TIMBER’S UNHOLY JOURNEY TO THE MARKET PLACES


In Budongo Forest, Masindi district illegal tree cutters are usually very suspicious of any new face that comes in the area be it on a Uganda safari despite seeing many tourists going there on various Uganda safaris for Chimpanzee tracking safaris and birding safaris as well as nature walks. According to Gerald Tenywa, some high-ranking Uganda Government officials and timber dealers have made a fortune from the increasing illegal timber sales. Despite these deals the residents around affected forests like Budongo and Mabira who steal the timber and sell it to these dealers reducing the various Uganda safari activities, are still poor.
The dusty road to Budongo forest narrows into a path as it ushers you into the domant Nyakafunjo village in Masindi district after a 300km journey, northwest of Kampala making it hard to get to this woulb be great Uganda safari attraction that would attract many Uganda safaris activities had the raods been in a good state perharps.
Mahogany, a rare hardwood species is the most sought-after and cut tree in Budongo Forest Reserve and ferried to different parts of Uganda and her neighbouring countries such as South Sudan and Kenya.
According to Moses Andama, a resident in the village, it is not that the youth in this village want to cut down trees but it is because there is too much poverty in this village and unemployed. People therefore go to the forest due to lack of an alternative income earning activity, and this hence has turned into their garden from which to harvest something to eat.
A Uganda safari to Budongo Forest, which an estimated 800 chimps call home,
Exporses you to a site that looks like a devil’s workshop, a smell of death and amd makes one feel like crying after seeing the wreckage of the world`s most appreciated trees in one of Uganda’s most treasured forests.
 Mahogany Sold for beer & salt 
Despite the cumbersome work of cutting down the trees, splitting the logs into timber, ferrying it out of the forest and the risk of being arrested, timber cutters (The youth ) get some little money earn barely enough to buy salt, soap and beer and this seems like a lot of money to them because they can use it to buy a few essentials.
The youth in the area own no land and most of the land is under plantations of sugarcane and tobacco.Therefore the quick way the youth can meet their daily material needs is to cut down and trade the forest.
The local people in this area care not about the negative effects of their actions to the Uganda safari industry as well as the general climaten because they see the forest existing every day and can not think it will deplit one day.
As the illegal timber leaves for the urban centres where it rakes in billions of shillings, the businessmen and transporters have a way of buying themselves out of trouble when they are intercepted by Government officials.This has greatly affects the Uganda safari/Uganda tour sector as many travellers that have visited Uganda on sever Uganda tours and Safaris in affected areas always witness the change in climate as well the beauty in these deforested areas.
According to Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment`s (ACODE)  report, The illigal timber trade includes bribing policemen, forestry officials or using highly placed people in Government to offer them protect from the law.
ACODE`s  survey conducted in a recent report estimates that the timber cutters retain less than 2% of the proceeds and pit sawyers get about 3%, while the transporters take 4% of the earnings.   Middlemen make 28% and Kampala traders take the lion’s share of 34%. The private forest owners share 21% and individuals who sell trees get 6%. Other actors take the remaining 4%.
According to ACODE’s report,while the rural poor earn least out of the timber, the middlemen get a bigger reward without owning the timber or adding value to it. They have control over the trade by having access to market information and credit and their connections or relations with other business actors (including law enforcement personnel).
If this vice continues in Uganda`s major forests,the famous Uganda gorilla trekking safari /Gorilla tracking safari/Gorilla tours or simply call it tracking gorillas in Uganda a leading Uganda safari activity bringing in Uganda`s major foreign exchange together with Chimpanzee tracking as well as the general Uganda safaris/Uganda tourism sector will go into extinction.
It is on that preamble that all concerned Ugandas as well outsiders should get up in unity to fight this illigal timber business than has not only deadly effects on the Uganda safari/Uganda safaris business,but risks Uganda`s environment,climate,history,as well as Uganda`s agriculture but also what Uganda and her culture is.
Prime Uganda Safari article 2013.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WHERE CAN YOU FIND & SEE GORILLAS IN UGANDA AFRICA?

Image
Uganda has only two national parks where one can see gorillas i.e Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park and this is where g orilla trekking in Uganda is done to search and find  the rear endangered Mountain Gorillas . With about 1063 mountain gorillas that still exist on earth today, Uganda is home to more than half of all these endangered Great Apes making it one of the only 3 countries in the world where mountain gorillas live and Uganda gorilla tours are only done in there two national parks. Uganda has 20 gorilla families that have been habituated and already set for tourism purposes , 19 of which are tracked/found in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and only 1 is found in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is one  of the places where you can see Gorillas in Uganda Africa. The appropriately named Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (also called “The Place of Darkness”) is the world’s premier gorilla t
Read more

Mountain Gorilla Behavior,Diet,Threats and Predators

http://www.primeugandasafaris.com/gorilla-safaris/5-days-uganda-gorilla-safari.html Behavior  Although strong and powerful, gorillas are generally gentle,shy ,retiring rather than ferocious and treacherous . They live in groups of 2-40 individuals, averaging about 11. Groups are led by a dominant male, the Silverback, named for the silvery gray hairs that grow when the male matures. The Silverback serves as the chief leader and protector of the group, to whom all group members defer. He decides when and where to go, rest and sleep, arbitrates disputes among his family members and protects them from rival Silverbacks or human predators. Gorillas usually seeks no trouble but will valiantly defend its family group if threatened. An adult male called a silverback named for the silvery gray hairs on its back normally leads each group, serving as its chief protector and defender. Gorillas
Read more

SHELLEY’S CRIMSONWING; THE BIRDS OF UGANDA – UGANDA SAFARI NEWS

Image
With over 1057 species of birds, the birding safaris and tours in Uganda go beyond the ordinary. Among these species of birds, there is the eye catching Shelley’s Crimsonwing scientifically referred as Cryptospiza Shelleyi. The Shelley’s Crimsonwing is categorized among the estrildid finch species thrives in closed canopy moist forests, close to water valley bottoms, low secondary growth at the edges of forests, glades and forest clearings marked by extensive herbs, moorland and Bamboo thickets. The birders on Uganda safaris can explore the Shelley Crimsonwing in the Mountains of the Albertine rift valley including Rwenzori Mountains. This Species stretch to other famous parts in the region including the Virunga Mountains, the Kahuzi Biega Mountain, Itombwe Mountain as explored on Congo Safaris and tours and Nyungwe Forest National Park and Gishwati Mukura National Park as explored on Safaris in Rwanda . Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to the south west of Uganda is
Read more