Ngamba flags off chimp conservation campaign

Sep 10, 2014

Apes especially chimpanzees and gorillas are the biggest catchment for Uganda’s tourists.

By Solomon Oleny

Until the start of the 20th century, an impenetrable pristine forest occupied a relatively marshy corridor of over 140kms overlooking lake Albert-between present Day Budongo Forest (located in the south of Masindi) and Bugoma forest ( North of Hoima). 

 
However as the population in the area continued to mushroom and multiply super-fast like a contagious disease, the mentioned stretch didn’t survive deforestation which was executed with the intent of creating more room for human occupation and terrain dependent activities especially farming. 
 
As a result, animals to which this stretch was a home were rendered homeless, then endangered and now mostly extinct. 
Among search animals are the chimpanzees whose overall population according to the Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust, is estimated to have dropped from over 8,000 to about 1,000 now.
 
Inspired by the need to reverse this eventuality with the prime goal of conserving these remaining chimpanzees most of whom have now migrated to the neighbouring forests, Ngamba Chimpanzee Sanctuary Island, one of the Islands under the management of the Chimpanzee trust has flagged off a campaign geared towards enabling this corridor restore its lost glory.
 
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 Some of the chimpanzees at Ngamba Island. Some of them were rescued from the deforested stretch. 
 
Under the theme “Be a chimp champ” the Sanctuary Island this morning garnered over 20 organizations for an interactive breakfast session at Sheraton Hotel purposed to win their partnership in achieving the cause. 
 
Among them were Airlines, Conservation organizations, Tour operators, Government Agencies and KCCA.
 
The event registered a promising start with close to 10 organizations pledging to sponsor subsequent visits of at least 20 of their staff to the island in the nearest future. 
 
On the other hand, KCCA’s Irene Matovu, pledged the authority’s intent to use crowd pulling events such as the upcoming Carnival as a platform for drumming up public interest in primate conservation.
 
According to Lilly Ajarova the Chief Executive Officer of Ngamba, the contribution if it totaled sh30m before 2015, can aide resettlement of about 3 households of the over 10,000 households occupying the stretch and reforesting about 2 acres. 
 
The corridor in question spreads across a stretch of over 140Kms which implies a lot more resources will be required.
 
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 Ajarova addressing guests during the breakfast meeting
 
On the contrary, Paul Atanga, a Conservation Officer with the Chimpanzee Trust hopes for more support over and above what was pledged at the breakfast meeting. 
 
“It can achieve something but certainly not do wonders.” he says.
 
Against this background, the Island is carrying on with the campaign to salvage man’s closest relatives the chimps, with home humans share 98.7 DNA make up according to science findings.
 
"To support the cause, one can pay a visit to the island which is located in Lake Victoria." Atanga urges.
According to, Andrew Seguya, Uganda Wildlife Authority Chief Executive Officer, the success of the campaign will translate into the success of Uganda’s Tourism sector because the apes especially chimpanzees and gorillas are the biggest catchment for Uganda’s tourists.
 
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