BALANCING act
DEEP IN UGANDA’S KYAMBURA GORGE, A FAMILY OF ENDANGERED CHIMPANZEES STRUGGLES TO SURVIVE. CAN CONSCIOUS TOURISM HELP SAVE THEM?
Visitors to the Kyambura Gorge often compare it to Jurassic Park. The awe-inspiring habitat in the vast Queen Elizabeth National Park feels otherworldly, with a mist-shrouded river running through it. The gorge’s story – a family of stranded chimpanzees, a majestic sunken forest and a battle to save a habitat – offers a compelling look at the role mindful tourism can play in conservation.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is situated in the heart of the Albertine Rift, a biodiverse valley on the western edge of Uganda. Once home to a robust population of big-game animals, the rule of dictator Idi Amin plunged the country into a decline that opened the door for poaching, ivory trading and deforestation. This period was devastating not just for the citizens of Uganda, but also the ecosystem and its wildlife.
As the country began to recover, Praveen Moman, the Ugandan-born founder of eco-tourism company Volcanoes Safaris, had a vision of restoring travel into the region. He acquired sites to develop great-ape tourism, including a plot of land on the edge of the Kyambura Gorge that is home to a family of chimps, dubbed the ‘Lost Chimps of Kyambura’. Years of human activity have eliminated the forest corridors that once allowed these primates to safely cross the savanna in search of mates and food. Tensions have run high between the basic needs of the people living on the park’s border and the health of the ecosystem and endangered apes. Moman knew that a responsible tourism industry, coupled with government efforts and support, could solve these issues.
Perched on the edge of the gorge, Volcanoes Safaris’ Kyambura Gorge Lodge opened in 2011. The company’s conservation initiatives focus on developing alternatives to locals’ reliance on the gorge’s natural resources, including a land buyback program to create a buffer zone between the chimp’s habitat and the adjacent villages.
‘Because of the economic benefits of tourism, local communities now understand that the great apes are an asset,’ explains Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Uganda’s first wildlife veterinarian and founder of the non-profit Conservation Through Public Health.
The ultimate goal here is to restore the forest corridors and link this community of stranded chimpanzees with the wider chimp population within Queen Elizabeth National Park. ‘This project offers a snapshot of the conservation challenges humanity faces,’ Moman says. ‘Throughout the world’s greatest wilderness areas, we are losing species, losing habitat, while the surrounding communities become poorer. Here, we have a chance to do something.’ And what tourists learn here from trying to save these ‘Lost Chimps’ may help other species find their way into the future, too.
“The local communities now understand that the GREAT APES are an asset”