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Bwindi Tourism

By admin | January 22, 2008

Flora and Fauna:
Bwindi supports a tremendous biodiversity as a result of two factors. Firstly, its slopes extend over a broad altitudinal forest at 1160m to rare Afromontane vegetation above 2600m. Secondly, it is extremely old. When most of Africa’s forests disappeared during the arid conditions of the last ice age (12,000-18,000 years ago), Bwindi was one of a few ‘refugia’ that persisted.

Consequently, while most of today’s forests are more than 12,000 years old, Bwindi’s vegetation has been weaving itself into tangles over at least 25,000 years, in the process accumulating a lengthy species list. This includes 310 species of butterfly, 51 reptiles, 200 tree, 88 moths and an exceptional 120 types of mammal including 10 primates. The latter includes chimpanzee, L’Hoest’s, red tailed and blue monkey, black and white Colobus, baboon, and Bwindi’s most famous resident, the mountain guerrilla.

Bwindi is a prime destination for birdwatchers. Is 350 species including seven, which are lUCN red data listed and 90% of all Albertine rift endemics, species which are difficult or impossible to see in any other part of East Africa? An experienced bird watcher can easily identify up to 100 species in a day!

Local people
The local people neighbouring the park are mostly Bakiga and Bafumbira. Small communities of Batwa  (Pygmies) are also present. The Bwindi area supports one of the highest rural population densities in Uganda with 350 people/km2.

Topics: bwindi |

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