UGANDAN SILVERBACK WINS GOLD
Uganda Silverback Wins Gold : the Ugandan Silverback Joshua Cheptegei won gold in the 3000m race in Czech Republic in the 60th edition of the Golden spike in Ostrava this past week. The world champion who came in at 07:33:24 winning gold; was hoping to break the 25 year old 3000m world record but fell short by a couple of seconds. The athlete has previously broken world record in 5000m and 10,000 m respectively and his, the tenth man to hold both records concurrently.
Joshua Cheptegei is also the current Uganda Tourism Ambassador for destination Uganda and is named the Ugandan silverback in reference to his zeal and passion for the sport that is similarly exhibited in the silverback.
A silverback is a male dominant mountain gorilla that is usually the leader of a mountain gorilla group. Silverbacks are usually tall, huge and strong; at first glance of a mountain gorilla family, you will almost immediately detect who the silverback is from size and authority.
The silverback in a mountain gorilla group will make sure all the group members get food and are protected from danger and predators. The silverback will go out to hunt for places with food and the come and collect the rest of the members to get the food.
When a predator attacks the group or any of the group members the silverback will fight with the predator to depend her family and in some cases will die protecting the family.
The silverback is usually but not always the only male in the group meaning mountain gorilla groups are composed of females with their children and the silverback. The silverback is normally the father of all the children in the group.
It is said that if a female have a child who is not fathered by the group’s silverback; the silverback will eventually kill the child or chase the child away from the group especially if the child is male. For females the silverbacks maybe tolerate and may mate with her when she comes of age.
Mountain gorillas are rare and endangered apes leaving in natural habitats in the Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The apes are considered endangered because of the low numbers of the individual gorillas in the world. The mountain gorilla population is still worrying even with the conservation works that have been done in the past decades; however all hope is not lost the gorillas are still surviving and there numbers can grow.
Uganda is home to 50% of the world mountain gorilla total population. Mountain gorillas in the country live in two National Parks; the virunga massif area in Mgahinga National park and Bwindi National Park all in south western Uganda.
Bwindi Nationl Park has the largest population of mountain gorillas in the country, in the region and in the world. The number of the mountain gorillas is over 200 individuals living in about 20 families across the four different sectors of the park; the sectors being Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga and Nkuringo.
Mountain gorilla trekking is one of the most sought after tourist activity in Uganda because it gives the traveller as chance to see and experience the famous primates. On a mountain gorilla trekking experience you will get an opportunity to explore the mountain gorills’ habitat which a tropical rain forest, have time to climb up the mountainous terrains searching for the mountain gorillas.
When you find the mountain gorillas you will spend an hour with them observing them and then after the one hour you will descend the mountainous forest and head back to your accommodation facility. The mountain gorilla trekking process in Bwindi impenetrable forest takes about 6 to 7 hours depending on the location of the gorillas in the forest. Mountain gorilla trekking permits cost USD 700 per person per trek.
