Photo Courtesy of Kibale Community Fuel Wood Project Visitors view educational materials at Uganda's first natural history museum.

In 2006, Great Ape Trust provided funds to create and run a natural history museum and science center in the Kaburala trading center, less than a mile from the Park. The center, the first of its kind in Uganda, houses a collection of artifacts and educational materials to enhance the knowledge of villagers about chimpanzees, other apes, the Park itself, and the links between fuel, trees and chimpanzees. The museum also serves as a gathering point to demonstrate the new sustainable fuel wood and the new stoves. The Ugandan Wildlife Authority has provided the artifacts and fully supports the project.

Our award provided rent for a year on a locally-owned home that was converted into the museum, supported the organization and mounting of the artifacts, and provided the salaries of a community liaison/teacher and local assistants for a year. The center hosted more than 5,000 visitors in 2006-2007. The future of the Park and the chimpanzees appears to be more secure, and the lives of the people living around the Park have been improved by easier and more reliable access to household fuel wood. Given the success of the project, The Trust provided $7,245 in 2007 to continue operation of the Kaburala center, and to open a second one in Sebitoli, another village and market center of the edge of Kibale National Park.