A fisher paddles a wooden canoe on the Albert Nile beneath the Pakwach bridge, with tall grasses on the bank

Bringing Angara home to the Albert Nile

A community-led effort in Pakwach, Uganda, to restore the river’s native fish. Fish alongside the people who know this water, learn from the elders who remember Angara, and help the river recover.

Fish with local fishers How the recovery works

Photo: Albert Nile at Pakwach by Jim Joel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped)

Angara Return

Angara (Alestes baremoze) was once at the heart of fishing life on Lake Albert and the Albert Nile. Today it has nearly vanished. Small-mesh nets, the loss of riverside wetlands, and growing pressure on a shared fishery have pushed it toward local collapse.

Elder fishers in Pakwach still remember where Angara bred, when the flood-season runs came, and the practices that once let the fish return each year. Little of this has ever been written down. Angara Return starts with that memory.

72.7% → under 6% Angara and Ngassia’s combined share of Lake Albert’s commercial catch, 1971 to 2013
46% less fish Fall in total fish catch on the Albert Nile, 2012 to 2021

Sources: Nakiyende et al. (2013), National Fisheries Resources Research Institute; Kyambogo University study of the Albert Nile small-scale fishery in Pakwach District.

Engraving of Angara, a long silvery fish with a forked tail and large eye
Angara, Alestes baremose Plate XVIII, The Fishes of the Nile, G. A. Boulenger and L. Loat (1907). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped)

  1. Remember

    We record elders’ knowledge of Angara in their own language, with clear agreements that the community owns what is shared and decides what stays private.

  2. Map

    Elders guide younger fishers, women fish traders and researchers to the remembered breeding grounds. Together we record each site and its condition today.

  3. Protect

    Through their Beach Management Units, fishing communities choose which grounds to protect during the flood season and set their own rules for keeping them.

Fishers and traders gather at Panyimur landing site as boats come in on Lake Albert
Panyimur landing site, Lake Albert. Photo by Jim Joel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Fish with the people of the river

The best guides to the Albert Nile are the people who fish it every day. On these trips you go out with Pakwach fishers in their own boats, learn how they read the water, and fish the way the community chooses: carefully, and in a way that gives back to the river.

Local fishers lead every trip and are paid a fair rate for their skill and time. Part of every booking supports the community’s care of Angara’s breeding grounds.

A fisher holds up a string of freshly caught fish on a sandy shore
A fisher carries his catch, Uganda. Photo by Kikonko, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Dawn on the water

Head out at first light in a wooden boat with a local fisher. Learn how they read the current, the weather and the birds to find fish, and try the methods they use.

Early morning, half day

River-first angling with local guides

Fish for Nile perch and catfish with a Pakwach fisher as your guide. Every fish is handled gently and released, and Angara and Ngassia are never targeted.

Half or full day, permits arranged

The landing site at dawn

Be there as the boats come in. Meet the fishers, women fish traders and processors who keep the river economy alive, and hear how the catch has changed in their lifetimes.

Early morning, Pakwach or Panyimur

Nets, mesh and the next generation

Sit with fishers as they mend nets and explain why mesh size matters, what illegal gear has done to the river, and how young fishers are learning to fish so the river can recover.

Afternoon, at the landing site

How fishing with us works

  • Local fishers lead every trip and are paid fairly for their expertise.
  • Boats belong to local fishers, so the income stays on the river.
  • Small groups only, usually no more than four guests per boat.
  • All angling is catch-and-release, with careful handling.
  • Angara and Ngassia are never targeted, and protected grounds are off-limits.
  • Life jackets are provided, and fishers set the safety rules on the water.
  • Fishing permits are arranged with the relevant authorities.
  • Part of every trip funds the community’s stewardship of the river.

More river journeys

Not every journey involves a rod or a net. These experiences focus on the story of Angara and the places being protected for its return.

