UGANDANS TO HAVE BIRDING OPPORTUNITY.

At the end of this month, Ugandans will have an opportunity to visit Uganda National parks and other wildlife and forest reserves to watch different species of birds available. This has been arranged in an effort to boost Birding in Uganda, thereby improving on the tourism industry.
According to Mr. Stephen Masaba, the acting director of tourism and business services at Uganda Wildlife authority (UWA), this Birding activity will help Ugandans acquaint themselves with the knowledge of different bird species which will assist in selling them to the international community.
Birding is one of the tourism activities that contribute a lot of money into the industry, second to Gorilla Tracking. This is due to the fact that, tourists interested in Birding tour, take longer in the country, and visit many National parks and reserves, thereby spending more in entry fees to different parks, accommodation, transport, hence increased income into the country.
Some of the areas that have been listed to be visited include; Bwindi Impenetrable national park, Mgahinga national park, Katonga and Kyambura Wildlife Reserves, Rwenzori National Park, Mabira Forest Reserves, Semliki National park, Lutembe Bay, Kumbu Forest, Kibimba, Lake Mburo National Park, Entebbe Peninsula, Kidepo National Park, Kawanda-Namulonge, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mt.Elgon National Park, Bahai Temple, Rwenzori Bottling Company Namanve, Murchison falls national park among others.

CHIMPANZEE

The chimpanzee (chimp) is one of the largest primates, with the chimpanzee being most closely related to the human, the gorilla and the orangutan. The chimpanzee is native to Africa. There are two different species of chimpanzee, the common chimpanzee and the pygmy chimpanzee. These two species of chimpanzee are separated by the African Congo River so don’t really come into contact with one another.

The chimpanzee is slightly smaller than the other large primates, with the average male chimpanzee getting to around 4ft tall. The chimpanzee lives until its around 52 years old, but chimps have been known to get much older in captivity. The chimpanzee is known to be a highly intelligent and sophisticated primate as the chimpanzee will regularly make tools to help the chimpanzee to get food. The chimpanzee also uses these homemade tools in social displays when attracting females and also in a method of defence.

The chimpanzee is an omnivore meaning that the diet of the chimpanzee consists of both plant and animal matter. When the chimpanzees hunt, they use complicated strategies which require the chimpanzees to work together, stick to their rank within the chimpanzee troop and also means that the chimpanzee needs to be deceptive in some situations. The chimpanzee troop consists of around 30 chimpanzee members, and these chimpanzee troops contain a mixture of female chimpanzees and male chimpanzees. As with other large primate groups, the alpha male chimpanzee is the largest and strongest of the male chimps and has control over mating and looking after his chimpanzee troop.

Chimpanzees are highly territorial mammals and will fight off any unwelcome intruders into their chimpanzee territory. On a darker note, it has been known for chimpanzee troops to kill and eat those chimpanzees that trespass on their turf. Chimpanzees communicate through a series of vocal sounds, hand gestures and facial expressions. Studies have shown that the part of the brain which the chimpanzee uses to communicate is similar to the part of the brain that human beings use for language. The chimpanzee has also shown that it is able to understand basic forms of human communication and the chimpanzee is incredible at remembering number sequences.
Chimpanzee Foot Facts

• The foot of the chimpanzee is well suited to walking as the chimpanzee has broad, hardened soles and short toes to help the chimpanzee to balance.

• The chimpanzee has four fingers or toes on each of its feet and one opposable digit that the chimpanzee uses to help the chimpanzee to hold onto branches as it climbs.

• The chimpanzee has very dexterous fingers and is able to build tools out of the surrounding forest in order to help the chimpanzee to catch food and defend off unwanted predators.

• The feet of the chimpanzee are longer than stronger than the hands of the chimpanzee as the chimpanzee spends a great deal of time walking on two feet with the opposable toe helping to balance the chimpanzee.

• The chimpanzee uses both its hands and feet in order to climb quickly up trees and to swing from branch to branch.

Chimpanzee Teeth Facts

• The chimpanzee uses its teeth to reflect its emotions, for example the chimpanzee will smile when it is relaxed whereas a frightened chimpanzee will bare its teeth to intimidate the threat.

• The teeth of the chimpanzee are very similar to the teeth of humans although the chimpanzee has larger and more pointed fang-like canines at the front of its mouth.

• The chimpanzee has 32 teeth with 16 of these teeth being on the upper jaw and 16 teeth being on the lower jaw.

• The teeth of the chimpanzee begin to grow before birth and scientists can therefore work out how old a chimpanzee is by looking at the lines in its teeth.

• The chimpanzee uses its specially shaped molar teeth to grind up fibrous matter such as certain fruits and leaves.

Uganda Wildlife Authority to launch new gorilla families

Critical call: The media should partner with the government to sell Uganda as a destination of choice for tourists.

KAMPALA. The Uganda Wildlife Authority will in November launch two new gorilla families to increase the number of gorilla tracking visitors in order to boost revenue collections.

 Dr. Andrew Seguya, the UWA acting executive director, said Oruzogo and Kahungye, both in the southern part of Bwindi National Park, will bring the number of habituated gorilla families available for tracking to eight.

Each family, according to Dr.Seguya, is visited by eight people per day. The two new groups therefore increase the number of gorilla tracking permits sold to track the generous primates from 48 to 64 daily. The opening up of new groups for visitors will follow the completion of their habituation programme.

Uganda is home to the biggest number of maintain gorillas with over 50 per cent of the primates left in the world living in Uganda. A gorilla tracking permit goes for $350 (about Shs962,000) for foreign non- residents, $250 (about 687,000) for foreign residents and Shs100.000 for East Africans.

Despite the endowment, much has remained unknown to the outside world due to limited funds to market and showcase the country’s treasures and make it a destination of choices.

For instance, Uganda spends $330,000 (Shs907.4 million) on marketing tourism annually compared to Kenya which invests $23 million, $10 million for Tanzania and $5 million for Rwanda.

Dr. Seguya was speaking at the sustainable Tourism Media Awards 2011 dinner, whichy recognizes and rewards excellent media coverage of sustainable tourism.

KFM’s Benjamin Jumbe was the winner in the Radio broadcast category, NTV’s Craig Kadoda was chosen the best journalist in the television broadcast category while New Vision’s Gerald Tenwa won the print media category. Daily Monitor was first runner-up for its role in promoting sustainable tourism.

By: Bruce Ampumuza

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