Uganda has in recent years seen a drop in tourist numbers and has started a campaign to expand tours and attractions on offer. One of these campaigns is Mountain Gorrilla tracking .The majestic yet endangered golden monkeys are certainly playing their part in shoring up tourist numbers.
They spend much of their time high up in trees rummaging through bamboo forests of the Mgahinga. This biodiversity area is part of the large Virunga massif, a stretch shared by Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo. It’s a Gold-Silver affair here, the golden monkeys share a home with silver backs… the endangered mountain gorillas.
And conservationists in Uganda are doing all they can to get the golden monkeys as close to humans as possible. Researchers are studying their feeding habits, understanding how they communicate and the territories they create.They say tourists will now spend more time with researchers to even learn more about the golden monkeys.
Uganda’s tourist numbers had plunged in the first quarter of year, due to the negative publicity brought about by past terror alerts and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. And having more tourists tracking golden monkeys is one of the new campaigns to up numbers. Most visitors coming to Uganda’s National parks come for gorilla tracking but conservationists are diversifying its attractions using the golden monkey tracking.
‘We have introduced a new product called golden monkey habituation experience…that you go with this group trying to study their movement and getting them acclimatized to human beings, so you spend longer with them. Its like you are experimenting on how to habituate…identify their marks, call them names….” Josey Muhangi – Uganda Wildlife Authority
Only 5000 of these apes are left in the wild and worry is that if not well protected, the number could fall further. It’s only in this part of the world that they can be found. Because the rare species are increasingly getting the attention of tourists, conservationists in Uganda are hopeful that boosting the golden monkey tracking is a good strategy to a increase tourism numbers. The tourism board is confident next year could be good one for Uganda’s tourism sector.
