Journal of East African Natural History - Volume 1976, Issue 156, August 1976

Teso District, an area of approximately 140 000 km2 in east-central Uganda, has been sadly neglected by ornithologists, and will probably remain so for some time to come. Almost all other parts of the country have been better covered. One reason for the lack of interest in the district, may be the geography which is comparatively uninteresting, but this is more than amply compensated for by its amiable indigenous inhabitants. It is entirely low-lying country between 1000 m and 1200 m altitude, rising to 1367 m at one point in the south-west. However, inselbergs are a common feature of the landscape. The area, although lacking mountains and true forest, includes much wet land. Lakes Salisbury and Opeta are entirely within the district, as is a large part of Lake Kyoga. A chain of small lakes runs along the southern boundary. Running into the lakes, numerous small rivers, many seasonal, dissect the area. Where the rivers broaden out, extensive beds of Cyperus papyrus L. Typha and Phragmites may be formed. Following Langdale-Brown, Osmaston & Wilson (1964), the district can be roughly divided botanically into four more-or-less equal sections, with the district headquarters, Soroti, at the centre.