the Uganda Wildlife Education Center (UWEC) in Entebbe for rehabilitation which includes giving the chimp veterinary care and allowing it to re-socialization with other chimps at the sanctuary.
According to UWA, the chimpanzee belonged to the Kyampisi Mubende Chimp Community. Officials said it had become over-accustomed to human contact, with reports suggesting that some community members had been feeding primates, including baboons. UWA warned that such close interactions put both wildlife and people at risk, since chimpanzees can display unpredictable behavior and may also transmit or contract diseases from humans.
A Forest Under Pressure
Kyampisi Central Forest Reserve covers 15.39 square kilometers and is one of the 506 reserves in Uganda. These reserves are managed by the National Forest Authority (NFA) for the sustainable provision of forestry and non-forestry products and services. But like many others across the country, Kyampisi is under significant threat. According to NFA, more than 400 forest reserves in Uganda face encroachment driven by a growing population, the demand for farmland and settlement, illegal logging for timber and charcoal, and weak enforcement of environmental regulations.
Global Forest Watch data shows that Mubende District alone lost 3.51 kilo-hectares of humid primary forest between 2002 and 2024, accounting for 3.5% of its total tree cover loss during that period. The total area of humid primary forest in Mubende decreased by 57%, highlighting the scale of habitat destruction. Such pressures push wildlife out of shrinking habitats and into closer contact with people.
Challenges of human–wildlife conflicts
The Mubende incident is part of a broader pattern of human–wildlife conflict across Uganda. For instance, elephants tend to escape from Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls national parks into the adjacent villages. Such interactions can result in loss of harvests and constant fear. As one boda-boda rider in Mubende remarked after the chimpanzee incident, “We use this road every day.
If chimps start attacking, how will we move safely?” Such sentiments reflect the growing anxiety among people who feel caught between survival and wildlife conservation. Chimpanzees are a vital part of Uganda’s tourism and attract tourists for chimpanzee trekking and habituation experiences in destinations including Kibale Forest national park and Budongo forest reserve. Uganda has over 5,000 chimpanzees living in 20 forests making for one of the largest populations in Africa. Protecting them is not only a biodiversity obligation but also central to Uganda’s tourism economy.
Solutions
UWA and its partners are taking steps to reduce human–wildlife conflict through rapid response interventions to safely relocate problem animals. Among other measures include community sensitization programs to encourage people not to feed wild primates and to report animals that escape from the parks. Stronger law enforcement against illegal activities helps to keep protect wildlife and the communities.
Revenue-sharing schemes where communities living near national parks get 20% of the park entry fees and benefit directly from tourism income. UWA also uses barriers and deterrents, including trenches, beehive fences, and in some areas, electric fencing, to keep wild animals from communities. Conservationists also point to the need for habitat connectivity. Creating forest corridors between protected areas would allow wildlife including lions, elephants, and chimpanzees to move safely without crossing roads or raiding community farms.
For instance, the Kyambura Gorge-Kasyoha-Kitomi corridor links Kyambura Wildlife Reserve to Kasyoha Kitomi Forest Reserve and averages about 600 metres in width. The corridor is important for the movement of elephants and chimpanzees. Another important forest corridor in Uganda is the Kasyoha-Kitomi- Kalinzu-Maramagambo corridor which links Kasyoha-Kitomi Forest Reserve with Kalinzu-Maramagambo Forest Reserve and is about three kilometres in width of which a larger part of the corridor is grassland. Local people have been allowed by the NFA to plant pine and eucalyptus trees. The corridor provides connectivity for primates and elephants for wild pigs, duikers, striped jackals, serval cats and genets.
The Kyampisi forest reserve is not far from the relatively larger Mabira central forest reserve. As such, a forest corridor could help to connect the two forests for conservation purposes. Given that forest corridors action plans are projected to reduce human wildlife conflicts and conserve biodiversity.
