Henry Arthur Osmaston has aptly been described as a forester, geographer and mountaineer by most of us who know about his works and his life. In Uganda he is well remembered, and forever will be, for his work in the Forest Department where he worked from 1949-63. His biggest exploit though are his works in the Rwenzoris that were also named the “Mountains of the Moon” and little wonder therefore that he passed away after fulfilling his great desire to revise the guidebook to the mountains, ahead of the commemorative centenary climb of June 2006, that I received on the same day as I got news of his demise.
Rwenzori mountains or the Mountains of the Moon for which Henry Osmaston did a lot of work is a very important conservation area to the local people of the area who refer to it as the “rain mountain” or “source of water” to the Ugandan people and all living in the Nile basin for its water catchment quality as well as to the international community who marvel at glaciers at the equator and the rich biodiversity. It is for those reasons that the mountain ecosystem that comprises of tropical forest, montane and alpine vegetation plus permanent ice was gazetted as a Forest Reserve and later in 1991 made a National Park and now enjoys the World Heritage Status as well.
We in Uganda came to know that forestry and a love of wild mountain country were Henry Osmaston’s genetic inheritance. Having been born in the Himalayan hill station of Dehra India, where his father, Arthur Osmaston, was an officer in the Indian Forest Service and therefore Henry learnt a lot from him that became very useful and applicable in his working environment in Uganda.
Henry Osmaston first came to Uganda in 1949 together with his wife and for several years worked as District Forest Officer in Western Uganda where the Rwenzori forest reserve was under his charge. He climbed the mountain and explored the rich ecosystem so many times and kept very important records which were later to become valuable reference material for students and studies on the Rwenzori ecosystem and geography of which he was a lecturer. These records and notes culminated into the first ever comprehensive guidebook to the Rwenzori Mountains.
Henry left Uganda in 1963, soon after independence but his love for nature and the mountains remained unchanged indeed using his vast knowledge of the mountain published the first guidebook in 1972 and went ahead to create the Rwenzori Trust in 1992. While in Uganda he was an active member of the Rwenzori Mountain Club and became president of the club as well helping establish tourism infrastructure at the time that is still in use today. He had several friends and workmates and maintained contact with them.
Henry returned to Uganda in 1996 to make a keynote address to the Makerere Scientific Conference on the Rwenzoris. This visit and the conference was made possible through the Trust that Henry helped establish in line with the Trust’s objectives of;
1. Supporting training, equipment or buildings for scientific research or environmental conservation on Uganda mountains
2. Supporting training, equipment or buildings for the advancement of education in mountaineering in Uganda by Ugandans.
As a geographer he had two paramount qualities. One was his love of real, physical, hands-on fieldwork, preferably in mountain environments; the other was the astonishing breadth of his interests, all backed up by copious, meticulous research.
Perhaps Henry’s works and love for Uganda can better be understood from his own expressions on conservation work and the people he worked with and I quote below:
On the working environment he had this to say: “I had clear professional aims and sufficient independence to put them into practice. My colleagues, both British and African, were congenial and mostly were highly motivated. My family enjoyed life there as much as I did. What more could I ask?”
On the local peoples needs and the national interests he said: "It had been established from the beginning that the interests of the inhabitants were paramount." In the specific area of forestry, by 1960 all the major areas of natural forests were protected for water catchment or timber production; further softwood plantations were created to cater for increased demand.
Henry returned again to Uganda in 2005, this time to collect fresh data to enable him revise his splendid guide to the Rwenzoris which he wonderfully achieved before passing away. The guide which is more than a guide contains a lot of information on the history, mythology, zoology, botany and glaciology of the region, rendering it a very user friendly reference book for students, lectures, tourists and anybody interested in natural history. The changing environment over the last 100years of the mountains is elaborately described with the aim of informing decision makers and scientists alike.
As a beneficiary of Henry’s works first as a student and later as a conservationist and now as Head of Uganda Wildlife Authority I was privileged to meet the renowned conservationist, scholar and teacher in 2005 and was instantly humbled by his ways and sucked intro his complex network of friends. He ensured I got a personal copy of his last major work that I have inevitably read from cover to cover.
True to his style, Henry dedicated the guide not only to his dear wife with whom he shared many arduous journeys in the Rwenzoris but also to his Bakonzo companions whom he acknowledges that without he would not have made all those journeys and goes ahead to name a few them as Y. Bakurisoni, P.Musoke, Azeroni, Zedekiya Bagenyi and John Matte.
When I went to do the commemorative climb of the Rwenzoris marking 100 years of the Abruzzi expedition, many local people in Kasese, Uganda asked me about Henry to whom I responded he was strong and alive, yet sadly it would only be 2 weeks later before he passed away. Till his death he was a Honorary Wildlife Officer and therefore a UWA staff. Henry died on June 27, 2006 aged 84.
Moses Mapesa Wafula,
Executive Director, Uganda Wildlife Authority
From: Moses Mapesa [mailto:moses.mapesa@uwa.or.ug]
Sent: 24 November 2006 09:33
To: Osmaston, Nigel A
Subject: OSMASTON ORBITUARY
Dear Nigel,
Here is my article on Henry that as I said this morning in my mail to
you I only finished writing last night.
I had made one big omission, Henry was a UWA staff as a Honorary
Wildlife Officer for life and he did have our Identity Card.
May his soul rest in eternal piece and his legacy remain to inspire
all those interested and yet to get inetrested in his works.
Conserving for generations
Moses Mapesa