Uganda Safari News

By Nakiboneka Halimah

Uganda Safari and Travel News Reporter
Kampala Uganda

The movement of travelers and goods from Uganda to Rwanda is to be facilitated 24 hours daily starting April next year, according to the agreement made with the two neighbouring countries.  The development comes following growing traffic of both cargo and passenger vehicles crossing the two borders.

The traffic is increasing with buses leaving Kampala as early as 11pm. They arrive at Katuna before 6am. However, bus operators complain that most times “the border is closed leaving passengers to suffer in the biting cold at the borders.”

Mr. Edward Mukaya, a regular traveler between Kigali and Kampala complained,”  “We at times remain in the long queues for hours at the border for hours without customs and immigration officers in the office. These people start work at 6am which is lowering business.”

 On a good note, Mr. Gerald Nkusi Mukubu, the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) publicist, however, says the delays at the two borders are to be addressed. This means more immigration staff, customs officials and security personnel are to be recruited to facilitate the 24-hour services at the border posts.

The travelers visiting Uganda and Rwanda including tourists, will have to wait for another five months before Uganda and Rwanda start implementing the 24-hour services at Gatuna and Katuna.

“It was proposed during the East African Community Revenue Authority Commissioner Generals meeting that Gatuna-Katuna border will remain open 24-hours by April next year,” Nkusi said.

The Kigali meeting was attended by revenue bosses from Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.  Bus operators and passengers as well as tour operators who have their clients visiting Uganda and Rwanda for gorilla tracking, chimpanzee tours, cultural adventures and other safari packages in these two tourist destinations have welcomed the 24-hour service saying it is timely and another important step towards regional integration.”

The planned 24 hours operations at Katuna and Gatuna come at a time Rwanda is also planning to ease cross border trade at its border with Burundi and DR Congo.  In June this year, The Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL) border posts of the member countries were supposed to operate 24 hours, with effect from September, 1, 2009.

CEPGL member states include Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo.  The members also agreed that their nationals would use identity cards as travel documents for border residents for a period not exceeding three days. Rwanda offers a 90 day visa free stay to CEPGL nationals and has the work permit waived for EAC nationals.

By Nakiboneka Halimah
Uganda Safaris and Travel News Reporter
Kampala Uganda

The Executive Director of Uganda Wild Life Authority, Mr Moses Mapesa, had an interview with 93.3 Kfm Hot Seat talk show and answered some critical issues affecting tourism and wild life in Uganda.

Uganda Wildlife Authority  has been making headlines with the campaign ‘Friend a gorilla’ lately, what has Uganda with its endowed natural resources and wild life have to show in terms of tourism money?

With the common saying that you can only get what you bargain for, we have to bargain hard so as to get as much as we should have got despite the endowment. This is why Uganda Wildlife Authority came up with this campaign, a form of bargain where we are beseeching Ugandans. We are informing the international community that Uganda is the country that they should choose whenever they think about holidays.

How do you intend to brand the tourism industry so that we can reap maximum profit from it?

It is about branding of the country and not just in terms of tourism or the wildlife but in terms of broader products that the country has on offer. We think that we should be able to embrace the branding concept as a country and will help us market our products.

What is the biggest problem in the tourism sector?

The challenges are many in terms of security, infrastructure and even in terms of manpower development and capacity. But as I alluded, the biggest challenge has been disruption of governance. We have had good manpower capacity in the 1960s up-to 1970 but we more or less lost it and it takes time to build it back. We have had ADF and LRA disruptions, which have had a big impact on our image as a country because whereas the bigger part of this country has been stable, we have had other regions unsafe and people out there can never understand this.   

What has been failing us?

I think one big factor that we must overcome is the public image as a country. Uganda needs to stand out as a stable, safe and secure destination, which we must tell the world our selves. The days of insecurity are long gone. In all our national parks and wild life reserves, we can guarantee the safety of any visitors.

How much does the government inject in tourism?

This financial year, the government increased money allocated to Uganda Tourism Board. With UWA, we generate funds to supplement the tourism budget. This financial year, we intend to generate up-to Shs20 billion and that has been increment from the Shs4 billion in 2000.

