VISITORS AND VISITOR FACILITIES
The Rwenzori Mountains have been known for millennia as ‘the Mountains of the Moon’. They are a spectacular if often wet and mist-hidden tourist attraction that have drawn visitors for much of this century. The high altitude flora was described as ‘Africa’s botanic Big Game’ by the botanist Hedberg in 1963 and has great tourist potential. However, as there are no motorable tracks, the tourism is strenuous. The number of tourists was 150 in 1984 but between 1990 and 1995 there were over seven thousand visitors who spent an average of five to six nights on the mountain (Loefler, 1997). With the support of USAID, the Bakonzo’s Rwenzori Mountaineering Services (RMS), began to provide logistic support to visitors, including guides, paths, signposts, bridges and mountain huts to direct some income from tourism to the local people to earn their support for the Park.
The Park was closed between July 1997 and late 2000 during the unrest, and security is still an issue. There is a small hostel at Ibanda, the Park headquarters, and some facilities at Fort Portal, but visitors are encouraged to stay in Kasese town. This is the railhead of the east-west railway line across the country, and RMS has graded the road to Ibanda where mountain treks begin. However, Uganda National Parks has taken over many of the responsibilities of RMS to prevent private NGOs and companies from monopolising the tourism trade. Trails in the lower montane forest are to be created for visitors not wanting to climb.
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND FACILITIES The most extensive ground survey work of the mountains was conducted between August 1985 and September 1986, as part of a large scale Forest Department inventory, by Howard (1991). Salt (1987) made a study of the invertebrate species in the high altitude alpine zone. Yeoman also collected much baseline biodiversity data during the 1980s while preparing his book Africa’s Mountains of the Moon: Journeys to the Snowy Sources of the Nile (1992). No permanent scientific facilities exist in the area. The steep inaccessible and inhospitable slopes have discouraged research as well as exploitation.
STAFF The park is managed by a Chief Park Warden assisted by four wardens. There is a ranger force of 32 men who patrol the forest and maintain the trails (undated information).
BUDGET In 1991 USAID, working with the WWF and RMS, funded the Rwenzori Mountains Conservation & Development Project to improve the management of the natural resources. In 1997 WWF granted $772,976 and in 2001 the WHB approved US$64,000 emergency assistance for equipment (UNESCO, 2002).