Ngamba Chimpanzee Sanctuary struggles, visitor numbers still low
As tourism continues to recover at a snail pace following the outbreak of the Covid-19, Ngamba chimpanzee sanctuary struggles to cope with the situation and seeks more support to sustain the facility.
According to Dr Joshua Rukundo, the Executive Director of the sanctuary, since the reopening on October 1, they have registered only 23 tourists. "We receive between 3 and 10 guests a week and in the whole month of October, we received 23 guests most of whom are Ugandans, only eight were international guests. Things are moving on slowly, the numbers are still low compared to the normal numbers before Covid-19," he said.
Dr Rukundo, said the sanctuary used to receive about 100 visitors on daily basis before the pandemic.
"Our worry is that Europe has imposed a second lockdown yet it's where most of our clients come from. Elections will also affect us somehow," he said while receiving a donation worth Shs2 million from International Medical Link at Ngamba sanctuary head offices in Entebbe on Saturday.
"We depend a lot on tourism, all the food we have been getting since June is provided by the public yet Ngamba contributes to the county's tourism sector. Therefore I continue to appeal to corporate companies, the government to come to our rescue because we expect a full recovery in about 6 to 8 months from now. We still need a lot of support," he added.
Mr Joseph Isreal Mwebesa, the General Manager international medical link said they choose to donate to Ngamba because they know it's not easy to sustain the sanctuary, especially in this period. Among the items donated include pineapples, watermelon and bunches of matooke worth Shs2 million. "I appeal to other organizations to come up and join hands to support Ngamba because it has done a great job in promoting Uganda's tourism," Mr Mwebesa said.
