For all your Uganda and Rwanda gorilla tourism article
In a bid to protect mountain gorillas, Uganda launched an online campaign, Friend-A-Gorilla, on Saturday to save the endangered mountain gorilla species.
The event attracted a number of local and international guests from Rwanda, DR Congo, South Africa and movie celebrities from Hollywood.
Speaking at the celebrations, Mr Moses Mapesa the Executive Director of Uganda Wild life Authority (UWA), said they decided to use the mountain gorilla as the anchor to the campaign because of its closeness to mankind and the fact that it is endangered.
Gorillas share a 98.4 per cent DNA resemblance with human beings. They enjoy white ants, they are emotional, intelligent and they have an elaborate family hierarchy with the Silver back as the head of each family. gorilla trekking trips
“We have also decided to use modern information technology because of its wide global coverage and popularity of the social networking websites like Face book, Twitter and My Space, especially among the young people,” Mr Mapesa said.
He excited guests when he said gorilla is a Greek word which refers to a hairy woman. He said there are many people in Uganda who use computers and have accounts with Facebook, and by using these websites, the campaign will be able to reach as many people as possible. gorilla tours in Rwanda
Hollywood stars Jason Biggs, Simon Curtis, Nicholas Brendon, Eddie Kay Thomas, Kristy Wu and South Africa’s Rose Mutene, who had just returned from trekking the gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park – gorilla tours in Uganda, were handed certificates by the guest of honour Prime Minister Apollo Nsibambi.
With the campaign now underway, Ugandans who cannot make it to the National Parks can trek gorillas using their mobile phones or computers by visiting www.friendagorilla.org.
The event saw guests like Ethics Minister Nsaba Buturo, Principal Judge James Ogoola, Prince David Wassajja, Amos Wekesa and David Rwot Achana, the king of Acholi among others befriend a gorilla.
They placed sachets around the humans who were disguised as gorillas.
Mr Mapesa said gorillas were estimated at 400 in the 1950s, 150 in 1985 and since then the population has grown to 380 for which he thanked the government for having put emphasis on conservation.
The campaign targets over 400 million users of Facebook and expects to raise at least $100 million (about Shs193 billion) in the next three years. Overall statistics indicate that Uganda gets 600,000 visitors each year and only 8,000 of these visit the wildlife.
Gorilla tourism in 2008 fetched US$8 million (Shs6 billion) for UWA in direct revenue. Ugandans will contribute $1 or Shs2,000 to befriend a gorilla. “Globally we are targeting the 400 million users of Facebook, if only 100 million of these befriended a gorilla for $1, we would make $100 million,” Mr Mapesa said.
Prof. Nsibambi said Uganda has greater advantage over other African countries to become wealthy because of her bio-diversity.
“Uganda has 11 per cent of the global biodiversity. One of our historical guests, former UK prime minister Winston Churchill, advised the government that with all the natural resources the country has, Uganda ought to be the most prosperous country in Africa,” he said.
He added that conservation has made a significant contribution to the country’s economy. Prof. Nsibambi pledged government support to the tourism sector.
Tourism Minister Kahinda Otafiire noted that whereas there might be gorillas in Rwanda and DR Congo, Uganda has a special group of them. He said Uganda has a world heritage and it is the responsibility of every citizen in the world to protect it.
“There are 780 individuals of gorillas in the world therefore it is imperative that everything be done to preserve them because they have a significant contribution to our ecotourism,” Maj. Gen. Otafiire said.
He wondered why Ugandans go to Europe for holidays, yet there is a lot to go for here in their own country. Uganda tours
While natural resources conservation has not ranked high on governments’ priorities, financial resources, corruption, wars, weak and incapacitated institutions, among others, have made it difficult for institutions and organisations to adequately address emerging environmental challenges – Kenya travel blog
Faced with current global challenges such as the economic crisis, climate change, pollution, poverty and food insecurity, there is need for East Africans to search for implementable solutions. The time is ripe for integrated science-based policies and natural resources and environment conservation plans and programmes in the East African region.
