It is 10am (0700 GMT) in the morning. The Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre, popularly known as the Entebbe Zoo, is buzzing with activity.

Pupils from Kabojja Junior School are milling around the enclosure, holding five-year old Charles Hamukungu, the popular young male elephant who is enjoying his breakfast of elephant grass, watermelon, pawpaw, pineapple, eggplants and carrots. Charles eats 40 kilogrammes of grass, fruits, solid tubers, dried hay and vegetables daily.

Charles is the only elephant in the zoo and has proved to be a major attraction of the Behind the Scenes tour organised by the centre to bring parties of students to see and interact with the animals.

At 10:30am at the Budongo Chimpanzee Island Exhibit, the chimps are having their second meal of the day, made up of an assortment of fruits, tubers and vegetables.

They feed four times a day. Visitors are allowed to feed them during meal times and the chimps are clearly enjoying the attention as they clap and hold out their hands to be given food. The children and a few accompanying adults are enjoying the interaction.

Interaction with animals is one of the major objectives of the centre.

The zoo, located 32 kilometres south of Kampala, and a five-kilometre drive from the Entebbe International Airport, was started in 1952 as an animal orphanage and a rescue centre for injured young animals or those separated from their parents. Later, in 1960, it was changed into a zoo. It sits on 70.5 hectares of land.

The political instability of the 1980s was bad for the zoo as many animals died from neglect. However, in 1994, the government stepped in and renamed it the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre (UWEC) to teach the public, especially young people, about wildlife and the need for its conservation for the benefit of the community and for tourism. Today, the centre employs 54 full time staff and has over 50 casual workers and volunteers working round the clock.

The zoo today holds chimpanzees, white rhinos, lions, zebras, donkeys, giraffes, elands, duikers, buffalos, Uganda kobs, monkeys, serval cats, leopards, a camel, warthogs, and two cheetahs rescued in Karamoja by the Uganda Wildlife Authority, among others.

'Experiential tourism and educational products'

As we walk around the fence of the chimpanzee exhibit, zoo keeper Nicholas Muyindo says, “When we have them on this Budongo Chimpanzee Island, they feel at home just like they would in the forest.” The chimpanzee exhibit is dotted with car tyres hanging on ropes and half buried in the ground. The chimps climb the trees and swing on the tyres to fight boredom, shed excess weight and energy, and to keep remain active.

There are 14 chimps at the zoo, including 54-year-old Zakayo, who was rescued in 1972. He fathered Shaka, the only chimp born at the centre.  

The centre’s executive director, James Musinguzi, told The EastAfrican that product differentiation is what makes the zoo unique.

“We offer experiential tourism and educational products that have created repeat visits by our clients. We have the Behind the Scenes tour that gives visitors a glimpse into the daily lives of the animals such as the chimpanzee feeding; Keeper for a Day and Veterinarian for a Day, where visitors join the staff in tending to the animals; Giraffe Feeding, Elephant Walks, Shoebill Greeting, Rhino Touch and Cheetah Runs. All these programmes involve close interaction with the animals under supervision of the zoo staff. The centre also offers cottage accommodation and camping facilities.”

Musinguzi further noted: “What makes this zoo special is that it has been rebranded as a widow on Uganda. We have recreated Uganda’s ecosystems here. We also have naturalistic exhibits where we keep our animals close to the wild environment. We don’t have cages and the animals roam freely, one of the basic wild animal welfare practices. We also have special conservation education programmes that target different age groups.”

The popular Behind the Scenes tour means a visitor can watch or participate in the day-to-day activities of ensuring the welfare and good husbandry of animals in the zoo such as feeding and walking them.

The Cheetah Run is a thrilling one-hour walk with the cats as they take part in their daily exercise. Visitors walk the animals while holding them on a leash attached to the collar with the guidance of the animal caretakers. “It is not just for fun but rather part of a healthy regime to keep them active. We want to mimic life in the wild for the cheetahs,” said Musinguzi.

Shoebill Greeting

The Shoebill Greeting is a welcoming activity as the zoo keepers and visitors go about feeding the birds. The Shoebills are only found in Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and South Sudan. They are endemic and highly endangered species because their habitat in the wetlands is being degraded end encroached on in these four countries.

The Rhino Touch involves the training of rhinos to stay calm while the veterinarian draws blood for health examinations. Same for Veterinarian for a Day. It involves working with the resident veterinary doctor as part of a practical career guidance for young people.

Keeper for a Day involves people working with the animal keepers for a day as part of career guidance, tourism experience and learning.  

Musinguzi believes that all these programmes inspire and motivate young visitors to the zoo to take up a career in wildlife based enterprises. The programmes are all part of the routine activities at the zoo.

The zoo is open 365 days a year; Musinguzi said: “We don’t close because it is the ultimate family domestic tourism destination in Uganda.” The centre receives over 300,000 visitors annually, 60 per cent of whom are schoolchildren. “This is a significant number that we are very proud of, but are also working hard to increase,” he said.

On sourcing food for the animals, Musinguzi said: “We grow some of the food, especially grass on about 10 acres at the centre. We also get other food from communities around the centre through a competitive bidding process according to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority Act and our corporate social responsibility programme.”

Although popularly still referred to as the Entebbe Zoo, the centre is more than a zoo because it also carries out wildlife based research that include: zoonotic diseases; animal enrichment; animal reproduction; the ecology, ecosystems, behaviour and functioning of the animals;  the efficacy of medicinal plants, packaging, standardisation and preparation.

It also conducts the maintenance of wild animal study books for conservation; release of wild animals back into the wild after rehabilitation; and it also has a strong outreach conservation education programme that makes the centre pivotal in supporting wildlife conservation in the wild.

Musinguzi cannot readily tell the numbers of animals in the zoo due to the nature of its operations. “The numbers of animals keep changing because we rescue animals on a daily basis. However, we have over 100 bird species.” There are snakes and birds like the shoebill stork, grey parrot, ostrich, crested crane and peacock, among others.

Change in operations

In 1994, the centre decided to do away with cages and adopted naturalistic exhibits that keep the animals closest to a wild environment in adherence to the rules and regulations of  the Wildlife Association of Zoos and Aquaria (WAZA) and the Pan African Association of Zoos and Aquaria (PAAZA), of which the centre is a member. 

“These institutions uphold animal welfare principles, and we follow the animal welfare strategy of WAZA, which emphasises humane treatment of wild animals in order for them to live a good naturalistic life. This animal presentation or exhibition gives a good natural appeal and feel to the visitor which creates a good lasting impression on the visitor,” Musinguzi said.

In 2015, the centre won the Best Zoo in East, West and Central Africa Award given out by PAAZA and was also appointed a co-ordinator for all zoos and aquariums in the East, Central and West African region under PAAZA.

In 2014, it won a Biodiversity Conservation Award from WAZA for excelling in using biodiversity-related educational materials in supporting the UN Decade for Biodiversity, 2011 - 2020.

In July this year, Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities Prof Ephraim Kamuntu launched the newly signed Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre Act, 2015, which formally establishes the centre; provides for the board of trustees of the centre; provides for promotion, conservation and sustainable development of wildlife resources through wildlife conservation education and wildlife breed, and related matters.

The centre’s efforts however are still not fully appreciated because of the low levels of conservation awareness among the public. Lack of funding is also a big challenge.