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Uganda Wildlife Education Center (UWEC)
Uganda Wildlife Education Centre located just a few minutes from the Entebbe International airport, commonly known as Entebbe Zoo. The Centre was founded in 1952 as a reception center for injured, rescued injured animals in distress, and confiscated from Entebbe International airport and other parts of the country. It became a trust in 1994, and thus it became the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre. Later in 2015 became a fully-fledged government statutory body and had its name slightly transformed to the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre. It currently has 54 species and 283 animals under its care, with its primary mandate being conservation education.
The Centre is open all year round and offers visitors unique opportunities to learn more about the country’s biodiversity and wildlife. From a regular walk-around tour around the Centre (Zoo) to the behind-the-scenes experience, chimpanzee, close-up, and keeper for a day program, the Centre offers its visitors unique opportunities to learn and cultivate the love for conservation and nature in every visitor that walks through its gates
Other wildlife species at the premises include Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Giraffe, among others. Some birds can also be seen like the endangered shoebill and some snakes like the African python and others.
A visit to UWEC is good for those who have limited time in Uganda and are not able to visit Uganda parks where these animals live in the wild.
Mabamba swamp
Mabamba swamp is located west of Entebbe on the northern shore of Lake Victoria, covering 2424 ha with thick marshes of papyrus, water lilies and other wetland grasses. Mabamba swamp is a Ramsar site and Important Bird Area (IBA). The wetland hosts over 300 bird species that include many globally threatened species, 7 of Uganda’s 12 Lake Victoria biome restricted species (notable is the Papyrys Gonolek) and plenty of wetland specialties. The wetland also hosts huge flocks of Paleartic migrants every year from October to March.
Mabamba Swamp can be reached by a number of routes. From Kampala or Entebbe the easiest route is via the Nakiwogo landing site in Entebbe where you take a 10 minutes ferry crossing to Kasanje landing and from there drive for about 20 minutes to Mabamba passing through cultivations and open fields that will provide plenty of garden birds. Birding in Mabamba swamp is done from a motorized wooden boat by riding through a maze of trails cutting through the thick marshes.
