Ranked as the major driver of employment, investment and foreign exchange, tourism sector is one of the major sources of Uganda’s revenue. The tourism of Uganda is mainly focused on the landscapes and wildlife and it contributes almost Ush 4.9 trillion to the country’s GDP as seen in the financial year 2012-2013. It greatly plays an important role in the promotion of people’s standards of living due to various tourism companies that employ people in different positions like drivers, marketers, guides, secretaries, accountants and others.
Dubbed as a “Pearl of Africa” by Winston Churchill in 1907, Uganda is one of the main destinations on the African continent bordering various countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo. With a total area of approximately 241,038 square kilometers, Uganda encompasses a number of tourist attractions including the national game parks, game reserves, traditional sites, natural tropical forests, and mountaineering destinations. All these attractions highly contribute to the development of the social, economic and political aspects of the country thus condemning all the acts that involve their destruction.
In the acts of protection and conservation of the tourist attractions in Uganda, international bodies like World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have come up with different strategies so as to restore the prestige of important destinations like Rwenzori mountain Ranges.
Located in the south – western region of Uganda, Rwenzori mountains stand as the highest mountains in Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo and the third highest African mountains after Kilimanjaro of Tanzania and Mount Kenya. They are among the glaciated mountains on the African continent though there was some reduction on the snow due to global warming which is caused by different factors like deforestation, human settlements and others. To protect the pride of the mountains which is its snowcapped peaks, WWF recruited over 400 farmers along the buffer stretch of Rwenzori mountains national park (the park which protects the snowcapped mountains) to plant various tree species in 2020.
The move that was recruited saw about 192,000 indigenous trees of species like Mahogany, Prunus Africana, and Terminalia along the stretch of the park and the 400 farmers also planted 255,530 pine trees and 127,765 of Eucalyptus species. The farmers who were chose for the activity had earlier signed the Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) forms which confirmed that they had agreed to be part of the conservation and also allowed the organization to plant trees on their pieces of lands.
With fund support from Hempel Foundation of Denmark, WWF is implementing and promoting multimillion projects named ‘’Sustainable future for Uganda’s unique world heritage’’. The project’s main aim was to ensure reforestation of the degraded lands around the zones of Rwenzori mountains national park and it operated in districts where the mystical mountain crosses like Kasese, Kabarole, Bunyangabu, Ntoroko and Bundibugyo.
For the best profits from our attractions and safety of our country, lets learn and try to conserve our environments and the tourist destinations at large. Among the ways include; practicing afforestation, reforestation, setting strict laws against deforestation and other sorts of environmental destructions. Apart from Rwenzori mountains national park, Uganda is a home to other mountaineering destinations like Mount Elgon national park, Mount Gahinga, Mount Moroto and others. It also hosts several wildlife destinations like Queen Elizabeth National Park, Murchison falls national park, Lake Mburo National Park, and the home of almost the world’s mountain gorillas – Bwindi Impenetrable national park.