Monkeys are fun to track

Golden monkeys have an interesting lifestyle

Monkey tracking has come fast on the heels of the more sought-after mountain gorilla tracking. With a new adventure dubbed ‘Golden Monkey Experiential Tourism’, tourists can take a four-hour trek to see golden monkeys frolic, feed, court, hop acrobatically in the trees and care for their young ones. 

The swift monkeys keep themselves busy by pulling faces, grooming each other and flying between tree branches. Currently, they are only found in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Virunga National Park in DR. Congo, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, Gishwati forest and Nyungwe forests. Unlike human beings, monkeys and gorillas freely move between the three countries without visas.

This golden monkeytrek gives one a chance to see the apes in action, petting and having a siesta. According to researcher Sandra E. Gray, their groups are single male multi-family, meaning there is only one resident male and several adult females, plus young ones of varying ages.

However, for reinforcement, between three and 11 outside males are accepted to join the group temporarily during the breeding season.

For monkeys, communication is done fluently by vocal sounds, sign language and facial expressions. Grey says these have not yet been comprehensively studied and only the most obvious gestures are understood to any degree.

Monkeys eat 33 record plant species, including fruits and flowers. Their menu also comprises small invertebrates and bamboo leaves, which make up the bulk of the diet.

The habitat of goldenmonkeys is in the evergreen semi-deciduous and bamboo forests. Uganda WildlifeAuthority (UWA) directorate of conservation has now completed the process of habituating a family of golden monkeys for experiential tourism.

This is as a strategy meant to diversify tourism activities. Tacking takes place strictly in the mornings and afternoons within a 23– 50 hectare area to maximise the experience. 

“The fee is $100, inclusive of the park entry fees. The maximum number per visiting group per day will be six,” Ingrid Nyonza Nyakabwa, the UWA marketing manager, says. “You will not have any regrets. It is money and time very well spent.” 

Getting there

Bookings for the golden monkey adventure are done at both the UWA headquarters on Plot 7 Kira Road in Kamwokya between the Uganda Museum and the British High Commission. Alternatively, they are available at the park office in Kisoro town or park headquarters at Ntebeko.  

Mgahinga GorillaNational Park is located in south-western Uganda. It can be accessed by road and air. Kisoro town, at the foot of Mt. Muhabura, is about 540km from Kampala, which takes about eight hours drive via Kabale on an excellent paved road surface. Public transport by bus is available on a daily basis.

Mgahinga National Park head office is located 13km from Kisoro town and can be accessed by public transport. It is also accessible from Rwanda’s Chanika border post or Eastern DRC’s Bunagana border post. 

Accommodation is available in Kisoro town, a gateway to the park which is adequately served by upmarket and budget hotels. There is a private lodge at the edge of the park and a privately run campsite right outside the park.

For more information on other activities, visit the UWA website and the tariff rate card. 

“This product is now ready for the market,” Raymond Engena, the director Tourism Development and Business Services, says. “The activity is a new product mixed with the phenomenal Batwa Trail Cultural Experience, in addition to volcano hiking.”

By: Bruce Amp

The tour guide with an undying love for birds

Herbert Byaruhanga (R) with another Ugandan birder

He fell in love with birds over a decade ago and since then, Herbert Byaruhanga, a tour guide, has been marketing birding in and outside Uganda.

Like a chef meticulously cuts onions, tomatoes and carrots, Herbert Byaruhanga shares his story in slices of passion, each tale intertwined with an experience about birding or tourism in general, and as interesting as the previous one. To this tour guide and entrepreneur, tourism is not a job, but a passion.

I meet him for this interview at a quiet country resort in Wakiso. Our conversation is occasionally interrupted when he hears the sound of a chirping monkey or singing bird.

“Hey, listen to that,” he says as he gets to his feet and reaches for the binoculars. “That must be a juvenile bateleur,” he notes as he focuses the binocular into the thicket overlooking an adjacent hill.

While others may check their handbooks for confirmation of what bird makes which sound or their physical characteristics, Byaruhanga has most of his knowledge of birds on his fingertips.

Byaruhanga is the chairman of Uganda Safari Guides Association and one of the pioneer tour guides. He specialises in birding. His leadership position is a platform for him to pass on skills in tour operations in the hospitality industry.

“I started the Uganda Safari Guides Association, which has greatly improved and changed the guiding services in Uganda and Rwanda,” he explains.

This earned him the nickname Papa, which is a term to show respect or to mean father. He says: “I have trained over 95 per cent of the tourist drivers we have in Uganda.”

For the past decade or so, Byaruhanga has been involved in marketing bird-watching in Uganda, other African countries as well as in Europe and America. “Since 2006, I have been selling Uganda to the American market. Now, we get a number of American birders coming here.”

This passionate birder has also traversed the country to train tourists in birding. It should be because of his effort to promote birding that he was elected president of Uganda Tourism Association, the apex body of tourist trade associations within the private sector.

Where did his love for birding start? He traces his passion for birding to when he was a young boy.

“I used to nickname birds in relation to their behaviour. At some point, we used to chase them. I used to get chicks from their nests to play with them,” he recalls.

