Toror Hills

A(i)Site contains one or more globally threatened species

Toror Hills qualifies as an Important Plant Area under criterion A. Sub-criterion A(i) is triggered by the presence of the globally threatened (Vulnerable) Aloe wilsonii. This species is restricted in range of geographical distribution, occurring in NE Uganda and NW Kenya. The site also has important populations of two range restricted but Least Concern species, Aloe cheranganiensis and Euphorbia petraea, but it does not meet the thresholds for criterion B(ii).

The Toror Hills IPA is located within Kotido district, in the Karamoja rangelands, within the U1 floristic region in the Northeastern part of Uganda. It is an inselberg lying approximately 75 km northwest of Moroto Town and 20 km southeast of Kotido Town. The site is partially located within Bokora Corridor Wildlife Reserve. It has steep slopes and rises to 1920 m, surrounded by largely gently undulating terrain (Ministry of Local Government 2023) at c. 1,200 m asl.

Toror Hills is an important mid-elevation savanna ecosystem in northern Uganda, located at the interphase of the Sudanian and Somali-Masai Regional Centres of Endemism (White 1983, 1993). Being part of the Karomoja rangelands, Toror is home to plants typifying semi-arid conditions in woodlands and thickets. Limited botanical expeditions have been made at this site owing to its isolation and insecurity over several decades. There is need to conduct more extensive studies to reveal more species than are currently known, and these are likely to include further species of botanical importance at this site, especially within the non-woody species given that the neighbouring mountains have proven of particular interest to this group of plants.

Toror Hills is of high conservation significance as it hosts the rare and globally threatened Aloe wilsonii. This species is a large, succulent, solitary subshrub or shrub that grows on dry rocky slopes of isolated hills (Cole & Forrest 2017). It is only known from northeastern Uganda and nearby in the Cherangani Hills of northwest Kenya and is globally Vulnerable (Baldwin et al. 2022).

Aloe cheranganiensis has also been recorded from Toror Hills. Though not globally threatened, this species is range-restricted with extent of occurrence (EOO) estimated as only 9,558 km2. It is known only from northern Kenya, along the western escarpment of the Rift Valley in the Cherangani Hills (Carter et al. 2011) and the Ugandan hills along the border with Kenya, on the slopes of Mt Kadam, Mt Moroto, Toror Hills and Mt Napak, as well as in the plains of Karamoja between Moroto and Kotido (Cole & Forrest 2017).

Also occurring at Toror, Euphorbia petraea is a decumbent succulent shrub (Carter 1988) currently assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Redlist (IUCN SSC East African Plants Red List Authority 2013), in Uganda only known to occur at Toror Hills, Mt Napak, Paimol and a recent record from Mout Orom Central Forest Reserve (Ben Kirunda, pers. comm. 2025).

The principal vegetation covering Toror Hill is classified as Dry Combretum-Acacia-Themeda/Acacia-Terminalia savanna (Langdale-Brown et al. 1964) on rocky slopes of isolated hills of grassland (Carter et al. 2011), and presumably also succulent rock-dwelling communities with Aloe, Euphorbia etc. There are also sparse deciduous bushlands of Lannea-Acacia-Balanites and Acacia-Albizia-Dichrostachys on exposed rock and boulders. Much of the Bokora Wildlife Reserve consists of dry plains of mainly savanna grasslands, shrubs and short trees.

The Toror Hills are part of the volcanic areas of Karamoja (UNDP 2014; Kotido District Local Government 2012). They comprise a central carbonatite complex (Sutherland 1965; Theodore et al. 1987; van Straaten 2002). The hills represent a tertiary inactive and dormant volcano, an outcrop characterised by soda-rich agglomerates, lavas and tuffs with locally eroded remnants of carbonatite rings and syenite complexes. Some of the sediments are of volcanic origin, while others are associated with earlier depositional episodes (MWE 2013a, cited in Cordaid 2017).

