Today we went to the Wildlife Education Center. It was very interesting to learn about the reserve and its history. There are twelve different wildlife reserves in Uganda and they are all managed by the Wildlife Organization. Noel went through the history of the National Park, discussing the transition from control hunting area (keeping track of what hunters are hunting and how many), game reserve (paying to hunt in the area), and finally national park (where people were completely cut off from the area and not compensated in order to preserve the wildlife). When the national park was established there was a lot of resentment from the people that lived there previously and violence started to come about. The national park was the target and animals and the land were being destroyed. An attempt to restore peace was the community conservation program, where the community was involved in managing the natural resources both inside and outside the reserve. He also stressed that preserving the wildlife is in the best interest of all Ugandans.
After the lecture we went on the game trail and were able to see a few different animals. We saw antelope, boar, and some zebra. We even were able to get out of the bus at one point and take pictures next to a boar. There are 70 different species on the reserve as explained by Noel. The most common animals are the antelope, zebra, and topi. We arrived back to the hotel around 4 pm and had the rest of the day free. Some went swimming, had massages, walked down into the town, or just relaxed. Overall what were your guys thoughts of the day? I know some have experienced safaris in other countries. How do they compare? Is it what you expected?
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I have not been on other safaris, but it was not what I expected. I would have thought we would have seem more variety of wildlife. I was especially hoping to see a hippo and was disappointed. I think it would have been cooler to not be on such a crowded bus filled with people who were all standing to take pictures. It would have been a cooler experience if we had a double decker bus so that some people could have been outside for the ride and the inside would not be so much about jockeying for camera position. I am looking forward to tomorrow and Queen Elizabeth though!
ReplyDeleteI have never been on a safari before, but this experience was what I expected. From taking courses such as ecology and botany at Drake, I am quite familiar with biomes of the world. I was very excited to see my first real savanna. The trees were unique and uniquely spaced. It was very pretty. I also remember making a comment to Rachel about how I thought that it was pretty neat that we were in an area of the world where we did not see a building standing tall. I rarely see these areas of the world and it was refreshing.
ReplyDeleteI had never been on a safari before either and it lived up to my expectations. I have seen zebras and warthogs in a zoo and in The Lion King but I had never seen them roaming in their natural habitat before. It was great seeing those animals but along with Franklin I am also hoping to see some more animals at Queen Elizabeth tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteThis was also my first safari experience, and I enjoyed it, although I hear the game drive at Queen Elizabeth National Park is a lot more exciting as far as the diversity of wildlife. On a side note, this trip as a whole has been incredible for picture taking, and today's little drive through the Wildlife Authority was no exception. I captured a funny little video of some stubborn cattle that refused to move off the road.
ReplyDeleteAs for the rest of my day, I had a GREAT 45-minute massage at the resort for less than $5! You can't beat a deal like that!
I thought today was boring. I suppose it is good that the Ugandan government finds funding from somewhere to support the Uganda Wildlife Association, but I was not immensely impressed. I do think that wildlife is worth sustaining and that sectioning off areas to be preserved is a good thing. I fail to understand, however, that money is found in the government budget for things like this while so much money is needed for health care, education, and overall improvement of infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of wildlife viewing think of today as a starter and tomorrow as the main course. Tomorrow we will see hippo, crocs, water buffalo, warthogs, monkeys, kolb and other species of antelope, elephant (probably), and birds too numerous to mention. The last two years we have also seen lion, however there is no guarnatee. I alos did see a leopard one day, but that is very rare. Today was about hearing from the Uganda Wildlife authority and trying to see zebra and impala, neither of which are at Queen Elizabeth. I thought Crystal did a nice job of summarizing the talk by Noel. Preserving the ecosystem and its wildlife is a huge part of the development picture. Tourism provides many jobs in an economy that needs more employment. Wildlife conservation also has many key sustainablility questions. It is a tough balancing act to meet the land needs of current farmers and ranchers while preserving wildlife for future generations and providing current jobs while not destroying the ecosystem. I thought the short talk by Patrick at the end of the lecture was interesting. I wish we would have had more time to hear about his efforts to incorporate local culture into issues related to wildlife. This is a much needed consideration as opposed to one size fits all development solutions that ignore local customs and traditions.
ReplyDeleteI also have never been on a Safari before but I have been to the zoo and have seen many of the animals that we saw today. I was a little surprised by the lay of the land. When I used to think of Africa I expected it to be barer with less trees and shrubs around like you see on documentaries of people chasing animals in a jeep.
ReplyDeleteI was a little disappointed that we really didn’t see that large of a variety of animals but it was fun to see the family of zebras with the little baby.
I was also kindof unimpressed with the selection of wildlife, but I thought it was just me! (I fell asleep actually, so I figured I must have missed the good part). But Queen Elizabeth definately made up for it. But I did find the end talk with Patrick very interesting. He was talking about making sure that the indigenous inhabitants were compensated for their loss of resources to the park. He talked about how the people that were displaced in the name of "conservation" had lived on that land for thousands of years, and now, all of a sudden, the life of the animals are more important than the life of the people. He also mentioned that animals and people had been coexisting prior to the creation of the park, and once the park officials told the people to leave for the sake of the animals, the people tried to kill off all the animals so the officials had no more incentive to take the land. But now, as we saw on our way in, people are living on the land along with the animals. The way of life of the people has begun to be preserved as well as the way of life of the animal. And not only are the people allowed to come back and live on the land of the national park, they are given a portion of the proceeds earned from the tourists. I was glad to see that people were communicating and compromising--something that seemed to be lacking historically.
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