The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | URN | Kidepo Valley’s rangers will return to the Wildlife Ranger Challenge this month with a target on their backs.
The team has won Uganda’s annual 21-kilometre “Race for Wildlife” for three consecutive years.
On 19 September, it will attempt to make it four — this time against teams from some of the country’s most important protected areas.
The race, which will be held in Murchison Falls National Park, is designed to test the physical demands of frontline conservation work. Four-person ranger teams will set off at sunrise from Pakuba Airstrip and race 21km to the Nile Delta, each carrying a 22kg pack.
Teams from Murchison Falls, Queen Elizabeth, Kibale, Bwindi and Kidepo Valley national parks will compete, alongside a team from Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve, community scout units and invited corporate and diplomatic teams.
The contest is part of a much larger African effort. More than 200 ranger teams across 24 countries are expected to take part in the 2026 Wildlife Ranger Challenge.
For Kidepo, however, the immediate challenge is defending a title it has held since 2023.
Whether its rangers can maintain that dominance will be one of the main talking points when the teams gather at Murchison Falls.
But the race is about more than who crosses the finish line first.
The Wildlife Ranger Challenge was launched in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the collapse in tourism threatened revenues used to support protected areas across Africa.
Since then, it has evolved into an international campaign focused on ranger welfare, training, equipment and the wider needs of frontline conservation.
That focus is particularly relevant in Uganda, where rangers operate in protected areas that underpin a significant part of the country’s tourism economy while also sitting alongside communities whose livelihoods are closely linked to conservation.
The Uganda Conservation Foundation (UCF), which is organising the event with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and other partners, says the challenge is intended to bring greater attention to the people doing the work on the ground.
UCF has worked with UWA and Ugandan rangers for nearly three decades. This year’s event will bring rangers together with tourism leaders, government ministries and agencies, the Uganda Tourism Board, diplomatic missions, conservation organisations and private-sector representatives, including members of the Presidential CEO Forum.
The gathering highlights an often overlooked link in Uganda’s conservation model: protecting wildlife depends not only on policies and tourism revenues, but also on the people expected to enforce those protections in the field.
“Every kilometre these rangers run represents the extraordinary physical demands they face in protecting Uganda’s wildlife and protected areas. The Challenge gives all of us, government, tourism, business, conservation partners and the public an opportunity to stand behind them and recognise what they do for Uganda every day”,Michael Keigwin MBE, Founder Trustee, Uganda Conservation Foundation said
The international Wildlife Ranger Challenge is organised by Tusk and the Game Rangers Association of Africa, with HRH Prince William, Prince of Wales, as patron.
In Uganda, UCF coordinates the challenge in partnership with UWA and a coalition of businesses, tourism operators, conservation organisations and other supporters.
Companies and individuals can support the event by sponsoring ranger or community scout teams, equipment, fuel and other costs linked to the race and ranger welfare.
For now, the spotlight is on Kidepo.
Three victories have established the team as Uganda’s benchmark in the challenge. A fourth would strengthen that reputation. But with rival parks preparing to take the title, Murchison Falls will provide a test not only of endurance, but of whether Kidepo can remain on top.