The Angara story with the elders

Sit with elder fishers as they tell how Angara once ran, what changed, and what its return would mean.

Half day, Pakwach

Breeding-ground visits

Travel by boat with local fishers to see the river’s nursery grounds and learn how the community is protecting them.

Outside the breeding season only

The river and its fish

Angara is our starting point, but the Albert Nile is home to many native fish that matter to the river and to the people who live by it.

Engraving of Angara

Angara

Alestes baremoze

A silvery, fast-moving fish that migrates with the floods to breed. Once a staple and a delicacy in Pakwach, Nebbi and across West Nile. Our flagship species.

Illustration: Boulenger and Loat, The Fishes of the Nile, Plate XVIII (1907), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Colour illustration of Ngassia, a silver tigerfish with a red-tipped tail

Ngassia

Hydrocynus forskahlii

A tigerfish, sharp-toothed and quick. It declined alongside Angara and is the next species we hope to include.

Illustration: Boulenger and Loat, The Fishes of the Nile, Plate XVII (1907), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Engraving of a Nile perch, a deep-bodied fish with spiny dorsal fins

Nile perch

Lates niloticus

Native to Lake Albert and the Nile, where it grows to enormous size. Here it belongs, unlike in Lake Victoria where it was introduced. On our trips it is always released.

Illustration: Boulenger and Loat, The Fishes of the Nile (1907), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Close view of a marbled lungfish resting on a gravel bed

Marbled lungfish

Protopterus aethiopicus

An ancient air-breathing fish of the swamps and papyrus edges, and a sign of healthy wetlands.

Photo by George Berninger Jr., CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Wide view of the Albert Nile at Pakwach with tall grasses in the foreground
The Albert Nile at Pakwach. Photo by Africalli, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Knowledge that belongs to the river’s people

The people of Pakwach and Panyimur have read this river for generations. They know its seasons, its breeding grounds and its warning signs in ways no survey has captured.

This initiative is guided by elders, Beach Management Units, younger fishers and women fish traders. They decide what is shared, how it is told and which places stay protected.

How we handle what we learn

We never publish the locations of breeding grounds. Maps stay with the community, so protected places do not become easy targets.

Names, photographs and stories appear here only with the consent of the people involved.

Some knowledge is not ours to share, and stays with the community.

Our river code

  • Angara is never caught, kept or eaten on our journeys.
  • Protected breeding grounds are closed to visitors during the flood season.
  • Fishing is catch-and-release only, with gentle handling and quick return to the water.
  • We keep no trophy records. Success is measured by fish returning, not fish landed.
  • Local fishers lead every trip on the water and are paid fairly.
  • Income from every journey supports the community’s care of the river.

This code is being written with the fishing communities of Pakwach and will grow as they shape it.
Background photo: the Albert Nile at Pakwach by Asikironalio, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped)

Get involved

We welcome travellers, anglers, researchers, conservation partners and funders who want to help native fish return to the Nile.

Tell us a little about yourself and how you’d like to take part, and we’ll be in touch.

Or email us at dabila@curatedexpeditionconcierge.org

Our office

Kikaya Circular Road
Kampala, Uganda

Image credits

  1. Albert Nile at Pakwach (hero): Jim Joel, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped.
  2. Panyimur landing site: Jim Joel, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
  3. A fisher carries his catch: Kikonko, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
  4. The Albert Nile at Pakwach: Africalli, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
  5. The Pakwach river (river code background): Asikironalio, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped.
  6. Angara (Alestes baremose), Plate XVIII: G. A. Boulenger and L. Loat, The Fishes of the Nile (1907), public domain, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped.
  7. Ngassia (Hydrocynus forskahlii), Plate XVII: G. A. Boulenger and L. Loat, The Fishes of the Nile (1907), public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
  8. Nile perch: G. A. Boulenger and L. Loat, The Fishes of the Nile (1907), public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
  9. Marbled lungfish: George Berninger Jr., CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.