News

Eagle Air: Uganda Air Service Provider based at Entebbe Airport

Eagle Air is an airline based in Kampala, Uganda. It operates regional scheduled services and charter flights across East and Central Africa. Its main base is Entebbe International Airport.

The airline was established in June 1994 and started operations in November 1994.

Services

Eagle Air offers scheduled and chartered flights to domestic and certain regional destinations, including air safaris to Ugandan national parks. In addition, it offers chartered flights within the East and Central Africa Region.

Destinations

Apes of Uganda Exhibition Still on at the Uganda Museum

Two weeks ago, Uganda national Museum in partnership with the University of Michigan launched the Apes of Uganda Exhibition at the Uganda Museum in Kamwokya Kampala. It is the first one of its kind in the history of Uganda. Many of the previous exhibitions have been focusing more on Uganda as a destination without necessarily focusing on a particular species.

The Apes of Uganda exhibition is set to continue until the 30th of August 2023. Having started on 24^th of February 2023, it is now three weeks into the apes of Uganda exhibition. Its main aim is to show the central role Uganda plays in research and preservation of the apes.

According to Gladys Kalema Zikusooka, one of the Keynote speakers that graced the event during its launch, Uganda is currently the safest haven for apes. She noted that though Democratic republic of Congo has more apes than Uganda, but the conservation efforts of Uganda still stand out with a number of success stories highlighted in her speech.

She shared the conservation journey of Uganda noting the days in the early nineties when wildlife veterinary was introduced to Uganda, the population boom of the mountain gorillas that has positioned Uganda as the leading destination for gorilla trekking in the world.

In the attempt to further conservation efforts, Dr. Gladys shared insights about here effort to engage and mentor African leaders in her conservation efforts. She noted that if we could have leadership that believes and supports conservation, habitats like Bugoma forest would not have been given out for industrialization purposes.

It should be noted that Uganda is home two wild apes’ species i.e the endangered mountain gorillas and the chimpanzees.

Chimpanzees are the most diversely distributed apes in Uganda surviving in more than 7 locations including but not limited to; Kibale forest national park, Bugoma forest, Budongo forest, Kyambura gorge, Kalinzu forest among several other locations.

Uganda boasts of two mountain gorilla habitats; Bwindi impenetrable national park and Mgahinga gorilla national park. Of the three countries in the whole world where mountain gorilla resides, it is only Uganda that has two gorilla national parks.

It is for this same reason why Uganda is home to almost half of the remaining endangered mountain gorillas in the whole world.

Despite their social and economic importance, mountain gorillas and the chimpanzees are some of the world’s endangered species. In the recent years human wildlife conflicts have become more rampant with severe consequences.

During her keynote speech, Dr Gladys applauded Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) for protecting the forests. However, poaching is still a serious issue but grievous punishments have been put in place to hinder this vice.

In 2022, Ochiba was sentenced to life imprisonment after getting caught for the second time participating in wildlife trafficking. In 2020, the poacher who killed a mountain gorilla in Bwindi well known as Rafiki was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

With such a background, more efforts are required to ensure that the different stakeholders get informed about Uganda’s role in the preservation and research on the great apes. The apes of Uganda exhibition seek to go beyond mere coming face to face with the great apes in Uganda to walking the journey of their migration, evolution and survival in Uganda

The exhibition works out as the best place to start your gorilla safari to Uganda. At Uganda museum, you will be introduced to the fossils of the great apes, how they are interlinked into Uganda’s ancient culture, why these species went extinct in certain parts of Uganda and a lot more in that line.

By the time to set out for your gorilla trek in Bwindi or Mgahinga or any chimpanzee tracking destination, you will simply be completing the missing puzzle of what remains of the great apes as told during the exhibition. To those who have already visited the apes’ habitats, the exhibition will introduce you the part of the apes that you will most likely not encounter in the conservation areas.

CMK Babies Home is Now Open

Mothers who are finishing their maternity leave in Kawempe division and the surrounding areas have all reasons to smile after an innovative lady opened up a professional babies’ home in Kyebando Nsooba.

Diet

CMK babies’ home takes care of babies from those of months up to those of three years. It is professionally run with recommended diet that include, Milk, Eggs, fruits, soy porridge, Weetabix

The Environment

The clean and homely environment equipped with a variety of babies and infants play toys is manned by home mothers trained to take care of children with a maxim of nurses who are obliged to look after patients the same way a mother takes care of her baby.

Working Hours

The home starts receiving babies as early as 6:00am till 6:30pm at reasonably affordable fees. Mothers who do not use private cars are encouraged to bring their children and hand them over to waiting care taker mothers at Nyanzi road off Nsooba- Kanyanya road just after Jericho Church (from Gayaza direction). This means there won’t be necessity of alighting out of a taxi. This means even mothers who come from as far as Kasangati- Gayaza can still take advantage of this home.

Contacts

Nyanzi road, first corner off Nsooba – Kanyanya road, if one is coming from Kanyanya- Gayaza, branch off from Gayaza road on the left at the point the road from Bwayise touches Gayaza road, drive until you reach the last bend as you approach Nsooba – Kanyanya tarmac road.

