Firstly, apologies for the lack of communication over the last few weeks; life has been slow and programs sparse. At the end of April I was asking what the programs were for next week. The response commonly was along these lines, “Oh! That is May! We haven’t programmed for May.” I am sorry, but May comes every year, and as weeks progress, all it really is, is next week! So I entertained myself with books and bugs, as usual which keeps me plenty entertained, but doesn’t make much to roger home about.
However, a short trip to Kampala to speak with our country director as well as visiting friends and hearing about their projects seemed to fully restore my motivation and mental health.
Murchison is a massive park which really is dramatically underdeveloped—four small game tracks, a ferry and boat cruise service that frequently breakdown, two up-market lodges, one mid-range, and one budget. But what of bush camping, more game tracks, INTREPRETATION?? A lot of the things that we take for granted in the parks at home are lacking here.
I had only been back at site for a few days when I met up with a guy called Ade who works for Soft Power, a British organization affiliated with Leeds University that does infrastructure/aid work associated with schools and teaching facilities. Soft Power is going to work to refurbish our hollow shell of a dilapidated museum/resource centre. (Sound like a lot of work?? It will be!) It will be my pet project over the next year to curate the museum and assist Ade with its development. Luckily there is a wealth of information available.
The Nile divides two major ethnic groups in western Uganda—the Bantu to the south and the Nilotics to the north. The culture and history of these people is very rich and varied. So is the wildlife and habitat types in the park, histories of traditional land use and problems with poaching. Hemmingway vacationed here and his plane crashed….twice! There was even a film shot here (I think it is called Queen of the Nile, with Audrey Hepburn). There is a seemingly endless amount of information that can be shared, but is typically bypassed. Someone (either UWA or the Ministry of Education) spends a great deal of money on an annual basis to bring in truckfulls of children to visit the park. Yet aside from observing the animals I am not sure how much they actually learn while they are here. Developing the museum will be huge both as an educational tool for students as well as providing interpretation to visitors. We are also considering building informational display boards at the ferry landing on both the north and south bank. I am strongly considering contacting Kodak or FujiFilm for project assistance, such as high quality enlargements of photographs from the park. Currently photos being displayed are computer printouts that are showcased in one or two shoddy boards in the park. (If anyone has any contacts, please let me know!)
Other projects will include the possibility of establishing more game tracks and bush camping sites. I plan to have workshops on bush camping and backcountry skills, as well as general customer service.
Along with the establishment of the museum, a gift shop will also serve as a venue for marketing IGAs (income generating activities) from surrounding communities, such as screen-printing t-shirts, fruit drying, bead making, and handcrafts. I feel very strongly that along with helping the park to grow and develop, it is also important to help the surrounding communities with capacity building. If they see tourism in the park as a practical way to generate income they will be less likely to abuse park lands and animals (e.g. illegal cattle grazing and poaching). You can’t tell people that they must stop traditional methods of obtaining food and money without giving them a viable alternative. If these people are very poor and have no alternatives they are likely to risk arrest in order to feed their families.
Along with these opportunities will come the need to teach bookkeeping and accountability. So it seems that I have a huge project that is opening the window to a lot of other smaller projects. To say the least, once the ball gets rolling I will be keeping quite busy.
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If you would like to help with the museum/resource centre:
Please send any resource books you have for any age! Simple children’s books (like The Mixed Up Chameleon) to high school and 101 level biology, ecology, geology, ect, especially if you can find resources for East Africa. Also, books to facilitate learning about the outdoors would be useful. You should be able to write off these books as charitable donations on your next tax return. Thanks for any help you can provide!!! My post address is provided in the top right corner of this page.
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