Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary
The only rhinos in Uganda, tracked on foot.
Overview
Uganda lost all of its rhinos to poaching and war by the early 1980s. Ziwa is where they came back: a fenced sanctuary of around 70 square kilometres in Nakasongola District, run by Rhino Fund Uganda with the Uganda Wildlife Authority, stocked from 2005 with southern white rhino from Kenya and further afield and now holding a population that has grown entirely through births on site and further translocations. Every rhino in Uganda is here. Rangers know where each animal is and take visitors to them on foot, which is the point — approaching a white rhino on the ground, with a guide reading the wind, is a different experience from watching one from a vehicle, and it is rarely possible anywhere else in East Africa. There is also a boat trip on the Lugogo swamp with a chance of shoebill, plus night walks, and the sanctuary sits directly on the Kampala–Gulu road.