How do you spend that money?

We work through partnerships to improve tourism infrastructure. What we have concentrated on in the last 10 years is to improve our capacity and to clearly define and market wild life reserves (and national parks). We are now moving to invest in partnerships with service providers like the transporters so that the tourist experience improves.     

Not less than $1billion was invested in the ‘gifted by nature’ campaign, what did we get out of it?

The ‘gifted by nature campaign’ had some good results. There was improved understanding about the situation in Uganda and for those six months, a lot of good information about Uganda was churned out but what did not happen was continuity. We had a break partly because of funding and partly because we get wiser as we try other things and I think we have now gotten wiser and that is why for the “friend a gorilla’ campaign, we have used internet technology like Face book and Twitter, which move has a ripple effect.

Can we have places where ordinary Ugandans can afford, since they do not have dollars?

We now have facilities in place where other Ugandans who may not go to Mweya and Para can go and comfortably stay. We have also had discussion with hotel developers to have discount depending on seasons. Mweya and Para Safari Lodges get full in high seasons and that is the time we get international visitors flocking to the parks.

During seasons like January, February and March when these places are virtually empty is the time we want to see more discount given to Ugandans.

How much do I have to pay for a night at Mweya Safari Lodge?

About Shs300, 000 or there about but there also other facilities that will cost you between Shs100, 000 or Shs50, 000. But their are other cheaper facilities. Visitation by students to the national park is free and their accommodations at the parks are highly subsidized.

What is “friend a gorilla’ campaign all about?   

We must understand that gorillas can be friends of man and indeed they are already making a contribution to mans survival through tourism and once we appreciate that we then agree that part of that habitat where they stay should remain for them to utilise for generations after all there are only 340 left in Uganda and the population of Uganda is over 30million.

By Nakiboneka Halimah

Uganda Safaris snd Travel News Reporter
Kampala Uganda

Gauff Engineering, a Germany based company has shown interest in constructing a modern inland port on Lake Victoria to handle Uganda’s exports and imports.

This was contained in a discussion between Gauff Engineering Administrator, Markus Gauff and the Vice President of Uganda, Prof. Gilbert Balibaseka Bukenya.

The meeting took place at the Parliamentary VIP lounge in Kampala. Prof. Bukenya welcomed the executives of Gauff to Uganda and affirmed that the country needs such an investment to boost economic activities and trade with the neighboring countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda as well as save on the freight charges on road transport across the borders.

The Vice President pledged full government support to the investors and informed them of viable investment opportunities in other sectors like food and fruit processing.

By Nakiboneka Halimah
Uganda Safaris and Travel Guide News Reporter
Kampala Uganda

The Ministry of Tourism together with the Uganda Wildlife Authority launched a tourism marketing campaign- the first ever- that is projected to throw the presently struggling sector to the path of competitiveness. This campaign was launched on Saturday 26^th September 2009.

The campaign, “Friend A Gorilla”, that mainly focuses on online tourism marketing, will involve tracking Uganda’s mountain gorillas and other tourism related activities through internet social networks including Facebook and Twitter. All the social network subscribers will have the opportunity to track local tourism sector events online, a development UWA recently said was a shift from the use of brochures to modern technology in marketing the country’s tourism potential.

The re-known international celebrities and Hollywood actors including Jason Biggs, Simon Curtis, Nicholas Brendon, Kristy Wu and Eddie Kay were in the country to flag-off the drive in an event expected to be presided over by President Museveni.

It was however, difficult to ascertain whether the president would officiate at the event since he was still in the United States (New York) attending the United Nations annual General Assembly.

State Minister for Tourism Serapio Rukundo in a recent statement said the initiative would help raise funds that would intern be used in implementing wildlife conservation enterprises. “I wish to congratulate UWA for coming up with such an innovative strategy for fundraising and marketing Uganda as a gorilla tourism destination,” the minister said.

“The Ministry of Tourism is supportive of new and modern ways of marketing and our future strategy will be to provide funding for this.” he continued to say.

According to UWA the project is expected to raise more than $100 million (approximately Shs220 billion) - which would be used in implementing conservation programmes of the wildlife conservation body.

