Lusozi and Malabigambo Forest

This forest reserve is located in Rakai District Southern Uganda. The major economic activities of the local people were bark cloth making, fishing and farming (cultivation of cotton and coffee). Although there was a sawmill established in 1940s to harvest podocarpus trees from Malabigambo forest, is no longer available. However it had attracted labour migrants from other parts of the country which in turn resulted in an increase in population within the settlement and the population of Lusozi settlement grew steadily.

The Malabigambo Forest Reserve is reasonably well conserved and comprises of large grassland patches which attract large animals such as elephants and buffaloes. Although no serious destructive consumptive use was observed in the forest, annual burning of the grassland patches by grazers is steadily undermining the expansion of the forest patches.

The people from Lusozi settlement harvest out the following commodities in the their order of importance to them: – firewood, grass, medicinal plants, handicraft materials, fruits, and meat from wild game.
However the people are faced with poor social services, although World vision (NGO) is providing financial assistance to this community by rehabilitating schools and building up new ones in the area. It also provides assistance to individual households in form of loans to alleviate poverty.