Rothschild Giraffe in Uganda: Where to See Them and Their Conservation Status

Rothschild giraffes in Uganda live mainly in Murchison Falls National Park, with a smaller, recovering population in Kidepo Valley National Park in the northeast.

Murchison Falls National Park is home to an estimated 1,500 Rothschild giraffes, making it the largest population of this subspecies anywhere in the world. Visitors on game drives north of the Nile regularly encounter groups of giraffes moving through the park's open savanna.

A second, much smaller population lives in Kidepo Valley National Park, in Uganda's far northeast near the border with South Sudan and Kenya. This population has recovered dramatically: from just 3 individuals to more than 50 animals today. While sightings are less frequent than in Murchison Falls, Kidepo offers a rare chance to see the subspecies in one of Africa's most remote parks.

Outside Uganda, the Rothschild giraffe survives only in a small area of Kenya. This makes Uganda the single most important country for the survival of the subspecies.

Roughly 1,600 Rothschild giraffes remain in the wild worldwide, and Uganda's national counts show a clear upward trend over the past decade.

Global estimates place the total wild population of the Rothschild giraffe at around 1,600 animals, with the great majority living in Uganda. Most of these are concentrated in Murchison Falls National Park, with the remainder in Kidepo Valley.

Uganda's own wildlife census data, published in the Statistical Abstract, shows a rise in Rothschild's giraffe numbers from 880 individuals during the 2011-2017 survey period to 2,072 in the 2018-2020 period. These national figures cover a broader survey scope and time frame than the Murchison Falls-specific estimate of 1,500, so the two numbers should not be treated as directly comparable — they reflect different data sets and periods.

Whichever figure is used, the direction is the same: the population has grown substantially since the early 2010s, reflecting sustained conservation attention in Uganda's protected areas.

The IUCN lists the Rothschild giraffe's broader classification as Near Threatened, while the subspecies itself is considered Endangered, mainly due to habitat loss, poaching, and genetic isolation.

The Rothschild giraffe carries an IUCN status of Near Threatened at the species level, while the subspecies is classified as Endangered given its small, fragmented range. Three main pressures drive this status:

• Habitat loss: Expanding agriculture reduces the open savanna and woodland the giraffes depend on.
• Poaching: Illegal hunting and snaring remain a risk in and around protected areas.
• Genetic isolation: Because so few populations remain, each is vulnerable to inbreeding and reduced genetic diversity, which can weaken long-term resilience.

Conservation efforts in Uganda's parks, including protection measures in Murchison Falls and the recovery seen in Kidepo Valley, have helped stabilise and grow numbers, but the subspecies remains dependent on continued protection.

In 2025, the IUCN SSC Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group reclassified what was known as the Rothschild giraffe as the Nubian Giraffe, part of the broader Northern Giraffe species.

For decades, the animal seen in Murchison Falls and Kidepo Valley was known as the Rothschild giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi). In 2025, the IUCN SSC Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group updated the taxonomy: the population previously called Rothschild's giraffe is now classified as the Nubian Giraffe, grouped within the Northern Giraffe species.

This is a scientific reclassification, not a change in the animals themselves. The giraffes in Uganda's parks are the same population; only the taxonomic name and grouping have been updated to reflect current genetic research. For visitors and conservation programmes alike, the practical situation is unchanged: Uganda remains the primary stronghold for this population, and the same conservation priorities apply. Both names, Rothschild giraffe and Nubian Giraffe, may appear in different sources depending on when they were published.