The programme will offer the tourism sector an opportunity to take advantage of the currently growing Information Communications Technology (ICT) industry to transition to international levels. Although the initiative has been given a nod locally, the achievements of the campaign may be realized in the long-run given the still low levels of internet connectivity both locally, regionally and in Africa.

Africa, the second most populated continent has got the least numbers of internet users and some analysts say the low numbers could bar majority Africans in supporting such online campaigns.

The launch comes in the wake of a revelation by Uganda Bureau of Statistics that the tourism industry was picking up after a slow in the last two years.Quarterly tourist arrival figures indicated the sector had registered a 29.7 percent growth.

By Nakiboneka Halimah
Uganda Safari and Travel News Reporter
Kampala Uganda

The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is expecting to raise about US$100million in one year from an Internet-based tourism campaign dubbed ‘Friend a Gorilla Campaign.’ 

The campaign, which is due to be launched this week (September 26) will raise the money through the Internet and other forms of sponsorship for wildlife conservation.

“Beside the $1 that will be paid for each gorilla befriended on the internet, we expect to get sponsorships for families of gorillas from corporate companies,” said Mr. Moses Mapesa the executive director UWA.

Uganda’s tourism sector has registered significant growth over the past three years in both revenues collected and the number of visitors arriving into the country.

In 2006, Uganda registered 500,000 visitors but that number was bettered in 2007 with 700,000 visitors while 2008 saw 800,000 visitors come to Uganda. The revenue collected from tourism has also been rising. In 2006, $350 million was collected; in 2007 $450 million was collected while in 2008 $600 million was collected. It is estimated that gorillas alone contribute $200 million annually.

The rise in numbers can be attributed to improved security, facilities especially in the hospitality industry and a rich flora and fauna.

Beside these attractions, the country boasts of some rare animal species including tree climbing lions found in the Ishasha the southern sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park and chimpanzees found in Kibale National park, kyambura gorge Queen Elizabeth national park and Budongo forest Murchison falls National Park.

Mapesa said the campaign is aimed at positioning Uganda as an up-market tourism destination to local, regional and international markets. Under this campaign, Ugandans and the international public will befriend a Ugandan mountain gorilla through internet-based social networks such as Face book, Twitter and My Space.

Anyone will be able to befriend as many gorillas as they wish and pay $1 for each of the gorilla they befriend. Each gorilla will be befriended by as many people possible.

A Global Positioning System (GPS) will be used to show the gorilla movements on a map of the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park so that whoever befriends a gorilla is able to tell its movements on the map.

Uganda is home to 53% of the world’s mountain gorilla population, with the other half spread in the three trans-boundary national parks - Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in southwestern Uganda,Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and the Virungas in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

By Nakiboneka Halimah
Uganda Safaris and Travel News Reporter
Kampala Uganda

Rwandair and Ethiopian Airlines have entered into a convention agreement to boost their visibility.

Under two national flag carriers’ partnership, Rwandair will serve as the marketing carrier and Ethiopian Airlines will be the operating carrier. The Vice President Commercial of Ethiopian Airlines, Mr. Tadesse Adane and Rwandair Chairman, Mr. Gerald Zirimwabagabo signed the agreement in Kigali, Rwanda.

Mr. Zirimwabagabo after signing said that this is a major milestone in the development of Rwandair and the airline industry in the country.

He said the small airline is looking for partnerships that will allow its clients fly beyond its destinations.

The Ethiopian carrier, according to Tadesse, seeks partners to develop and increase its market share in southern Africa, particularly the Rwandan market.

Tadesse said the airline has embarked on helping African small airlines to be competitive and boost the African airline industry.  He said currently the carrier flies daily to and from Kigali and that he hopes the new partnership will ‘greatly’ double the flights.

The two airlines are incomparable in both resources and market share but the airlines’ bosses believe they will reap from the partnership. 

Rwandair’s code share with Ethiopian Airlines came following similar partnerships with other major airlines including Brussels Airlines, and the USA- based Virgin Atlantic Airlines to boost its visibility.

