Photos: UWEC
After a long journey from Switzerland via Greece and Israel, two spotting scopes and tripods have arrived safely at their destination in Uganda. The scopes will be used to support the activities of the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre (UWEC) in Mabamba Bay, a Ramsar site on the northern shore of Lake Victoria. There, the UWEC works to conserve the rich biodiversity of this important and fragile wetland ecosystem and Important Bird Area (IBA). Mabamba Bay is home of numerous rare and threatened bird species, both resident and migratory, such as Shoebill, Blue Swallow, Malagasy Pond-Heron and Papyrus Shrike, among many others.
The Makanaga Wetland Ecosystem Users’ Association (MWESUA), a UWEC-supported local organisation made up of local fishermen, farmers and teachers, will be the custodian of the donated spotting scopes. MWESUA’s work focuses on improving the conservation status of the wetland and supporting the implemention of an inclusive ecotourism concept for the whole community. The spotting scopes are used by MWESUA’s approximately 10 nature guides and 20 boatmen for bird watching, wetland ecotours and bird monitoring. In the words of Richard Otiti, our partner at UWEC, the donation ” is such a great milestone for MWESUA and will surely boost the nature guides’ confidence and motivate them to provide visitor satisfaction and grow their passion for conserving the wetland. I can’t thank you enough!”
We wish UWEC and MWESUA all the best in their efforts to conserve the biodiversity of the Mabamba Wetland while promoting nature-friendly income opportunities in the local community. As always, we thank the generous donors who make it possible to support such projects with much needed optical equipment. For more information about the UWEC’s activities, please visit their website and Facebook page. Here’s also a short report from UWEC (PDF).