The climate in Karamoja sub-region is characterized with rainfall ranging from 350 to 1,000 mm per annum. This precipitation is usually distributed in one rainy season followed by drought periods.

The Toror Hills are unprotected except for the southern portion which overlaps with Bokora Corridor Wildlife Reserve. This reserve is under the jurisdiction of the Uganda Wildlife Authority, managed under the Mount Elgon Conservation Area. The boundary of Toror Hills IPA follows the outline of the hills as a whole, both protected under the Bokora Corridor Wildlife Reserve and unprotected.

Bokora Corridor Wildlife Reserve was gazetted as a Wildlife Reserve in 1964 and occupies an area covering 2,056 km2. It is the second largest wildlife reserve in Uganda after Pian-Upe, also found in Karamoja. By statutory instrument, this reserve was extended in 2003 to include the woodlands and thickets around the Toror Hills and westwards towards Labwor to include Combretum woodlands not adequately represented in the protected area network (Rugadya et al. 2010, Buhanga Edgar, pers. comm. to James Kalema, 2023). The demarcation on the ground was however, halted owing to insecurity in the area.

Vegetation clearance goes on near Toror for resettlement in neighbouring villages (UNDP 2014; Ministry of Local Government 2023). Egeru et al (2014) reported a tenfold increase in land under cultivation in Karamoja region in general in a space of 13 years. There is an increase in the surrounding human populations with ongoing clearance of wild vegetation for agriculture.

Significant environmental degradation has been reported due to tree cutting for charcoal burning near Toror (Panyangara) (UNDP 2014), traditional herbal medicine, building and construction including fencing of homesteads and cattle kraals (Ministry of Local Government 2023). Overgrazing makes the soil prone to erosion (UNDP 2014; Ministry of Local Government 2023). There are also wild fires set to aid hunting for bush meat, security and regeneration of fodder by pastoralists (Ministry of Local Government 2023).

At Toror Hills, a number of minerals are present that have potential for exploitation including: calcium carbonate (limestone) occurring in carbonatite ring complexes, magnetite (iron ore) and pyrochlore, an important niobium mineral (Africa Centre for Energy and Mineral Policy, undated; van Straaten 2002; Kotido District Local Government 2015; UGEITI 2023). If exploited, this may cause more degradation.

Lack of Local Government land-use policies, ordinances and by-laws in the general Karamoja region to ensure compliance to national and international legislative instruments on natural resource management has also been reported as a challenge to rational natural resource management (Ministry of Local Government 2023).

One of the challenges faced by the Uganda Wildlife Authority in managing the wildlife reserves in Uganda is encroachment and outright occupation by local communities living close to the reserves. The communities close to Bokora Corridor Wildlife Reserve complain of animals like buffalo crossing into and destroying or feeding on their crops and that when this happens, the government rarely compensates them. This creates human-wildlife conflicts that make community conservation programmes problematic. In the wake of all the above challenges, the Uganda Wildlife Authority has embarked on various community sensitization efforts to educate the communities about wildlife conservation and how they could benefit from the tourism industry like their fellow pastoralists in Kenya.

Some local hunting of animals for bushmeat occurs. Gathering of terrestrial plants and harvesting of plants for medicines are also ongoing. Aloe wilsonii is known to be wild-harvested locally for medicinal use, including the treatment of eye infections, for pain relief and as an emetic (Anywar et al. 2021).

The Bokora people, an ethnic group of the Karimojong, live close to the wildlife reserve. They reportedly believe that the power of the spear came from the soul of the iron ore of the sacred Mt Toror (Powell 2010). This might be an opportunity to garner community support and participation for this site with such a strong spiritual attachment.

Assessed by:

James Kalema, Makerere University Herbarium

Samuel Ojelel, Makerere University Herbarium

Sophie Richards, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Iain Darbyshire, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Date of first assessment: 15th Jan 2025

Reviewed by:

Ben Kirunda, Total Energies