Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information See Box and Table 3 for key species. There has been little fieldwork done in and around Lake Kyoga, although during two visits by NatureUganda staff, some apparently important places for the conservation of birds were noted. There is no list of birds in the Kyoga system, but records have been made in different parts of the swamp. These include Lake Nawampasa, part of Lake Nakuwa and Kyebiseke around Irundu. The swamps are mainly important for three species of global conservation concern, and for species of the Lake Victoria Basin biome

Site description This site, the Nakuwa area, is in the south-eastern part of the Kyoga system, which is an important natural water reservoir for the Nile. It includes Lakes Nawampasa, Budipa, Nkodokodo and Murlu, as well as swamps in the east, and the northern swamps of Lakes Nakuwa and Kyebiseke. The swamps are predominantly dense papyrus Cyperus papyrus, broken in parts by pools of water forming sudds (clumps of floating papyrus). Sometimes these sudds open up completely, forming small lakes. Some lakes, like Nawampasa, are very shallow and covered by water-lilies Nymphaea, with short sedges (dominated by Cyperus) occupying the drier parts of the fringing papyrus swamp. These shallow areas are important for both waterbirds and surrounding fishing communities

Populations of IBA trigger species

Protected areas

Protected area	Designation	Area (ha)	Relationship with IBA	Overlap with IBA (ha)
Lake Nakuwa Wetland System	Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar)	91,150	protected area contains site	16,500

Habitats

Land use

Other biodiversity Mammals include otters and Tragelaphus spekii (LR/nt). Some of the small lakes in the Kyoga area support rare species of fish, including some that were exterminated in Lakes Victoria and Kyoga by the introduced and predatory Lates niloticus.

Management considerations The area is remote and poorly known, and therefore needs further investigation. The use of firearms to hunt Balaeniceps rex needs to be discouraged through a public-awareness campaign which, in addition to stressing the global significance of the species, should address some of the negative cultural beliefs, such as the bird being a bad omen for fishermen

References Burgis and Symoens (1987).

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Lake Nakuwa. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 25/05/2013

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