Budongo Conservation Field Station

Description

Budongo Conservation Field Station is a Ugandan non-governmental organisation carrying out research, wildlife conservation and community engagement in the Budongo Forest in Western Uganda.

It was founded in 1990 by anthropologist Vernon Reynolds as the Budongo Forest Project, initially to study the forest’s chimpanzees, and gained status as a Ugandan NGO in 2007 under its current name. The station sits within the Albertine Rift ecoregion and is one of the longest-running chimpanzee research sites in Africa. It works with international partners such as the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.

Its field staff monitor chimpanzees, birds, amphibians, trees and soil nutrient cycling, while a snare patrol team removes wire snares set in the forest and a veterinary team treats injured animals and local livestock. Staff also publish their own research, including in an online primatology journal aimed at sharing the knowledge of local and indigenous field staff.

Community outreach is a major part of its work: it delivers conservation education in local schools, hosts students on site, and helps local people find livelihoods that reduce illegal use of forest resources, such as goat rearing and crops less likely to be raided by wildlife.