Category: News

The Uganda Wildlife Authority passed it’s first batch of 115 rangers who have been undergoing a specialized training in wildlife management at the Institute of Wildlife Management in Katwe for one month.

The rangers who were visibly excited and content with the training thanked management for consideration as the pioneer group and pledged to exercise a high degree of professionalism and skill in execution of their duties.

Present at the graduation were the wildlife managers, Hon. Otekat representing the Board chair, Ed’s representative Ms. Jackiline Bakobaki (DDHR), Mr. Charles Tumwesigye (DDC), CAM QECA Mr. Nelson Guma together with staff and administration of the Institute.

The board chair pledged to support policies that improve the welfare and skills of staff to make them competent to do their job well. He alluded to the fact that the training was only the beginning and more was to come.

The 2nd and 3rd phase of the same is planned for June and July respectively. The participants were selected from all conservation in areas.

Top Gorilla habitat, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and five other national parks in Uganda have been awarded Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence 2015.

The parks were recognized for their distinguished customer service, diversified products, scenic beauty, professional guiding and porter services according to a Uganda Wildlife Authority press release.

Trip Advisor is the world’s largest travel site on which visitors to various parks and destinations make reviews on their safari experiences.

Bordering Kanungu, Kabale and Kisoro districts in south western Uganda, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park has now won this accolade for the fifth time in a row.

The other national parks are Murchison Falls National Park in northern region, Kibale Forest National Park in western Uganda, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Lake Mburo National Park and Rwenzori Mountains National Park which has won it for the first time.

Lake Mburo, which had 15 giraffes translocated to it from Murchison Falls, has won the Trip Advisor certificate for the second time in a row. Murchison Falls National Park has won it twice while Queen Elizabeth and Kibale park were recognized for the third time in a row.

According to the Uganda Wildlife Authority Public Relations Manager Jossy Muhangi, the parks were lauded for their cleanliness without littered trails and tracks, proximity to high standard hotels and other accommodation facilities, professionalism among the staff, quality customer care among others.

“One of the reviewers for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park remarked “the staff/guides are so knowledgeable and the porters extremely helpful,”  Muhangi said.

Another visitor commented, “hiking to track the mountain gorillas is a bit strenuous but well worth it.” Others seemed to have a consensus that trekking gorillas in a natural UNESCO heritage site makes Bwindi a special experience.

Reviewers were impressed by diversified products like the Top of falls Trail in Murchison Falls National Park which offers visitors various viewing points for the great water- falls as the Nile plunges into a forty metre abyss at a narrow gorge.

Reviewers nodded the scenic views and the peaks in the Rwenzoris, the pristine environment in Kibale forest while tracking chimpanzees, the scenic landscape of Queen Elizabeth National Park  and Lake Mburo expansive grasslands with a diversity of mammal and bird species.

Tourists visiting Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Kisoro District now have a new activity to look forward to following the launched 8-kilometre mountain trail.

The new trail route, which takes tourists up to 2,700 metres above sea level during a four-hour walk in the forests along the Muhabura mountain ranges, offers visitors an opportunity to learn the history of the indigenous inhabitants of the forest and experience the life that they live.

The Mgahinga area was home to the Batwa, a Bantu group living on the mountain ranges sitting astride Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo, before the government gazetted it as a national park in 1991 to protect its biological diversity and endangered mountain gorillas.

The eviction of the Batwa, numbering 6,705 people, according to the 2002 census, left them landless and without reliable sources of livelihood. With the launch of the trail, however, there is anticipation of some change in their fortunes.

Before the launch of the Batwa Trail initiative, the Uganda Wildlife Authority, Kisoro District Local Government and the United Organization for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU), signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The three organizations will manage revenues from the project.

The Director for Tourism at UWA, Mr. Stephen Masaba, said part of the agreement stipulates that up to 50 per cent of the revenue from the trail will be shared with the Batwa Community. “Even the 50 per cent that UWA gets, by law 20 per cent is given back to the community as revenue share,” Mr Masaba said. “This is one way UWA empowers the community.” He added that in the agreement, UWA also offers to market the trail, provide training, access to the park for the Batwa to get materials for handicraft, interpretation and construction.

The Commissioner for Tourism, Ms Grace Mbabazi Aulo, who was the event’s chief guest, said the Batwa Trail project will not only compliment tourism at Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, but also provide a reliable source of livelihood to the Batwa.

“Through the Batwa Trail project, the community here, especially the Batwa who have been disadvantaged through cultivation, settlement and gazetting of the park, will now have an opportunity to generate income by sharing their cultural heritage as they guide tourists through the trail,” she said. “The trail will not only bring revenues to the Batwa Community but also the other sectors such as transport, leisure and hospitality,” Ms Aulo added.

Hope for development

The Chairman of Kisoro District Local Government, Mr. Milton Bazanye, expressed his appreciation for the initiative. But he also decried the state of the roads leading to Mgahinga and Bwindi national park, saying they are almost impassable. “The district needs money to fund the rehabilitation and maintenance of these roads and provide other social services to communities around the protected areas. If this is not done, tourism development in Kisoro will remain skewed,” he said.

UOBDU chairperson Elias Habyarimana said the project will not only allow them to share their culture with the world, but also help them to preserve their culture for future generations. The trail ends with a descent into a rock cave about 200 metres long, which is believed to have acted as the Batwa Palace (Ulutale) and a hideout after raids for food and other necessities.

In an effort to protect the mountain gorillas in Mgahinga and Bwindi national park, a bee-keeping project has been initiated by the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP). The major objective of coming up with a project of this nature, is to benefit all the communities in the vicinity of these two national parks in Uganda. This strategy aims at curbing down poaching.

Mr. David Mwine, the IGCP regional enterprise Officer, explained, “Empowering such communities around the national parks by providing alternative source of income will keep the national parks of Bwindi and Mgahinga intact because there will be less pressure from the people around them”.

He went on to say, “Supporting bee-keeping projects around these national parks is so significant because once we give an opportunity to such people to construct their bee-hives close to the parks, they always protect the forest in case of fire outbreak just because they have invested in there. The major threat to the mountain gorilla emanates from the intense desire for land and food for the growing human population around the gorilla habitat in area.”

Thus all the partners in this arrangement aim at reducing specific threats to the mountain gorillas, for instance, deforestation, poaching and disease. The IGCP has come up with a strategy to involve the local community in developing their livelihood and supporting policy and conservation legislation. The IGCP has, so far, contributed in the construction of a community lodge at Nkuringo in Kisoro District. This is estimated to earn the local community $5000 rent per year. It has also donated honey processing equipment and a motorcycle to over 400 members of Bwindi Bee Keepers Association.

Mr. Rutagarama Eugene, the Director of IGCP, argued that the mission of his organization, is to empower people in Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda to sustain a network of trans-boundary protected areas so as to significantly contribute to sustainable development and protection of the mountain gorillas in their natural habitats in Mgahinga and Bwindi in Uganda, Virunga in DRC and Volcano in Rwanda.

According to Mr. Rutagarama, mountain gorilla population has risen by 17% over a decade making approximately a global total of 720. He further explained that IGCP had already linked of handcrafts and honey extracted from the gorilla habitats in the Great Lakes region to international markets in the US where there are reasonable prices.

Mr. Barekye, the LC3 Chairman Ikumba sub-county, revealed that his council through NAADS programme had already offered over 100 bee hives to Bwindi bee keepers. He also said that they had given tea growing along the park boundaries, a priority so as to stop wild animals from destroying their crops. A community campsite at Rwamanyonyi – the highest peak near Bwindi national park where tourists can get a clear view of the park, has been constructed. In addition, 2000 people have been trained in economic skills and enterprise development under the Functional Adult Literacy programme so that they can withstand the national park challenges. Mountain gorilla trekking has greatly enhanced the development of Bwindi area and the district in general.