Uganda: Wildlife Authority Optimistic of Report Excessive Visits to Nationwide Parks This Yr

Uganda Wildlife Authority has stated it’s optimistic the variety of guests to Uganda’s nationwide parks will hit a report excessive this yr.

“As Uganda Wildlife Authority obtained 367,869 guests between January and December 2022. Earlier than Covid occurred, 320,000 guests is what we had as the very best variety of guests coming to our protected areas and this was in 2019 however we surpassed this final yr,” stated Dorcus Rukundo Twesigomwe, the Enterprise Growth Supervisor at Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA).

“367,869 has been the largest quantity we’ve got ever registered within the historical past of Uganda Wildlife Authority.”

She was talking throughout a media breakfast at Skyz Resort in Kampala.

Uganda has 10 nationwide parks, 12 wildlife reserves, 13 sanctuaries and 05 neighborhood wildlife areas, all of that are below the Uganda Wildlife Authority.

Home vacationers rise

The onset of the Covid pandemic introduced the tourism sector to its knees as some of the affected since airports and amenities had been closed.

Nevertheless, following the opening of the economic system, the nation launched into a marketing campaign for Ugandans to go to native vacationer points of interest.

Rukundo defined that evaluating with pre-covid, 2019 had the very best variety of guests to Uganda’s protected areas ever at 330,000 however famous because the lifting of the lockdown, the variety of guests has shot up.

The UWA Enterprise Growth Supervisor reasoned that the expansion in variety of guests to Uganda’s protected areas will be partly defined by the outside experiences for a number of Ugandans within the nation’s nationwide parks.

“Final yr we noticed many Ugandans selecting to go to our nationwide parks and different protected areas evaluating to the time earlier than Covid. Many individuals now select to go to our nationwide parks after they would in all probability select to fly in another country.”

Optimistic

The UWA Government Director, Sam Mwandha stated that the nation is heading in the right direction to beat the variety of guests recorded final yr.

“For us to succeed in that quantity (367,869 guests), this quarter we’re in, we solely want 56,000 guests and I’m assured we are going to get greater than 60,000 and we are going to go above. Beforehand, the very best we’ve got received was 330,000 and we are actually saying, we’re doing higher than ever earlier than,”Mwandha stated.

Poaching nonetheless a menace

Whereas the nation has taken nice strides in growing the variety of guests to its nationwide parks and different protected areas, points like poaching and human wildlife battle nonetheless pause challenges.

“The largest drawback we’ve got with elephants, lions and pangolins is poaching as a result of persons are on the lookout for straightforward cash. The vice of poaching will sadly not go simply. It’s like theft that regardless of many being taken to prisons, there are nonetheless many thieves. What we do is to make sure once we catch you, you get a sufficiently big punishment to discourage you from going again,”Mwandha stated.

For instance, between July and December final yr alone, 7307 poaching implements and 7 weapons with 14 stay ammunitions had been recovered throughout operations by UWA personnel.

Throughout the identical interval, 224.15 kilograms of ivory and 1870.5 kilograms of pangolin scales had been additionally seized.

On the opposite facet, there have been 3974 instances of human wildlife battle reported.

“Now that the inhabitants for each people and the wildlife has risen, there’ll at all times be battle. Wildlife is aware of no boundaries and what you get is wildlife crossing to the human habitats,”Mwandha stated.