Throughout much of eastern Africa, and particularly in Uganda, unregulated and inappropriate natural resource exploitation have been major causes of environmental degradation in recent decades. Although increase in demand for natural resources utilisation is mostly due to the rapid rate of human population growth, poor resource management has also contributed. As a result, there are major threats to natural resources and the environment such as desertification, pollution, soil erosion, climate change and overgrazing.
Consequently, ecological tragedies and human tragedies have overlapped in some parts of eastern African. Landslides, floods, droughts, and associated diseases and pests that affect humans, livestock, crops as well as wildlife are not uncommon. Tragedies not only threaten the security and sustainable development of the region but also serve as reminder that natural hazards know no political borders – Uganda national parks
Most of eastern African economies are natural resource based – relying on agriculture and tourism which together contribute close to 50 per cent of the gross domestic product and tourism being the main foreign exchange earner in most of the countries in the region. This calls for concerted effort to conserve borderless natural resources.
Unless we exchange experiences, it is unlikely that eastern Africa will meet the Millennium Development Goals. Bringing together scientists, developers and natural resource managers, researchers, policy makers, NGOs and government agencies to deliberate on environmental issues could pave the way towards reducing environment problems in the region.
Although a number of organisations in eastern Africa are involved in conservation of natural resources and environment, there is need for them to coordinate their actions through joining forces, networking and associating, and sharing experiences as way of addressing environmental issues, advocating and promoting new approaches – Kenya safari
That is why the Ecological Society for Eastern Africa (ESEA) will be holding a Regional Scientific Conference at Makerere University on June 18-19. This annual event arose from the growing concern of the significant role natural resources and environment contribute to sustaining national economies and peoples’ livelihoods in the region.
The aim is to bridge the gap created by limited public awareness and insufficient dissemination on environmental issues by facilitating exchange of information; contribute to the strengthening of national environmental plans, policies and programmes and contribute to ecological research. It is important that Uganda and the entire eastern African region address sustainable natural resource management issues, enhance technological skills and contributed to building partnerships and networks with other relevant organisations and associations – Uganda wildlife safaris
Mountain gorilla trekking in Bwindi national park is one of the most sought after Uganda tour packages. Numbering about 720 in the wild, mountain gorillas are an endangered species of primates and can only be found in the jungles around the border region of Uganda, Rwanda and Congo. Half this population of mountain gorillas can be found in Uganda’s Bwindi national park and have contributed greatly to Uganda’s foreign exchange earnings.
Mountain gorilla trekking has been enabled by the conservation efforts of the respective Governments in the three Great Lakes Countries. This has been made sustainable by levying $500 USD per gorilla tracking permit. However, although Uganda has the highest number of gorillas, Rwanda sees the greatest number of tourists wishing to track gorillas. This is due to the high marketing efforts the Rwandese government has placed in trying to sell this tour attraction.
when tracking mountain gorillas, there are a couple of rules and regulations that one must adhere to. Here is a sample of the rules and regulations;
Click here if you would like to know more about mountain gorillas or gorilla facts
Africa has many tour attractions to offer the world, however, the cost of flights and the high fuel costs in many of these countries adds a lot to the cost of safari to Africa. North Africa is mainly know for its archeological and historical tour sites however, East African Safari packages have a lot more diversity including the annual Wildebeest migration in the Masai Mara and Serengeti, wildlife tours as well as birding tours in the Albertine region.
However, with a lot of conservation efforts mountain gorilla safari has become a leading tour attraction to Uganda and Rwanda with many tourists who come to do wildlife safaris in Kenya and Tanzania coming to Uganda and Rwanda to do gorilla tracking. For those who would like to do trips to see mountain gorillas in Rwanda there are a number of companies offering these packages online as booking a gorilla tracking permit is of utmost importance requiring one to book several months in advance.
