Chimps and humans in conflict
Population growth and deforestation in Uganda spur confrontation
"Human-wildlife conflicts are becoming more frequent, serious and widespread because of human population growth, agricultural expansion, infrastructure development, climate change and other drivers of habitat loss. " —International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Of the many human-wildlife conflicts around the world, the complex interactions between chimpanzees and human populations in Uganda are particularly painful and unsettling.
A sharp increase in human population and resulting deforestation has provoked chimps to seek new habitats and food sources, bringing them into Ugandan fields and backyards—and into direct confrontation with the families that live there. There is a taboo against eating chimpanzees in Uganda as well, which means as forests are leveled, the chimpanzees remain, for time.
This confrontation occasionally escalates into violence and loss of life. At a minimum, chimps frequently disrupt some Ugandans’ livelihoods and safety. But circumstances can become more dire—even resulting in human fatalities. The fact that victims of this violence are typically children makes the situation all the more distressing.
What can be done?
There is no simple solution to this challenging human-wildlife conflict. Chimpanzee habitat loss in Uganda means that there aren't any vacant wild areas for chimps to be relocated to. Replanting native forests, incentivizing small land owners to keep their forests intact, educating communities in conflict about how they can reduce the human-chimp conflicts and working with local leaders to find solutions have all been shown to reduce conflict.
Tragedy in conflict
Kyamajaka is a small village located in the Kagadi District of western Uganda. Set atop rich, volcanic soil, it is home to an increasing number of families seeking to sustain themselves with a range of crops cultivated on small plots. It is also where remnant fragments of the Muhororo forest—and some of its chimps—remain.
Ntegeka Semata and her family are among those who call Kyamajaka home. In 2014, however, any sense of the family’s comfort and security was tragically shattered. Having learned over the years to be wary of the remaining chimps, Ntegeka was careful to keep a close eye on her children as she worked in the garden. But it took just one blink of her eye for a chimp to grab her young son, Mujuni. Despite the best efforts by local villagers to rescue the child, Mujuni did not survive.
The chimps continued to terrorize the Semata household, and in 2017 they were finally forced to abandon their home. Shortly after the Semata’s departure, I received their permission to observe the home they left behind.
The group’s biggest male, the one I presumed to be the alpha, stood and swung his arms, warming up for his show of prowess. He broke into a run, picked up a softball-size rock along the way, and hurled it. Skipping once off the ground, the rock slammed thunderously into the house. My heart raced as I photographed this behavior. I knew the chimps were only shadowboxing their reflections, but it did feel like an attack. Eventually, as the daylight faded, the chimps returned to their tiny forest and I was able to leave the house.
- A large chimp grabs and bends a small sapling tree just outside the door of a brown house with deteriorating walls, while a forested area is visible in the background.
- A view from inside the brown house looking through a window with curved, decorative security bars on it shows two large chimps approaching the house from the forest area about 25 meters away. The closer of the two chimps is about 8 meters away and is moving toward the house. The chimp in the background is sitting on the ground looking toward the house with its mouth wide open.
- A view from ground level, looking through blades of grass shows a chimp standing against a brown house with deteriorating brown adobe walls, a corrugated metal roof, and two, four-panel windows with a door in between them.
Wild chimpanzees are drawn to their reflections in the mirrored windows of the Semata house in Kyamajaka, Uganda.
On my last visit with them, in November 2017, Ntegeka asked if I had photos of the chimps. Reluctantly I took out my phone and showed her the image above of five chimps lined up outside her former home. She began to laugh—and laugh—finally pausing to say, “My God, they look like humans.” I pulled up more photos. “I know all of them, aside from the babies. Look at that baby; it’s light-skinned,” she said, chuckling. Then the family proudly showed me their new plot of land and the large pile of bricks that would become their new home. They were rebuilding. And with Ntegeka’s laughter, I felt they had moved on in more ways than one.
How did we get here?
In 1990, nearly a quarter of Uganda was covered in forest; the human population was just over 17 million. By 2015, the country’s forest cover had declined to 9%, and its population had increased to nearly 40 million.
Access to gas and electricity is severely limited in Uganda, forcing its population to rely on firewood and charcoal for everyday tasks such as cooking and heating. With 85% of the populace relying on biomass energy, it is a simple equation to understand—Ugandan forests, and the wildlife within them, hardly stand a chance.
An aerial view about 50 miles southwest of the village of Kyamajaka starkly reveals the conflict’s front line, with fields whittling away the once-abundant forest of Kibale National Park.
Descending to the ground, we see two chimps sitting at the edge of this line, contemplating the vast field of tea before them—with their natural habitat, Kibale National Park, at their backs.
Protecting this land, along with other regions throughout Uganda, was a clear step toward lessening the toll that increased population and deforestation was taking on Uganda’s wildlife, especially chimps. Within the park, chimps have access to food sources, including figs, that are part of their natural diet.
Shrinking chimpanzee habitat
Unfortunately, protected areas have not proven to be a holistic solution and have become something of a double-edged sword. Within protected forests, chimps are being habituated to tourism—Kibale National Park’s website boasts that visitors have a 99% guarantee of sighting a chimp. For Ugandans, chimp tourism is a much-needed income stream, but these new opportunities bring increased population and clearing of forests for fields outside the boundaries of protected areas.
As human populations increase, the need for space and resources creates more pressure on chimp habitats.
This map shows protected areas in Uganda, most located on the western border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
These protected areas are safe havens for chimps and are primarily located within known .
As human populations increase, the need for space and resources also increases. This leads to deforestation and habitat loss for chimps.
This map shows tree cover loss in Uganda between 2001 and 2021. Particular loss occurs near national parks, resulting in increased human-chimp conflict.
Despite the protected lands, chimps still find themselves contained in areas that, in many cases, continue to decrease in size. And, of course, human boundaries are meaningless to chimps. They, too, are fighting for their livelihoods and will go to where the food is; this also means they will often go to where the people are.
A young chimp finds a bottle to play with in Bulindi, Uganda.
What comes next?
The factors that have led to human-chimp conflicts are complex, as are the consequences. Inevitably, a holistic solution is hard to come by. In Uganda, it is both illegal and culturally taboo to kill chimps. As a result, chimp fatalities typically only occur during intense moments of self-defense or in retaliation to attacks on humans. Moving the chimps is a more humane solution, but no vacant land is available to sustain them in Uganda.
It has become increasingly apparent that the most sustainable solution is to implement community-based conservation practices that embrace empathy toward both humans and wildlife. In a broader sense, communities across the globe would ideally be educated about human-wildlife conflicts and work together to arrive at solutions that reduce conflicts.
Learn more
To learn more about the human-chimp conflict in Uganda, and other human-wildlife conflicts around the world, visit these resources:
