History of the Reserve
The British colonial administration gazetted the area in 1926 as Toro Game Reserve, establishing one of the earliest formal wildlife protection units in East Africa.
The reserve originally protected large populations of Uganda kob and African savanna elephants along the rift floor.
Following the passage of the Uganda Wildlife Statute in 1996, the government integrated the reserve into the national system under the Uganda Wildlife Authority, adjusting administrative oversight to balance species conservation with regional pastoralist land access.
Between 1971 and 1986, periods of regional civil unrest led to widespread uncontrolled hunting that severely reduced wildlife populations across the reserve.
Elephant herds dropped from several thousand individuals to fewer than one hundred by 1985, while lion populations suffered severe local declines.