UWEC Boss Explains Facelift at Entebbe Zoo

Many tourists who have visited the Uganda Wildlife Education conservation center formerly known as Entebbe zoo are wondering about the mushrooming infrastructure developments that are taking place at the Wildlife education conservation facility.  However during an interview with the Chief warden David Musingo, he explained that they received additional funding from the World Bank under the Competitiveness Enterprise Development Project and that it’s through these funds that they have been able to give a facelift to the wildlife education conservation facility.

In his explanation Musingo revealed that:  “A lot of construction is going on at the zoo facility because we got funding from the world bank under the competitiveness Development project (CEDP) . We have used the funds to construct facilities like animal exhibits, elephant holding, and enclosure among others. We had challenges of containing elephants that were rescued from the community but we are now happy that two of the rescued elephants have got a home. Among other facilities, we have the exhibit for the African white dog.  We are importing them anytime from now since the facility is ready.”

He adds that “Another facility that we have put in place is the state of the art bird aviary that will house the unique bird species of Uganda. The bird aviary is at 90% completion.”

” We have also extended the Chimpanzee Island. We had a challenge with the chimpanzees rescued in the community and the space has not been enough for them but when we got funding from CEDP we were able to expand the Chimpanzee Island.”

According to Musingo, through funding from CEDP, “we have been able to erect a strong fence at the Kidepo exhibit where we keep the giraffes and ostriches.”

“The initial fence was too weak and it was at a risk of falling down and consequently animals could have easily escaped from there.   The CEDP project has also enabled us to expand our Administration offices and right now we have modern spacious offices and very soon we shall officially commission these offices,” adds Musingo. “Furthermore, we have constructed a modern animal rescue and quarantine hospital, one of the best in East and Central Africa and very soon it will be complete.   In addition to this, CEDP has helped us to work on road infrastructures within the zoo facility. Our roads could turn muddy during the rainy season and during the dry season there was a lot of dust. “

Musingo says that the parking area for vehicles was minimal.

“We had little parking space but when we got funding through the CEDP project we were able to construct a parking yard with capacity of over 200 cars.  The parking yard has been lit with solar lights and panels and it has been demarcated and in general parking has greatly improved,” says Musingo. “In terms of transport; CEDP has helped to solve transport means for our rescued animals.  We bought a double cabin pick up, educational van (rig van)-we use it to go to schools and communities. The rig van is really helping us to create awareness on conserving wildlife. We also procured a spacious tourism truck which carries tourists to Entebbe botanical gardens and even to Kampala.  We also transport them to national game parks like Murchison falls Game Park among others.  We also bought three golf carts and they are generating us a lot of money. Many of our visitors hire them at a fee of Shs. 50,000 per hour.  Indeed the golf carts are highly demanded for the tourists who want to tour the zoo facility while seated.”

“Through the CEDP project- we have been able to market and promote Entebbe zoo within Entebbe municipality. We have constructed and installed fifteen (15) animal sculptures and have added value on what we do within Entebbe Municipality. We have also seen an increase in visitation in the past one year. Last year we got 400,000 visitors but this year the number has shot up to 600,000 people. We believe if all the said projects are complete we shall go up to 800,000 visitors or even a million visitors. The CEDP project has also helped us to put up four public sheds within Entebbe Municipality and these sheds are at stages where people wait for transport or taxis. And when it rains people take advantage of these public sheds.”

Mr. Musingo noted that UWEC is at the forefront of improving waste management, revealing that many dust bins have been provided within Entebbe Municipality.

He further continued: “We have set up a wild dog hospital and we are going to equip it with a lot of equipment and will do a lot of things like bio banking, research, and banking genetic materials especially for endangered species.  We shall also see a lot of papers being published in tourism channels. We have young people pursuing masters in the wildlife field and they should take advantage of this facility.

“Our chimpanzee mote has been expanded to accommodate chimpanzees received from communities around Kibale, Masindi and Hoima. Some of these chimpanzees, we have been taking them to Ngamba Island but it is now full. And we need to find an appropriate space to relocate them and possibly maybe we could find another area around Lake Victoria and we take them there.  We also need to create awareness in communities for people to appreciate these chimpanzees rather than encroaching on their habitants.  Since chimpanzees no longer have where to go they end up going to communities and eventually they clash with people. They are killed or injured by people. A few weeks ago, we received a chimpanzee which was injured and had one rib cut off and this is attributed to the pressure between the community and chimpanzees,” Mr. Musingo revealed.