The Queen (Nabagereka) of Buganda Her Royal highness Sylvia Nagginda is set to lead the trek of gorillas on Sunday, December 3, 2023, as part of her efforts towards promoting tourism in Uganda.
The trek will be the climax of the Celebrations of Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) 20 years anniversary where the association has been championing the protection of gorillas and other wildlife through the one Health approach.
According to CTPH members, this will be her second time of trekking gorillas since 2005 when CTPH was launched.
While speaking to the media on Monday, November 27, 2023, Dr. Gladys Zikusooka, the founder of CTPH revealed that they started the association basing on the experiences of wildlife veterinarian and that their aim is to ensure the health of animals and human beings.
“What started out in 2003 as an idea, has grown to be an award-winning, systems-changing approach. Join us this 29th November 2023 at Sheraton Hotel Kampala at 2pm EAT as we celebrate 20 years of CTPH Uganda. Our mandate is to ensure the health of human beings, animals and our environment is protected,” she said.
Dr. Zikusooka noted that, they have established Village Health and Conservation Teams (VHTs) to help in the conservation work.
“We started this idea so that we improve the health of people and gorillas together so that they don’t make each other sick. But of course, gorillas don’t live alone. There’s other wildlife, and we also scaled up the Conservation Through Public Health in other protected areas like Queen Elizabeth National Park, which is not far from Bwindi. In our community health program, we helped establish the Village Health and Conservation Teams, and teach them to do conservation work,” she noted.
She also said that they have Gorilla Conservation Coffee, a global coffee brand they set up to save gorillas a step at a time, adding that, they support smallholder farmers who would otherwise be poaching or collecting firewood.
“We buy high-quality coffee from smallholder farmers because Bwindi, being at a very high altitude, produces some of the best coffee not only in Uganda but in the world,” Zikusooka said.
Dr Zikusoka was grateful to Uganda Tourism Board, Uganda Wildlife Authority, and other stakeholders for enabling the launching of her book.
CTPH Uganda has worked with gorillas for almost 30 years, and Dr. Zikusooka has also written a memoir about her personal journey as a conservationist.
