A weekend with the zookeepers and  the wild residents 

A visit to any wildlife destination is therapy. This is because observing animal behaviour is as fascinating as appreciating human character traits. You could say that animals are beautiful people.
I have been a visitor at the Entebbe Zoo or the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Centre (UWEC) too many times. Each visit has left a lasting impression. The feeding giraffes is one of those things you can never get enough of, the thrill of those gentle giants feeding out of palms with their long tongues.

For the love and fun of it, children could feed giraffes for a full day! Then the feeding time of the chimpanzees is quite an eye opener about man’s cousins with whom we share 98.7 percent DNA.
There are the bullies who will want to have all the fruity meal to themselves and then the naughty juveniles whose agility enables them grab as much as they can get from one end of the feeding grounds to another.

On a tree branch somewhere, sits a gentle guy who the caregiver knows for not scampering and competing for his share of watermelon, papaya and sweet potato, so they will throw something in his or her direction.
Then the well-behaved chimpanzee folks who raise their hands and occasionally clap their hands to catch the attention of the caregiver. Sarah Okalebo, a zookeeper and caregiver, knows these chimps by name, age and character and shares some interesting experiences she has had caring for them.

Behind the scenes
On my recent visit to the facility, my request from management was to have a different experience. I have previously seen the animals and birds from the peripherals of their cages so this time, I wanted to get an up-close or a behind the scenes experience to allow me an opportunity learn about the rescued wild animals and observe as the caregivers take care of them.

“With the behind the scenes excursions, you get an encounter with different animals. You get to pet some of them, move close to them and feed them. I say some of them because in case we don’t get to pet the crocodile, please don’t hold me by the neck. We have some animals meant for the ‘behind the scenes’ sessions,” Okalebo explains before we embark on our two-hour excursion.
We are joined by Dr. James Watuwa, the resident veterinary doctor at the Uwec, on their routine. The zoo is located in Entebbe, Uganda’s official entry town; the home of Uganda’s official international airport.

Gods among us
It is situated 44 kilometres from Kampala City, the Central Business District (CBD). The zoo is one of the close-to-town tourist attractions. Well, our first visit is to the serval cats. I learn from Okalebo that in ancient Egypt, the cats were worshipped, for their grace and power.

Indeed, you will find statues of serval cats in many cities of the most populated country in North Africa, prominently beautiful for their long ears that act like radars to detect sound from fellow wild animals.
As the zookeeper goes on with the brief, I can see one of the cats, also known as red cats, enjoying its breakfast meal of chicken which I learn, is every after one day.
They are visible through a metallic net. There are a few features that distinguish them from the petted home cats. From the common view area, is a noticeboard with a picture of serval cat detailing out its basic behaviour and factsheet.

They are sometimes fed on beef. In the wild, they feed on more; small birds, rats and rodents. 
The carnivores are commonly seen in Karamoja, North-Eastern Uganda, other parts of Africa and Asia.
Different families, one zoo
We also go into the semi-expanse of tropical grassland where two cheetahs live, namely Pian and Upe. They were rescued from Pian Upe Game Reserve. “We have different ways in which we name the animals. We name some basing on the places where they were rescued from, people who sponsor them and after an animal keeper,” Okalebo explains.

What is the difference between a leopard and cheetah, I ask. “The cheetah has a black mark running down called the tear marks that the leopard doesn’t have. The cheetah has spots while the leopard has rosettes. The cheetah is slim and long while the leopard is short and fatter. The cheetahs feed from their night holdings. We give them about five kilogrammes of beef on a faily basis,” the zookeeper explains.
Pian comes within a metre and responds to calls of her keepers before lowering her head to quench her thirst. Our next cage visit is to the African gray parrot that are believed to talk, something Okalebo corrects.

The myths and truths
She explains that they don’t talk but mimic up to about 300 words when they are trained. At the zoo, they are fed on many fruits apart from avocado, which is poisonous and toxic to their hearts.
In the wild, they live up to about 30 years and 60 years in captivity which means that they can be a lifetime pet. “The male African gray parrots have more beautiful grey colour than the females. They are intelligent birds. It is said that they have the same thinking capacity as a five-year-old,” their keeper adds.

Shirlo and Kabira
We move on to two friendly white rhinos who are munching on some grass. They welcome caresses on their body and horns as they feed. Sherilo, named after Sheraton Hotel Kampala and Kabira, named after Kabira Country Club, their respective sponsors.

The two have never reproduced because they take each other for ‘sister and brother’. Their keeper believes that the environment is not conducive for their reproduction.
Their bodies are noticeably covered in mud, and as we learn, it is their way of regulating the body temperature from the scotching sun as well as suffocating ticks which drop off with the dried mud.
A young one that’s born healthy can weight up to between 45 to 50 kilogrammes. A mature male can weigh up to 2.8 tonnes while a mature female can weigh between 1.8 to 2.4 tonnes.

In Uganda, white rhinos are only found in captivity at the zoo and the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary although plans are underway to transfer them to another place owing to the conflict over the land on which the sanctuary is situated.
“What I like about Sherilo and Kabira is that they are disciplined. They don’t litre their dung anyhow. They pile it in one place and don’t eat from that place,” Okalebo observes.

Sophie, the lion, is undergoing an integration process. She was rescued from Murchison Falls National Park. She lives in solitude for now, in a cage. After integration, she will join the rest of the lions in the common area that has tree shades, holes and enough leg room.

All the other things
The cat character in her is visible as she grooms herself, cleaning her tail and general body. In a minute, she loses her cool and begins roaring at strange visitors.
We move on to visit Charles Hamukungu, one of the friendliest elephants. He responds to calls and commands to sit, stand, raise a foot, move back and forth or flap his ears.
For breakfast, he happily reaches out with his trunk and is given fruit. He was rescued by Charles from Hamukungu village in Kasese when he was only three weeks, he has grown up at the zoo.

Ostriches are flightless but very fast and we can attest to this as we watch two of them at the facility. The male one has been feeding in the open grasslands, with giraffes but at our sight, he quickly runs to the feeding area to join his companion who is pecking at food in a trough.
Then the shoebill, an ugly beauty that bows and expects visitors to also bow. When you stand straight, he looks straight up at you, in a somewhat curious gaze.
Then there are tortoises, zebras, otters, Uganda kobs, monkeys, bird species, plant life and more. Among the many, Okalebo says the rhino is her favourite because it is easy to tame and naturally approachable.

“You can pet them. That’s why I love them so much,” she adds. According to Dr Watuwa, the African elephant is a favourite. 
“Their character is a display of calmness and confidence in their aspects of life. They may not be the king of the animals but they definitely belong to the royal family. They are some of the most intelligent animals and that makes them my favourites,” he explains.

When it is all said and done, one cannot help but admire the work of wild animal caregivers. By the way, at my entrance to the zoo, I chanced on a caregiver at the tail end feeding snakes. Unlucky for me, they only feed them once a fortnight, so I missed that. Another pending experience on my adventure list.

Attractions
Birds 
Over 120 bird species can be watched ranging from the famous African fish eagle, over the Great Blue Turaco to Hammerkops, Giant Kingfisher and even the smallest sun birds.
Monkeys
At UWEC you will come across free ranging Vervet monkeys and a family troop of DeBraza monkeys in the jungle of our hillside forest.

Cats
Uwec is a home  to various cats such as leopards and lions. Last year, two tigers were imported. The Bengal tigers,  sometimes called Indian tigers, are a species that resonates with the Indian community, which has over the months proven to be loyal to the animals at UWEC.