UWA set to modernise botanical gardens
Left to Right: UWA's Director Conservation, Mr John Makombo, with the first Chief Warden of the newly created UWEC Conservation Area, Mr David Musingo, and other officials inspecting Entebbe Botanical Gardens. Photo/Eve Muganga
What you need to know:
- Mr Chemonges Sabilla, the Deputy Director Legal and Corporate Affairs at UWA, said that there are a number of concession facilities operating in the area.
Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has set sight on revamping and modernizing Entebbe Botanical gardens. This was revealed by Mr John Makombo, UWA’s director for conservation during an inspection and assessment of the facility at Entebbe Botanical gardens on Monday, October 28, 2024.
“The reason we are here is to demonstrate the fact that UWA has taken over the facility following the merger between the former Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre (UWEC) and UWA. We want to revamp this place into a good tourism attraction facility. We have got a number of concessions in there, and a number of encroachers and criminals, so we want to rehabilitate this place for a better image and promote tourism so that people who are coming from far and within can be able to enjoy the place,” Mr Makombo said.
He noted that there were a number of illegal paths and roads within the facility, which needed to be closed, so that a better plan is drawn to make it a better place for Ugandans to enjoy nature.
“This place still has a lot of botanical species and is a good repository. It is still a good resource for people who are studying, tourists and people who want to enjoy nature and birders, so we are basically here to explore ways to transform the facility into a more profitable venture than what it is today,” he said.
Mr Makombo said UWA was working together with tourism police and the general police to put an end to any criminal activities within the Entebbe Botanical gardens. “That is the first thing to do to ensure that there is no criminality so that people can enjoy the place. We need to make it safe, enjoyable and memorable as they enjoy the national parks and UWEC,” he said.
He noted that NARO still had seed banks and was conducting research in the area. “We don’t want to kill that. We shall ensure tourism and research co-exist.
Mr Chemonges Sabilla, the Deputy Director Legal and Corporate Affairs at UWA, said that there are a number of concession facilities operating in the area and they had been approached by a number of them and would make an assessment to come up with what is viable as far as the new plan is concerned.
“We shall be dealing with them one by one. The take-over is also a process. We have moved around and seen the porous areas, encroachments and definitely we are going to look at the legal instruments that established this place. We have not yet received the land title, so that is an area that we shall be focusing on to ensure that we manage the place with all the instruments” he said.
Mr Charles Tumwesigye, Deputy Director Field Operations, UWA, said the gardens provide an immense opportunity for UWA to do better and improve visibility as a conservation entity, but also as a tourism product.
“There is a lot of potential as you saw signs of visitors. We need to regulate and provide a standard for people to comply with when providing serviceS to those visitors. Among the basic things we have to do is manage environmental waste as you have seen a bit of it here and there. We also need to regulate where people walk, run, drive, park, and that is one of the urgent things, including where to get information from. Those are the things to prioritise in our budgeting,” he said.
