Murchison Falls National Park, located in northern Uganda, astride the River Nile from which the scenic waterfall forms.

The park is famous as a tourist site and recognised internationally for its rich and unique biodiversity. On the surface, it teems with flora and fauna. Beneath, it boils with oil and gas.

In the midst of this endowment, problems are brewing; oil exploration activities have left a dent on the surface — there is obvious loss of vegetation and migration of some of the wildlife species from their usual hangouts.

However, the sight of antelopes is common. A group of Jackson hartebeests and kobs feed on the vegetation of the savannah.

Suddenly, they rise and take off at breakneck speed, then just as suddenly stop. With their ears pricked, they stare at a slow moving tourist vehicle — the sound of the car engines had spooked them.

Scientist say that animals feel secure in a home range that is free from any form of disturbance in order to feed, rest, take cover and mate.

“They would be feeding, resting or mating, but instead they spend so much time looking at people or vehicles that it affects their lifestyle,” said Moses Kasadha, a Uganda Wildlife Authority official attached to the oil companies.

Alien objects like rigs, unnatural lighting systems, increased traffic flow and population, construction of new roads and excessive noise can now be found in the park due to oil activities, and they are having a negative effect on the ecosystem.

The lights, for example, have driven the lions and hyenas deeper into the wilderness, making it difficult to spot them. Drilling is a 24-hour operation, producing noise, vibrations, and very bright lights at night.

The presence of lights both day and night affects all wildlife, but carnivores, described as shy, suffer most because they are active during the night, late evening and early morning hours.

That is when they are visible too. I was not lucky enough to see a lion and my guide said they have become quite rare recently.

On top of that, the construction of drilling pads and camps has affected almost all the wildlife. 

“Some pads are in wildlife corridors which naturally keeps the animals away. Animal movement is interfered with and so they may not be seen in the areas known by tourist guides,” said Kasadha.

At times, frogs and young crocodiles have found themselves in pad water after rainfall. Unfortunately, the water does not have nutrients and some of them, when not rescued, die.

“Frogs also find themselves in liquid waste and we have found a number of them dead. The long term impact of this is that a particular species may get depleted,” said Kasadha.

Frogs are important in several aspects: They have pharmacological functions and are used as indicators for environmental stress, impact of pesticides and various anthropogenic activities.

Although Uganda is yet to carry out comprehensive studies on the impact of oil exploration on wildlife distribution, a study published in the Biological Conservation Journal in 2010 found that elephants, gorillas, monkeys and chimpanzees in Gabon’s Loango National Park avoided seismic activities.

The study evaluated the impact of loud noise resulting from seismic exploration on large rainforest mammals given their low survival rate when compared with smaller species following habitat disturbances.  

The sound levels of seismic exploration are about 10,000 times louder than a jet aircraft flying at a 300-metre altitude, according to the journal.

In Uganda, the impact of noise emanating from oil activities remains a point of contention with local leaders in oil producing districts arguing that the noise from the oil sites is responsible for driving elephants into towns and thus creating wildlife/ human conflict.

On the other hand, the community is struggling to understand the link between the elephants’ haphazard movements outside the park and the construction of Tangi camp along their migratory route. The elephants use that route on their way to Sudan.

“We cannot conclusively say that their changing migration habits are the result of oil activities because farmers plant maize, cassava, which naturally attract the elephants,” said  Fred Otika, secretary for defence in Bar village in Nwoya district.

In the meantime, oil companies are not sure about the claims in the absence of any scientific proof on the ground.

Total E&P, which has bought most of the wells in the park, said it will carry out more studies before the production phase begins.

“We need to do a proper field development plan and environmental impact assessment (EIA) and figure out how best we can minimise the impact on biodiversity.  We plan to cary out noise monitoring to understand our operations better,” said Lance Martin, head of environment, Total E&P Uganda.

The hard truth is that even if oil companies apply due diligence, the ecosystem will still be affected in one way or another.

That is why the proposed Petroleum Exploration, Development and Production Bill 2012 puts the onus of conservation on the licensee. “A licensee is liable for pollution damage without regard to fault,” reads the Bill.

An earlier EIA done for exploration purposes in the areas north and south of the River Nile listed habitat conversion; degradation and fragmentation; aesthetic destruction and changes in wildlife grazing arrangements; air pollution; noise and lights as some of the negative impacts of oil activities in the park.

A signpost carefully displayed in the middle of a game track reads: No Entry. This blocked game track, like many others, leads to the 31 oil wells scattered all over the park.

The construction of the tracks and drill sites saw the cutting down of a good deal of vegetation. The problem is that even if restoration is done, it will take several years before the trees regenerate.

That alone is unlikely to deter the government from stopping exploration given that the country is expected to earn substantial revenues fro oil.