In Uganda per vedere l’eclisse totale del 3 novembre 2013

 Se siete amanti del cielo, e vi piacerebbe fare un’esperienza unica del cielo notturno Africano, forse questo è il viaggio che fa per voi. Stiamo raccogliendo le iscrizioni per il programma “Uganda Eclisse Totale Novembre 2013”, organizzato in collaborazione con un’associazione di esperti di viaggi “stellari” ovvero gli amici di Stella Errante di Roma. Con loro si partirà sia da Roma sia da Milano o altri aeroporti il giorno 31 ottobre 2013, per venire in Uganda accompagnati da un esperto astrofilo che vi metterà in grado di gustare l’esperienza dell’eclisse solare ma anche intrattenendovi con esplorazioni notturne del cielo Ugandese. L’eclisse che vedrete in Uganda, per l’esattezza il giorno 3 novembre a partire dalle ore 16.06 ora di Greenwich  è di tipo “ibrido”, ovvero i dischi del sole e della luna saranno quasi coincidenti. L’osservazione avverrà da un luogo individuato nel nord del Parco di Murchison Falls.

Contiamo di fare un gruppetto affiatato di almeno 10 fino a massimo 20 persone. Inoltre incluso nel servizio ci sarà anche l’accompagnamento di una guida in lingua italiana di supporto al gruppo. Il programma si svolgerà non con l’uso di grandi bus, ma con i mezzi di trasporto di Destination Jungle per i safari, ovvero le nostre amate land cruisers 4x4 tettuccio apribile.

Il viaggio, naturalmente, vi consentirà di farvi un’idea della bellezza naturalistica della Rift Valley Albertina, visitando i parchi nazionali del Murchison Falls (che si trova vicino al passaggio dell’eclisse) e il Queen Elizabeth. Non mancheranno poi le esperienze con i primati, ovvero il trekking dei gorilla nella foresta di Bwindi Impenetrabile e il trekking degli scimpanzè nella foresta di Budongo.

Vi invitiamo a leggere bene il programma, che offre sia una opzione breve di 6 giorni (solo la parte dell’eclisse e del parco Murchison Falls), oppure una opzione lunga di 10 giorni. Per prenotare, potete contattare sia Destination Jungle sia Stella Errante a Roma, ovvero il sig. Marzio il cui telefono è: +39 06 8840504 e la mail: marzio@civaturs.com .

Vi aspettiamo in Uganda, by Costantino Tessarin 

Baby Elephant saved in Murchison Falls National Park

Elephant Struggling to Stand

On the 12^th of February 2013, our three clients, the guide and I saved a young elephant which had been trapped in a wire snare and was in deep pain in Murchison Falls National park. We had woken up early for the morning game drive and everything had been going on so well till we met a young elephant which had been sitting and not feeding. 

A big snare in the Elephant

One of our clients, Carlos Gereda asked me if I thought it was sick/dead or may be dying at that moment. The driver guide Kiganda Ismail told him that it could just be resting. However, out of curiosity the other clients, Daniella and Manuel insisted and said it was very strange for an elephant to just sit down while the others were feeding. It is at this moment that we drove closer to the elephant which could barely stand up because of the pain it was in. As we moved closer to him, he eventually struggled and stood up and at this point, we saw what had caused everything. A big wire snare around the head and it had already cut it (see picture). We all burst in tears and right away started making calls for UWA to come in and save the elephant. What we expected was a place of peace for these animals has eventually turned into a war zone because the following day after the sad and horrible scene, UWA managed to collect 285 wire snares along the delta as we were informed by Patrick Agaba from Uganda Conservation Foundation. Also from the head office of UWA in Kampala Mr. Raymond Engena was so kind sending an apology for what happened and saying that UWA is trying to improve on the situation of poaching. On the following days he also told us that the UWA veterinary Mr. Enyel managed to remove the snare from the baby elephant and the animal is expected to recover from this accident. Fortunately this elephant was saved! By Allen Natukunda

 

UWA Ranger guides with snares collected from the Park

Mighty River Nile Makes It to the 7 Wonders of Africa

On 11^th February Monday this week in Arusha at the Mt. Meru Hotel, the award ceremony for the 7 natural wonders of Africa, chosen from the 12 accepted nominations took places and saw the mighty River Nile, which starts its journey to the Mediterranean Sea at the ‘Source of the Nile’ in Jinja elected as Uganda’s only winner. The State Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquiries Hon. Agnes Akiror Egunyu was present at the function to receive the honors for and on behalf of the Pearl of Africa- Uganda.

Besides the Mighty River Nile, other 11 attractions nominated were the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Peak of Furnace on La Reunion, Mt. Kenya, the Okavanago Delta, the Aldabra Atoll, the Avenue of Baobabs, the Sahara Desert, the Red Sea Reef, Tsuma Rock and Tsingi de Bemaraha.

The hosting Nation Tanzania saw all the three nominations returned as winners and these were the Serengeti National Park, Mt. Kilimanjaro and the Ngorongoro Crater.

 Other attractions which made it into the winning rank were the Okavango Delta in Botswana, the Red Sea Reef in Egypt and the Sahara Desert which touches 10 countries.

East Africa being named as among the top 7 natural ‘wonders’ in Africa, it is thought to give a significant boost visa vis destination interest in the main markets for tourists coming to Eastern Africa including Uganda and Tanzania.

Sustainable tourism and conservation as local communities benefit from wildlife

Local communities around Lake Mburo, Kidepo and Murchison falls National Park are set to be given licenses to keep or farm wild animals on their land courtesy of the Africa Wildlife Foundation. Tourists who intend to visit these animals will be expected to pay a sum of money directly to those keeping them rather than through the park authorities. This $10 million dollar USAID funded project was launched at Lake Mburo National Park last week. In the long run, this program is expected to improve conservation of Budongo and Karinzu forests. There has been a lot of logger heads between the local communities and the park authorities over wild animals straying into their farms. As of now, local people with small pieces of land will form groups to bring it together for viable use.

The project is the first one of its kind in Uganda but not in Africa simply because it has been tested and benefited many communities in countries like Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, DR Congo and Rwanda. Only local people with a valid license from the Uganda Wildlife Authority will be allowed to keep wildlife.