UGANDA, Lake Victoria - July 2010
Solar-powered refrigerator for medicines for the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary
Uganda’s Lake Victoria, at 26,600 square miles, is Africa’s largest lake, the largest tropical lake in the world and the Earth’s second-largest freshwater lake. The original homes of chimpanzees are the forests of Equatorial Africa; their range formerly extended over 25 countries (of which Uganda is one), but are now extinct in four of those 25, with an estimated fewer than 150,000 remaining in the wild. The myriad threats to chimpanzees extend beyond habitat loss to poaching for commercial bushmeat and exotic pet trades, infectious diseases and armed conflict. The Chimpanzee Sanctuary & Wildlife Conservation Trust (CSWCT) established the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in 1998. Locally-run CSWCT is a leader in the conservation of chimpanzees, contributing to public awareness of this flagship IUCN Red-Listed great ape species, and engaging with communities living alongside chimpanzee populations. The approximately 50 chimpanzee residents at Ngamba Island are rescued animals that cannot be returned to the wild. The Sanctuary provides conservation education through ecotourism, with approximately 200 visitors to the island per month. Seacology is providing the CSWCT with funding to purchase a solar-powered refrigerator to hold medicines for the chimpanzees at the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary.
UPDATE January 2011 - The solar powered fridge was purchased and installed at the Sanctuary in August 2010. It is a 200L capacity, 80W, double door fridge-freezer, powered by three(3) 200AH maintenance free batteries and a 700W pure sine wave inverter. The batteries are charged by solar energy supplied through a 30A charge controller and four 75W solar panels on the roof of the veterinary clinic on Ngamba Island. The fridge has been installed in the clinic laboratory where it will be most useful in the storage and processing of samples.