In the 90s, Byaruhanga applied for a job as a driver guide in one of the companies in Kampala. Out of the 150 applicants, he was among the 12 that were selected to go for training.

“Out of these, I was among the four that were recommended to be employed as driver guides. Of the four, I was one of the two that were given a permanent status just because my trainer advised the company that I would be very important for the birding tours,” he recounts beaming with pride.

By 1998, he had established the Bird Guides Club. A few years later, he was sponsored by BirdLife International for training as a trainer of bird guides. “So birding has remained my hobby, passion, job and business,” he says.

Why birding?
It is a worthwhile passion considering the variety of birds in Uganda and the world. Birders never get disappointed, as opposed to those who watch animals. Besides, he adds, birds are naturally beautiful.

Government plans face-lift for Entebbe airport

A recent view of EntebbeInternational Airport. The government says plans are underway to reconstruct the airport to meet modern standards.  

Works minister says the revamp is meant to manage traffic and accidents at the airport.

Entebbe International Airport will soon have a new look if revelations by State Minister for Works Steven Chebrot are anything to go by.

Addressing journalists in Kampala yesterday, the minister said a Cabinet Paper indicating the designs and features that will be incorporated in the refurbished airport had been drafted and await approval by Cabinet.

“It is very constrained functionally and we would like to reconstruct it to [fit] modern standards. Issues such as regulatory control, financial constraints, environmental protection and political guidance must be addressed in order to avoid a credit crunch,” Mr Chebrot said.

He added: “Besides capacity expansion, the other challenge we face is aviation safety. Africa’s accident rate almost doubled between 2011 and 2012. In 2011, we registered eight accidents which increased to 13 in 2012.”

Dr Rama Makuza, the executive director of the Civil AviationAuthority, said traffic through the airport increased from 700,000 in 2007 to around 1.3 million last year, thus emphasising the need to improve standards at the airport.

According to Mr Makuza, the refurbished airport will have a facility for aircraft maintenance and an expanded Airport Passenger Terminal.

However, as the Works minister and CAA officials talked of refurbishing the airport to ease air transport, Tourism Minister Maria Mutagamba was quick to warn that failure to address infrastructural problems would still hamper the leisure industry.

By: Bruce Amp

The hot springs and cool birds of Semiliki

Semliki National Park is famous for the Sempaya male and female hot springs. They bubble up from the depths of the earth to demonstrate the powerful subterranean forces that have shaped the Rift Valley over the last 14 million years.  “These natural springs have a geyser shooting up from an eight-meter wide hole at hot temperatures. It is the largest of its kind in the country,” says Noel Bayo, a tour guide. His narrative is interrupted by tweets and flapping wings. “See, there flies the blue–breasted kingfisher and Frasier’s ant-thrush,” he says.

On the same trail are primates like the grey-checked mangabey, the red-tailed monkey, elephants, chimpanzees and the more localised De Brazza’s monkey and pygmy antelope.  The Mungilo waterfall is a haven for attractive birds, especially if you are a birder. Hassan Mutebi, a bird guide, says some of the most sought-after species of birds include the black dwarf hornbill, shining blue kingfisher and the yellow-throated nicator. 

The 220 square kilometre national park sprawls across the floor of the Semliki Valley on the remote western side of the Rwenzori. The park is dominated by the easternmost extension of the great Ituri Forest of the Congo Basin, one of Africa’s most ancient and bio-diverse forests and one of the few to survive the last ice age, 12,000 to 18,000 years ago.  Geographically, the Semliki River (which forms the international boundary with D.R. Congo) is a miniature version of the Congo River.

The forest is home to the Batwa community. Other ethnic groups living near the park comprise the Bwamba farmers living along the base of Mountain Rwenzori, while the Bakonjo cultivate the mountain slopes. Batuku cattle keepers inhabit on the open plains.  This park provides a taste of Central Africa without having to leave Uganda. Do not miss out on a boat trip on Lake Albert.

The black-headed weaver. The area has over 40 bird species

 Getting there, monies, accommodation
 Semliki can be approached using two major roads from Kampala city via Fort Portal. Via Mubende is about 290km, which is about a four- to five-hour drive. Via Masaka, Mbarara and Kasese is the alternative route, though longer, at 465km (seven- to eight- hour drive).  From Fort Portal, a 59km tarmac road hugging the northern tip of the Rwenzoris leads you to Semliki’s Sempaya Gate. Ntandi Park headquarters is 6km further along the road.

Public transport from Fort Portal to Bundibugyo passes through the park headquarters. It can also be accessed by air.  Uganda Wildlife Authority has comfortable self-contained accommodation within the national park, while neighbouring Fort Portal and Bundibugyo towns offer a wide range of alternative accommodation  Foreign Non Residents pay $ 25 for adults.

Children of five to fifteen years pay $15 per 24 hours.  Foreign Residents in East Africa pay $15 for adults. Children part with $10 per 24 hours. East African citizens pay sh5,000 adults and sh2,500 for children. School children in groups pay sh1500 each