The Uganda Wildlife Authority clarifies the terms and conditions of purchasing gorilla and chimpanzee permits.

On the 28th of April 2022, UWA released a press document indicating that it had revised its terms and conditions for acquiring gorilla and chimps permits. It informed all stakeholders that effective 1st May 2022, all gorilla and chimpanzee permits would be sold to Tour operators licensed by Uganda Tourism Board (UTB). And only allowed foreign residents with valid work permits or certificates of residence or dependent passes but they were restricted to purchasing no more than 5 permits.

The reason for their revision on the terms and conditions of purchasing gorilla watching permits and chimpanzee permits was to help to ensure quality service to the clients and improve the standard of the tourism sector, which of late has suffered setbacks because of a few unscrupulous individuals.

The action raised eyebrows among the domestic travelers who called out Uganda Wildlife Authority for being ungrateful yet they stood there for the tourism industry in times when it had a rough patch. One livid person posted on Tulambule’s Facebook page, “how ungrateful UWA can be, not to consider domestic tourists yet we were there and visited the national parks when international tourists could not come into the country. Domestic Tourism had gained momentum now it’s going back to the slumbers”.

Over the weekend, Uganda Wildlife Authority retracted the decision it had made. It posted on its socials a clarification note which read, “ We had noted a general misinterpretation of a statement we put out earlier this week regarding UWA’s revised terms and conditions for purchasing gorilla and chimpanzee permits. We would like to clarify that the notice was in regards to Foreign Non-Residents and Foreign Residents. Ugandans and East African Citizens are free to walk into UWA and purchase permits for their personal use. However, note that anyone intending to purchase permits for business purposes must be registered or Licensed”