Watsapp: +256 708 500 640

Phone: +256 786 364 710

Meet the Gorillas & Chimpanzees in Uganda

As far as tourism is concerned, whenever one hears Uganda, what comes in any foreigners mind is the primate excursions that are always carried out in this country. And not only that, but what also rings a bell to them is the gorilla tracking as well as chimpanzee trekking. However, there are distinctive features that separate these two primates in the way they are tracked and how best one can prepare for both to have an ultimate experience.

Where they are both found in Uganda;

Chimpanzees in Uganda are located in different places but habituated chimpanzees only exist in Kibale National Park located in western Uganda, Kyambura Gorge located in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Kalinzu forest located closer to Queen Elizabeth National Park and Budongo Forest in Murchison Falls National Park located in Northern Uganda. We also have orphaned chimpanzees in Ngamba Island which is approximately 23 km in Lake Victoria and can be accessed by boats.

On the other hand, habituated gorillas are found in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga National Park. According to the 2013 mountain gorilla census, it was discovered that Bwindi Impenetrable National park has almost half the number of mountain gorillas in the whole while the other population of gorillas are in the Virunga Ranges shared between Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic republic of Congo. Today Bwindi is one of the most popular parks for gorilla safaris on the African continent.

Gorilla and chimp trekking experience compared

When compared, gorilla tracking is a more organized activity both in Uganda and Rwanda and chances of seeing gorillas is above 90%. This is because gorillas live in families each headed by a dominant silver back. In Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the activity is so organized in such a way that early in the morning, there is an advanced team that goes to the forest to look for where the gorillas would have slept and once they find them, then they communicate to the park head quarters to inform the guides where gorillas are. It’s from here that tourists plus their guide will start the trek to look for gorillas starting from where they slept the previous night until they find them. Once they have found them, they are given one hour to observe and take photographs.

Chimpanzee trekking on the other hand is not as organized as gorilla trekking and chances are high in Kibale National Park and Budongo forest to other places such as Kyambura Gorge and Kalinzu forest. The same process of having an advanced team applies to chimps but chimpanzees on the other hand live in communities of around 100 individuals or more and during the day, these communities breakup into small parties to reduce on food competition. Each party is therefore tracked by 6 people. Once you have found the chimpanzees, you are allowed only one hour to view and photograph them.

Family composition

A family of habituated gorillas is trekked by a maximum of 8 people in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga while Chimpanzee parties in Kibale National Park is restricted to only 6 people. While a habituated gorilla family can only be seen by a maximum of 8 people PER DAY, chimpanzee parties are trekked twice in a day (morning and afternoon). Taking a close look at chimp trekking in Kibale National Park, a maximum of 18 people do trek chimps both in the morning and in the afternoon. It is arranged in such a way that each chimpanzee party is trekked by 6 people thus 3 parties for 18 people. The fact that chimpanzees keep on breaking into small parties and regrouping, at a given point, you might find yourselves trekking the same party (18 people) they can join together. This tends to cause confusion amongst tourists if not briefed very well. This sometimes leads to congestion and kills the whole Eco- experience as expected by clients. Mountain gorillas tend to be on ground in most cases and depending on the height of the vegetation, they are better seen compared to chimpanzees which are in most cases up in the trees (Not all the time though as so many people have found them on ground).

What to pack for gorilla or chimp trekking

Both gorilla and chimp trekking requires one to have hiking boots, garden gloves, long sleeved trousers and shirts, rain jackets, sun glasses, huts, a hiking stick and some energy giving foods to give you that extra strength when needed. You might not need a porter for chimp trekking in Kibale but we highly recommend one for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park for your gorilla trek.

Gorilla and Chimp permits

In Uganda, you require a permit to either trek gorillas or chimpanzees. Gorilla tracking permit for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park costs USD600.00 which normally goes down from that in low seasons (Feb-may) to the tune of USD350.00. enabling you to save USD150.00. The above includes trekking gorillas, a guide for the trek and park entrance fees. Chimpanzee trekking permits in Uganda vary according to where you will be trekking them. In Kibale, a permit is USD150 while in Kyambura is at USD50.00 per person and includes guide, park entrance and viewing chimps.

Distances compared

Gorilla trekking is done in Bwindi and Mgahinga and they are approximately 8-9 hours from Kampala while driving and it also depends on which side of Bwindi you are going to. If you are flying, then it might take you around about one and half hours to Bwindi or Kisoro. Kibale National Park is about 5-6 hours from Kampala; Kyambura Gorge is approximately 7-8 hours drive from Kampala while Budongo is also approximately 5-6 hours drive to northern Uganda.

Weekend Buzz: Gulu Comedy fans embrace UG Pineapple Comedy Tour

Last Saturday was the first of its kind for Uganda Waragi to officially introduce the pineapple variant to Gulu town spirit lovers at Smiling Panda – Gulu’s number one happening joint.
Silvia from Italy, Sophie from America and Nana from Finland enjoy UG Pineapple

The unveil also hosted a Comedy bit to spice up the whole evening featuring the top comedians in Uganda right now as revelers sipped on the pineapple flavor.
Gulu Revelers get a taste of UG Pineapple

The comedy show kicked off at 09:00pm with comedienne Agnes Akite, Patrick Salvador Idringi, Daniel Omara, Teacher Mpamire, Agnes Akite and musicians Mr. Eezzy and Gravity Omutujju who cracked amazing jokes and entertained Gulu residents.

The dancers were a new addition to the comedy night.