The East Madi Wildlife Reserve is located north of Murchison Falls National Park in Amuru District in North West Uganda. Initially it was gazetted as the Acholi and East Madi elephant sanctuary in 1950 it was known historically to contain some of the largest elephants in Uganda and attracted hunters from around the world who were looking for trophy tusks (Temple Perkins, 1955). The region later became the East Madi Controlled hunting area which was linked to Murchison Falls National Park through the Kilak Controlled Hunting Area.
The East Madi Wildlife Reserve in northern Uganda has existed for over 50 years in some form of protected area. During this time it has mostly been managed as a controlled hunting area and there has been little focus on the biodiversity of the reserve. Between 1985 and 2005 the reserve was insecure and was used as a base of operations by the Lord’s Resistance Army at times.
The survey teams assessed the species of large and small mammals, birds and plants (ferns and higher plants) in the reserve during a three week inventory in early 2008. A provisional list of 50 mammal species (excluding elephant which are thought to visit the reserve occasionally), 181 bird species and 374 plant species are now known for the reserve. Species accumulation curves for the plants in particular indicate that there are probably many more species to be found.
