Female Gorilla dies in Bwindi

Within Bwindi national park, one of the old female mountain gorillas named Bwiruka died barely three months after the oldest male, Ruhondeza passed on. Bwiruka was known to be cheeky, playful and friendly. She died at the age of 30 years and has been one of the senior female gorillas in Bwindi. She has been a dominant female in Nshongi group which comprised of 34 members. However, as trekkers went to see the group, they found her dead and this has been reported by the officials of the Uganda Wildlife Authority.

Currently a necropsy (postmortem for non-humans) is being performed to determine the cause of her death. However, the Uganda Wildlife Authority say that Bwiruka had recently grown fail and was sighted trailing the rest of the group with difficulty. Her name is in a local language rukiga and means “one who knows how to run”. Her difficulty in feeding and walking was a clear sign that she has not been feeling well.

30 years of age is a very old age for females since giving birth makes them weaker than the males. Her death has affected the number of the group members in Nshongi and as of now there are only 33 members in the group. 

Male mountain gorillas can live up to 50 years of age in the habituation whereas their average lifespan is 35 years. During her days, Bwiruka was the male Gorillas’ favourite lady and most of the times could be spotted with the top males secretly like Bweza and Mishaya.

We will all miss her and may her soul rest in peace.

Minister says: No elephant poaching in Uganda

The New Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities Maria Mutagamba refuted recent media reports about an escalation in poaching in most of Uganda’s protected areas which created the impression that Uganda’s wildlife is on the verge of extinction. As she was speaking to the Media, she noted that the impression made by media reports that the country’s wildlife is at the verge of extinction and that Uganda Wildlife Authority is not doing much to control  the vice is an exaggeration of the problem. She also noted that Poaching of elephants was increasing all over the African continent and not only in Uganda.

She added that despite isolated incidents of poaching, the mammal census by the Uganda Wildlife Authority last carried out revealed that the elephant numbers for Queen Elizabeth National Park had increased from 400 in 1988 to 2,959 in 2010. The population of buffaloes also rose from 5,000 to 14,858 in the same period and hippos from 2,200 to 5,024. Law enforcement capacity of UWA has been growing, with the introduction of the Uganda Tourism Police and the additional support from the Uganda National Army.

According to the acting Director of tourism and business Mr. Stephen Masaba, poaching affects all of Uganda’s national parks including Lake Mburo National Park, Murchison Falls National Park, and Queen ElizabethNational Park. These protected areas are all closer to settler communities with increasing pressure on land for Agriculture and to grow food crops. He also noted that recruitment process has began for more than 300 rangers to improve the intelligence force which is about to get on board. According to him, poaching was partly on the increase all across the region because it has grown into big business with the perpetrators increasingly employing sophisticated weapons and vehicles. However UWA with the help of the Government, police and other travel agencies have been decisive in handling matters of poaching with poachers being arrested, prosecuted and ivory confiscated in accordance with the law. Three pieces of ivory have recently been recovered together with an automatic rifle which was used in the brutal killing of the two elephants in QENP. The suspects were arraigned before the second Division Court Martial in Mbarara where they were charged.

Poachers Kill 40-years old elephant

By Gerald Tenywa, New Vision 21^st 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.

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 9^th August and 12^th 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.

New Ranger post in Queen Elizabeth National Park to house Ranger Patrols (Reduce Poaching and Illegal activities)

A new Ranger Post has constructed in Queen Elizabeth National Park. The construction project was funded by the Uganda Conservation Foundation (UCF). The new post is valued at 150m shillings and is found at Kyondo with in Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area (QECA) in Kasese District. The post will house Ranger Patrols for Uganda Wildlife Authority and these will be against poaching and other illegal activities within the Park. The Ranger Post has 4 unit blocks and has services like water tanks and ecosan toilets. This is not the first donation to Uganda Wildlife Authority from Uganda Conservation Foundation simply because, in 2007 the conservation foundation donated four marine boats, tents and nets to help patrol Lakes George and Edward against illegal fishing.

The main objective as to why this post was constructed was to create migratory corridors to ease the movement of elephants and to control their raids on the local communities since Karusandara area has many swamps. The rangers to stay at this post were formerly among the local communities and so patrols will be effective.

Other ranger posts have also been constructed including Kahendero and Kanyangeyo. Other posts are also under construction in Murchison falls National Park at Pakuba and Kololo.  The conservation fund has also sponsored the training of UWA rangers by Pool Harbour and Sea Survivors and at the moment almost 60 rangers have been trained in marine and fully equipped.

Poison Tragedy of Lions in Queen Elizabeth National Park

Some few weeks back, there were 5 Lions found dead in Queen Elizabeth National Park with in Ibuga area. It is believed that these lions were poisoned by the people who are fighting for Land near the Park boundaries. They claim that the lions were eating their cattle yet in reality it’s not true.

The origin of the land dispute near the Park is between the Basongora people from Congo who were brought to Uganda by two late army officers to graze their cattle. Once they entered the country, one of the two officers claimed to the President that over 10,000 Basongora had fled from Congo to Uganda with their cattle because of the war. The president ordered to be given land for resettlement in Kasese region including the Ministry of defense Land and the Prisons land.

Where these Basongora were resettled, they have now grabbed all the nearby land and as per now, they are fighting with the Kaveera Barracks to also grab their land. After this, the nearby free land will be Queen Elizabeth National Park. As tourism experts, we are very concerned about this and we hope that the government comes out soon and solves this problem together with the organization concerned. (Uganda Wildlife Authority). Lions are one of the big five animals and their death greatly affects the whole tourism industry as a whole.

Travel Report by Angela Giachi

Le mie esigenze non sono molto complicate da soddisfare, ma pare non sia poi così facile soddisfarle attraverso i Tour Operator per così dire, da “catalogo”. Infatti, viaggiando sola, personalizzare un itinerario è sempre risultata un’impresa impossibile se non con enormi esborsi di denaro per supplementi vari poi, per esempio, trovarsi a pagare a stessa cifra per effettuare un viaggio in 4 persone e trovarsi in 14!

Poi un’amica, soddisfatta del suo viaggio mi ha messo in contatto con Destination Jungle. Ora, al ritorno dal secondo viaggio (Kenya 2011 e Uganda 2012) devo dire che ho finalmente trovato quel che cercavo: professionalità, correttezza e flessibilità. Infatti in questi anni ho potuto scegliere la data di partenza e quella di rientro,la categoria degli alloggi e dare disponibilità o meno alla condivisione del viaggio con altre persone (e questa volta il prezzo era giustamente diverso in base al numero) in pratica costruirmi il “mio” viaggio e anche risparmiare sensibilmente il che non guasta mai. Devo sottolineare, tra l’altro di avere trovato molto confortevoli anche gli alloggi della categoria Economy apprezzando in particolar modo la predilezione della Compagnia nella scelta di strutture gestite da comunità locali nel rispetto della natura e non di catene multinazionali che non lasciano che briciole agli abitanti del luogo. Non cambierò il mondo, ma preferisco!