With a few hours to kill before it was dark but not enough time to pass Kampala we decided to take the opportunity to visit the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) at Entebbe. This is the only centre like this in the country where they care for abandoned, injured and at risk species as well as offering conservation education and an at risk breeding programme to support species that are almost extinct.
Our guide Loy showed us around and within hours of stepping off a plane, I was inches away from cheaters, a leopard and lions as well as my unexpected favourites the white rhinos!
Loy had recently joined the centre having previously been working at the Queen Elizabeth National Park (in western Uganda bordering the Congo) and was clearly passionate about wildlife and conservation. He had stories and anecdotes about almost all the animals we saw - my favourite being a rather large nile crocodile who had arrived at the centre having eaten five PEOPLE in western Uganda! Apparently, once they have eaten human meat they develop a taste for it and actively hunt humans, so now 'Eric' (my name for him) is now serving his life sentence at UWEC.
One for the twitchers - I was amazed at the number of different birds across the site and got my first look at the Grey Crowned Crane - Uganda's national bird and emblem on their flag. It was pretty majestic up close - Uganda may make an animal fan out of me after all!
The highlights:
White Rhinos
Eric the Nile Crocodile
No comments:
Post a Comment