Background

NU History

NatureUganda (NU) is the branch of the East Africa Natural History Society (EANHS) in Uganda. EANHS was set up in 1909 and thus the oldest conservation organization in East Africa. It started as a scientific organization with the primary aim of documenting the diversity of wildlife in East Africa.

The then mainly colonial administrators and other professionals used to collect specimens from the wild during their expeditions and deposited them into a collection centre, which later grew to become the present National Museums of Kenya.

In Uganda, the EANHS activities continued till the inset of political turmoil in the 1970s. Majority of the society members fled into exile and thus the society activities were halted.

When the NRM government took power in 1986, conditions were very conducive to rejuvenate the society activities in Uganda. A few of the surviving members, mainly lecturers at Makerere university,

came together in the early 1990s and restarted the EANHS-Uganda branch with a few activities mainly bird watching and nature walks.  By 1994, EANHS-Uganda had attracted more members and engaged in other activities including scientific research, conservation action, public awareness raising, advocacy and research. In response to this and also to streamline operations, the Society was registered as a non-profit independent national organization in 1995 with an operational name: NatureUganda – The East Africa Natural History society branch in Uganda. During the same period, NU joined the BirdLife International partnership and became the BirdLife partner in Uganda.

NU is now the leading membership-based conservation organization in Uganda championing the protection of birds and their habitats.