Robert Byarugaba was born in 1973 on the outskirts of the famous Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. All our gardens would be destroyed by the Baboons, monkeys and Mountain Gorillas, so I grew up as a crop guard during my early childhood. The whole family lived together in a grass thatched house, when it rained, it would leak because the grass and banana fiber were often rotten, hence a forced shower.
His dad (Kafuruka) was a well known hunter who inspired Robert when he was 10 years to join the poacher’s gang. Kafuruka was a womanizer because he could afford to seduce women with free wild meat. He had many children.
The whole family (both boys and girls) participated in hunting, it was a family tradition. Robert’s famous brother, Godfrey Mugyenyi, is well known as the boy who speared a francolin while it was flying.
Robert later managed to access formal education and achieved a Diploma in Tourism Management.
Robert is now a bird guide, a career he started in 1996 shortly after Bwindi was gazetted as a National park. (24 years experience)
