Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary is a home for a lot of orphaned, abandoned and rescued chimpanzees in Uganda. For so long, the chimpanzees were trafficked from their natural habitats to be sold pets outside the country, they were also poached for many other undisclosed reasons, until the establishment of ngamba island chimpanzee sanctuary in October 1998. The sole reason for the establishing of the area was to help the chimpanzees stay safe with water, shelter and food.
Ngamba island chimpanzee sanctuary sits on enough land of about 100 acres and it is an isolated island on the largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Victoria. It is a 23 km distance from Entebbe by boat which takes about 30 minutes to reach, and 90 minutes if you use a canoe to access Ngamba Island. Ngamba Island is closer to the equator. This factor facilitates the growth of lustrous trees and ripening of fruits on which the chimpanzees feed. Ngamba Island is a semi- tropical rainforest; the tall trees and enough land provide a stomping ground for the lonely and traumatized chimpanzees. During the day time the chimpanzees are allowed to move around the island and enjoy their freedom in the world that is theirs.
Ngamba Island is like a cute cut off part from earth and is a cute haven cut away from the mainland. It is easily called the chimpanzee island. Ngamba Island provides a safe place away from the Uganda full of poachers and people who value not the lives of the chimpanzees. Ngamba Island is a safe place for the chimpanzees, simply because it is set away from the mainland and engulfed with a large water body, Lake Victoria, therefore, it is a challenge for any person to move from the mainland to go and distort the peace of the primates on the island. However, the tourists can use a boat to access the island.
Life at Ngamba Island
Ngamba Island is a fortress for all the orphaned and rescued chimpanzees and others which face quite tough exploitation from the humans. The humans interfere with the harmonious livelihoods of the chimpanzees through deforestation, and too much encroachment on the forest reserves of Uganda; rampant in Uganda. All the chimpanzees on Ngamba Island have very touchy and distinctive stories you will love to hear about as told by the rescue rangers.
The dark stories of many chimpanzees on Ngamba Island are proof to the violation of environmental fidelity. The chimpanzees on Ngamba Island share a horrifying first life as pets, circus caged and others orphaned by poachers. However, Ngamba Island is the salvation for the chimpanzees, because it provided the place full of life and love that had been deprived by the humans on the other side of the mainland.
Ngamba Island has over 40 chimpanzees who are part and partial of the whole population of chimpanzees on Africa which is estimated to be over 200000. The chimpanzee on ngamba island emerge out of the trees for feeding two times daily, that is, at 11am and 2:30pm. This is the time that the visitors are also arrive at the island to have an awesome time watching the chimpanzees on the ground feeding on millet porridge and fruits like jack fruits among others.
Watching chimpanzees
There is platform raised some meters above the ground on which the visitors stand to view the chimpanzees. Despite, this is not so much fun and intimate like physically interacting with the chimpanzees in the national parks like kibale national park and kyambura in Queen Elizabeth national park. The fence is electrified to avoid the chimpanzees to cause any harm to the visitors. This provides an opportunity for the little children also to enjoy the chimpanzees at Ngamba Island.
Despite the fact that the chimpanzees are seen from a raised electrified fenced platform, Ngamba Island is still a worthy excursion for you to see the chimpanzees with their remarkable behaviors. The guides are well trained and informed enough about each individual chimpanzee with its profile including their distinctive personalities and history.
Ngamba island chimpanzee sanctuary celebrated the 20 years anniversary from 1998 to 2018, still sticking to the main goal of protecting the chimpanzees. This year ngamba island has launched an endowment fund to help support the long term sustainability of the sanctuary with care, welfare well provided to the chimpanzees the residents of the island. You can visit their sight to join in the struggle through contributing. Alternatively, you can support chimpanzees by booking a trip to Ngamba Island one of the days during your visit to Uganda, you can also tell your tour operator to include it to your itinerary of any Uganda safari.
