Baby booms in the wild

Baby booms in the wild: Game parks across East Africa have been closed for about 5 months due to the global pandemic that gutted the entire world-leading most countries declaring lockdowns that saw most businesses and industries bring their work to a stop. This stop included the tourism sector that stopped visitors to the different game parks across East Africa.

Now that the different countries are easing back to reopen different sectors and businesses the tourism industry has not been left behind; the tourism industry is also reopening and starting to receive tourists in the different game parks.

However during the lockdown the wild in East Africa have had a feel of great news and surprises as some animal species have been having more number of new-borns than the usual. This has been termed by the different wildlife authorities and a baby boom season in the wild.

In Uganda’s Bwindi National Park, a total of eight baby mountain gorillas have been born in the park since January 2020 across the park’s four sectors. Six of the eight baby mountain gorillas were born within a period of eight weeks which is the highest number of mountain gorillas to be born within that period.

A total of eight new-borns that has been seen so far and this is still the highest number of mountain gorillas to be born in the park in a year; compared to previous years mountain gorillas would give birth to 3 or 5 babies in a year with 2019 having 3 baby mountain gorillas only.

The Uganda Wildlife Authority that manages Bwindi National Park and spearheads the conservation of mountain gorillas in Uganda says there is no clear reason for the baby boom in the mountain gorillas but it’s a good thing for their conservation efforts and of course it adds on the number of the endangered mountain gorillas in the wild.

Mountain gorillas in the world are found in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic republic of Congo in their natural habitats. They are available for viewing all through the year on mountain gorilla treks.

Bwindi National Park in Uganda, hosts the highest number of mountain gorillas in the wild, with over half the population of the world’s mountain gorilla population living in Bwindi National Park.

As Uganda was booming with baby gorillas Uganda’s Neighbour Kenya has also seen a baby boom in elephants. Kenya during the lockdown has seen a sharp rise in elephants with over 140 baby elephants (calves) being born within the lockdown period. The other surprise in this elephant baby boom is that the baby elephants born include two set of twins which is a rare occurrence in elephants.

All these baby elephants were born in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park that sits down at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro and is known for being a great site for viewing the world’s largest mammal. The number of baby elephants recorded in this period alone is way higher than the number of baby elephants’ recorded in 2018 alone. 2018 saw a record of 113 baby elephants (calves) born in Amboseli National Park which is way less than the 140 plus recorded this year. This increased number of baby elephants is an addition to the growing number of elephants in Kenya, which was at 34,800 in 2019.

The Kenya wildlife services attributes the baby boom to the abundant rains that have enhanced the rich growth of the wild’s vegetation, which rich vegetation supports elephant gestations, safe baby births and increases the rate of baby survivals in the wild. Also the reduction in tourist activities due to the lockdown has seen a great reduction in tourist interruptions of the wild hence making a good environment for baby booms.

The baby booms are an exciting development in the wild in this season as many game parks across East Africa start reopening for tourist activities after being closed for 5 long months due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

As parks welcome its guests, visitors to the different game parks will be required to keep the social distancing rules, wear masks at all times and keep all the preventive measures against Covid19 listed by the world health organization.