Mahamba Wild Africa

MAHAMBA WILD AFRICA BIODIVERSTIY AND CULTURE CONSERVATION

About Us

Mahamba Wild Africa is a non-profit and non-governmental (NGO). The organization is a culture and nature conservation project based in Uganda's Albertine Rift valley. Our conservation projects are creating eco-zones in Kigezi, geared to support the indigenous communities of the region through preserving the unique natural environment mostly the wetlands, Rain forests and other native flora and fauna.

Biodiversity Conservation

Our project is collecting seeds for replanting indigenous flora and fauna that have become extinct in the area. We are in a process of finaliseng the creation of nurserly beds and a native plant center at lake Bunyonyi. This will assist in the restoration of the original flora and fauna in some areas which will rejuvenate bird life had dimished due to the destruction of their habitations.

See Details

Culture for Conservation

Our culture project is based on conservation through art to raise awareness of the threatened biodiversity, wildlife and the traditional cultures in Africa. Mahamba Wild Africa will be organizing inter culture exchange programs for foreign and local interested groups. Our African history archive is rich in hard copy originals and digital materials of African Research papers and books.

See Details

Travel

Cultural Heritage Expeditions
The Mahamba Wild Life Cultural Heritage expeditions take you on a rich history trip in the Kingdoms of the Nile Basin and the rich culture of the region. We organize community based trips through Uganda and Rwanda.
Wildlife Safari
Join us on a journey through Uganda’s scenic national parks and game reserves on an epic unforgettable journey through Uganda's best kept treasures.

Community Tourism
Our Community tourism trails take you through threatened biodiversity zones and helps our project to raise awareness in our process of nature conservation by creating household incomes for communities.

Eco Zone Trails
The trails take you through the Albertine Rift valley in breathtaking landscapes of the rift, including the Mountains of the Moon, the Virunga to the Impenetrable Forests of the main gorges of the Rift.

Mahamba Wild Africa Explorer Village
The Mahamba Wild Africa Explorer Village is a museum and a research center with a guest house dedicated to promoting a deeper understanding of wildlife, culture and the value of conservation. The facility houses a collection of wildlife art and cultural artifacts. It also presents interpretive exhibitions and educational programs about the human connection to the animal world and how the African cultures have evolved with the wildlife around them.

Tourism in Conservation

Mahamba Uganda Travel Planner is a travel guide that describes individual trips and group travel plans to one of the world's richest diversity hot spots in the Albertine rift valley, from the mountains of the moon, to the Gorilla Highlands, down to the raging waters of the Nile River Basin, spectacular wetlands for bird lovers and savanna woodlands. Our travel planner takes you on a journey to different traditions and people with amazing stories of their history, culture and music.

Vision

Our main vision is to create outreach programs for schools and communities to gain general awareness on conservation issues and the changing world climate. Mahamba Wild Africa Conservation is promoting biodiversity conservation throughout schools, as part of the regular education syllabus so that there is an early understanding of ecological relationships and the importance of preserving biodiversity and conservation and we will be offering training for wildlife and birding guides. We are creating a Nature and Culture Conservation research and information (ICT) Center, a cultural museum and an African traditional market for the local products and a model of sustainable, eco-friendly and cultural living to inform the local communities and tourists about the importance of nature and culture conservation. The protection of bird habitations is our priority to benefit communities through tourism and the environment as a whole.

Media in conservation
Mahamba Wild Africa Conservation information centre's printed media will be readily available for local communities for creating awareness of the nature world and its potential around them.

Conservation through Art
Art plays a big role in the conservation process, from creating illustrated nature guides to making handcraft from natural raw materials. Mahamba Wild Africa Art for conservation outreach programs will be holding periodical exhibitions in different places of Uganda.

Habitat Restoration
Nature can be given space to live side by side with man, provided it’s left to stay wild. We encourage communities to give indigenous flora and fauna space to grow, as it’s commonly used by endemic species as a habitat.

Culture for conservation
We encourage the use of indigenous knowledge and strategies to ensure the survival of traditional, cultural methods of conservation by promoting cultural art, traditional medicines etc. Most of this process requires the indigenous flora and fauna to be available.
Education On conservation
Mahamba Wild Africa outreach programs are meant for schools and institutions on educating the youth on the potential of the natural resources and their conservation. Our media centre library offers free resources for students and researchers.

Volunteer

Mahamba Projects requires working with volunteers, partner organizations and donors to assist our organization to have a broader outreach in implementing biodiversity conservation. Mahamba Wild Africa Conservation volunteers will participate in the outreach program in schools, giving lessons about Biodiversity and Culture conservation. Volunteers will also work on the indigenous flora and fauna restoration; this will involve seedling collections and our community seminars on conservation

Learn more

The Albertine rift valley is made up of high biodiversity landscapes, which include high montane
forest fauna and flora, high altitude water reservoirs that are the main sources of the River Nile, which are highly threatened.

Projects

Tropical Seedbank

Our project has been collecting indigenous seeds for replanting flora and fauna, that have become extinct in the area. The seeds will be readily available for the community in Lake Bunyonyi area.

Biodiversity

Mahamba Wild Africa tourism activities promote more awareness on the importance of the eco system to communities in Lake Bunyonyi area.

Threatend Wildlife

Our projects focus on educating the communities on the importance of the wildlife around the lake areas, which include the critical threatened Sitatungu. (Marshbuck)

Threatened Birdlife

The lake area is known to have more than 200 bird species, which are highly threatened by the drainage of the wetlands, that is their main habitat and source of food.

Threatened Wetlands

The lakes and wetlands are facing a tremendous threat due to silting from rapidly eroding soils on the slopes flanking the lake. The reduction of water storage capacity will have serious implications on the water resources in the region, both in terms of quality and quantity and given the added threat of climate change. Current trends indicate progressive shrinkage of the lake sizes beginning with silting on the immediate shores covered with swamps, which in turn are being encroached on. About 65% of the wetlands around Lake Bunyonyi have been drained for agricultural purposes, dairy farming, fish farming and the Eucalyptus growing.

According to the report from Makerere University Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, there are already obvious negative effects of cases, where rivers have dried up; the biodiversity and the wildlife have disappeared completely. The negative impacts have seen a tremendous reduction of swamp bird species to a level of being critically endangered and the Sitatunga (Marsh buck) has been driven to near extinction.

Our project aims are to evaluate the impact of the drainage of the wetlands in the Kigezi Highlands and how it is affecting the biodiversity, the lake and the lively hoods of the local population in the region. Mahamba Wild Africa Conservation is collecting data for more research to evaluate the areas that have been severally affected by the drainage and the negative impact that it has on the biodiversity of the region.

Source: NEMA (Uganda National Enviromental Management Authority)