Uganda to boost tourism
with online gorilla tracking
From www.coastweek.com
Through the "www.friendagorilla.org" website, which
will be a micro-site on Facebook, gorilla lovers
worldwide will have a chance to befriend any of
Uganda’s gorillas from the eight habituated groups
.
KAMPALA (Xinhua) -- Uganda is set to launch online gorilla tracking late this month to boost tourism revenues and conserve the endangered species, a top government official said here on Wednesday.
Serapio Rukundo, minister of state for tourism, told reporters that starting Sept. 26, gorilla lovers on social networks like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter will be able to track the gorillas online in real time at a cost of one U. S. dollar.
"I wish to congratulate Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) for coming up with such an innovative strategy for fund-raising and marketing Uganda as a gorilla tourism destination," he said.
"Uganda is poised to give tourists as many options as possible in the enjoyment of the country’s attractions and in the next five years Uganda will be among the top tourist destinations in the world," he added.
Moses Mapesa, executive director of UWA, said the campaign, dubbed Friend a Gorilla, is expected to raise about 100 million dollars through the internet and other forms of sponsorship for wildlife conservation.
Through the "www.friendagorilla.org" website, which will be a micro-site on Facebook, gorilla lovers worldwide will have a chance to befriend any of Uganda’s gorillas from the eight habituated groups.
The website will also have other sections like Geo-Track, where one can track gorillas using actual Global Positioning System coordinates that UWA gorilla trackers will provide daily.
In addition, the site will have a section for Virtual Tracking.
Mapesa said the launch will be preceded by a week long series of events in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, home of over 320 mountain gorillas.
Highlight of the events will also include the launch of the biggest habituated gorilla family, which consists of over 30 members, in the world.
"This Nshongi group is a unique group, it has 34 members with three silverbacks (adult males) living together. It is the only one that is recorded yet," said Mapesa.
Mountain gorillas are an endangered species with only 720 individuals remaining in the whole world.
The week-long campaign is part of events organized by UWA to mark 2009 as the United Nations Year of the Gorilla.
Uganda is home to nearly half of the world’s mountain gorilla population, with the rest spread in three trans-boundary national parks of Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and the Virungas in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
