The Tsetse Fly was the Creator of the Savannah Wildlife Parks in Uganda

The Tsetse Fly was the Creator of the Savannah Wildlife Parks in Uganda: A tragic event in Ugandan History made way for Savanna Parks’s creation, and remarkably, the Tsetse Fly was the Creator of Uganda Wildlife Parks as we know them today. Most of the Savannah Parks came into being after those living there died or were taken elsewhere by the British Colonial era authorities.

During the same period, the dreaded Rinderpest disease wiped out much of the cattle. A different cause in returning vast areas of the Western Rift into the wilderness.  

Vast areas in western and northern Uganda became a wilderness without people. The wildlife there began to multiply and spread on what was now an open range. Areas such as the now Murchison Falls Park, the Semliki Valley, Queen Elizabeth Park, Lake Mburo Park were now a land without human inhabitants, just wildlife.

What happened in Uganda was repeated in other East African nations such as Kenya and Tanzania. The disease-carrying Tsetse Fly did not only create savannah parks in Uganda but all-over East Africa.

Visitors from around the world come to visit Uganda and the Tsetse fly-created parks. Yet very few, if any, know the story as to how the parks were created.

The Tsetse Fly was the Creator of the Savannah Wildlife Parks in Uganda: When you drive across the savannah on a game drive in one of Uganda’s National Parks, you do not think about how the park was created. You have no clue that there were once thriving villages of pastoralists who tended their cattle on the grasslands in this wilderness. Three hundred thousand people lived in the various parks. Between 1902-1910 over 200,000 people were wiped out by sleeping sickness brought about by the Tsetse fly.

The English Colonial government took advantage of this tragedy of human history that had visited the Western Rift people. It established wildlife reserves, which today are some of Uganda’s major parks, such Queen Elizabeth Park, which was called Kazinga in the old days, Murchison Falls Park and Semliki National Park, and Lake Mburo Park.

In the 21st Century, we can take some simple steps to avoid getting bitten by the Tsetse fly –you will not find Tsetse flies in Kampala. There are not as many Tsetse flies are not as many as there were, and they do not carry sleeping sickness (I had the blood sucked out of me by one, and I am still around ten years later) – avoid wearing black or blue shirts during the daytime.  Do wear long-sleeved shirts (when I was bitten, wearing a long-sleeved jean shirt – stick to Khaki shirts – no shorts. Insect repellent containing DEET does not work.  The Australian product RID has many enthusiastic fans claiming that it works against Tsetse flies and Mosquitoes – you can buy it online from various online stores.

Here is the reality- most visitors to Uganda do not get bitten by Tsetse flies. None of our clients have ever come down with a case of sleeping sickness caused by Tsetse Flies.

Tsetse Fly was the Creator of the Savannah Wildlife Parks – The savannas of Uganda that you are enjoying were because of over 250,000 people’s tragic deaths. The same was repeated in other East African Nations.