Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Poachers Kill 40-years old elephant

By Gerald Tenywa, New Vision 21st August 2012

Baraka, a 40 year old male elephant believed to be the oldest and most peaceful in Semliki wildlife reserve in western Uganda has been killed by suspected poachers. Park authorities said the elephant was named Baraka, a Swahili word meaning peace, because it was approachable.
They said most of the visitors to Semliki would almost be sure of an encounter with Baraka. The age of an elephant varies from one area to another. In East Africa, the oldest are normally about 70-75 years, while in South Africa they reach between 60 and 65 years. The world’s known oldest elephant died at 86. The headless carcass of the peaceful elephant was discovered within Semliki near Kitika in Ntoroko recently. “We heard gunshots one afternoon in the park and we suspected it was either Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) officials chasing after poachers or poachers taking down a kill,” said Peter Mwanja, a manager at Wild Places. “After failing to get help from UWA, we called the UPDF in the reserve and during the search we came across this elephant’s carcass,” he added It is believed Baraka was killed for his huge tusks by poachers. “This was a cruel death. It seems they sliced off the head using a chain saw,” lamented one conservationist.  In a separate incident, Mwanja said about a week ago, while on routine patrol, they found another carcass of young elephant, still with no tusks. “It is very rare to find a young one moving on its own. This is very suspicious. We need more surveillance and investigations,” he said. Semliki has lost seven elephants since January, according to Charles Tumwesigye, the conservation director at the UWA. The last census in the reserve put the population of elephants at only 40. Tumwesigye said elephant poaching has been increasing over the last two years, pointing out that the rampant killing of elephants is raging in Kenya, Tanzania and Congo. Apart from elephants, Mwanja said other animals such as Uganda Kob were being poached and loaded in small cars like goats. “They even sell the meat on goat stalls,” said, Mwanja adding that poaching was common in Kitika and near the sand river in the Semliki game reserve. Elephants are protected according to national arid international laws. The Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of wild flora and fauna has for the last two decades listed African elephants in the region as endangered species. But poachers kill elephants for ivory, which is highly sought after in Asian countries such as China for making ornaments.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Bill Gates to Visit Uganda and Track Gorillas this August


The Co-founder and current chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates was last seen in Uganda in 2004 on a gorilla-tracking trip in Bwindi National Park and this was his first ever visit to the country. It’s also confirmed that he is set for another Gorilla trip in the same Park between 9th August and 12th August 2012.

He is very popular because he is one of the richest people in the whole world and his trip to Uganda will be a great advantage to the tourism industry of the Country.

There has been an advanced team sent to Kisoro district where Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates will be tracking the Gorillas. This news was given out by a Uganda wildlife Authority official who then later declined to divulge more details about the richest Man’s visit. The country boasts the home to almost half of the world’s population of the endangered species of Mountain Gorillas in Bwindi National Park.