The airline is also pursuing an ambitious plan to purchase two used CRJ aircrafts from Lufthansa, a Germany based carrier, with ambitions to reposition in the regional aviation industry.

Currently Rwandair is operating three aircrafts on lease while Ethiopian Airlines commands 35 aircrafts.  Ethiopian Airlines has been crowned the African Airline of Year 2009. 

By Nakiboneka Halimah
Uganda Safaris and Travel Guide News Reporter
Kampala Uganda

Air Uganda will on September 7 resume its morning flight from Entebbe to Nairobi and vise versa, which it had suspended a year ago. The reintroduction of the morning flights is expected to reinforce Air Uganda’s stature on one of the most lucrative routes in the region.

The announcement of the return of the morning flights came over the weekend as the airline introduced another aircraft to its growing fleet.

Jennifer Musime Bamuturaki, Air Uganda Head of sales and marketing said with the re-introduction of our morning flight, Air Uganda is now in a better position to serve their clients and provide them with great value for money fares and a more attractive convenient schedule that enables them to do a day’s business in Nairobi and make more flights to other airlines at Jomo Kenyatta Airport.

The morning flight had been suspended after a rise in oil prices and a dip in passenger numbers hurt the company’s revenue. That suspension, announced in July 2008, left Air Uganda with only the evening flight.

The new morning flight will leave Entebbe at 6:45 am and arrive in Nairobi at 7:45am. In Nairobi, Air Uganda will leave at 8:15 am and arrive at Entebbe one hour later.

Air Uganda also flies to Juba, Dar es Salaam, and Zanzibar. The company has three aircraft at the moment, with two more expected by the end of the year.

Air Uganda is fully owned by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development. The airline has been operating in Uganda since 2007.

By Nakiboneka Halimah
Uganda Safari and Travel News Reporter
Kampala Uganda

Kampala city yesterday got excited in the morning hours as 50 dummy mountain gorillas roamed the streets.

Vendors had  to abandon their business to see the dummy gorillas which were having a great meal of yellow bananas, shook hands with passers-by and distributed fliers to them.

A traffic Police officer at Entebbe Road junction, Richard Okem, blamed the gorillas for the thick traffic jam as drivers stopped to stare at them.

“They are very exciting and many people are very attracted to them,” he said. “But they have caused traffic jam.”

Despite the fanfare, some people took off in panic on seeing their close relatives on the streets roaming.

One shop attendant only identified as Isaac was initially scared at Shell Capital on meeting these dummy gorillas but later joined other admirers. “Nobody has seen a gorilla in the city and what do you expect if you just bump into it unexpectedly?” Isaac asked. “Many people fear drawing closer to them.”

At the Clock Tower, some gorillas became ecstatic when people gave them coins.

These dummy  gorillas were moving in pairs and groups of three. They stood at the major junctions and streets of Wandegeya round-about, the Constitutional Square, the Clock Tower, Parliamentary Avenue, Hotel Equatoria, Pioneer Mall and Theatre Labonita, near Christ the King Church.

This activity was organised by the Uganda Wildlife Authority to promote awareness and protection of gorillas and encourage the public to live in harmony with them.

Moses Mapesa the director of  Uganda Wildlife Authority explained that the event also helped the wildlife watchdog to publicise the UN international year of gorillas commemoration coming up later in the year.

 “We received a positive response from the public,” Mapesa added. “Many people were curious about the gorillas.”

 He said next year, the authority would have a marathon race from Kampala to Bwindi, the home of the gorillas, to promote tourism, which contributes 5% to Uganda’s GDP.

The gorillas are among the most endangered species in Uganda, which need protection because they contribute alot to Uganda’s tourism development since they are the major tourist attractions in Bwindi National Park and Mgahinga National Park and the activity that is known as gorilla tracking in these parks is the most expensively paid for activity.

Tour operator companies an example being Abacus African Vacations organise Uganda Gorilla Safaris packages to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park for their tourists who come to Uganda every year just to visit the gorillas.
Uganda alone has got half of the worlds’ mountain gorilla population which is found in Bwindi being followed by Rwanda and DRC Congo and these are the only 3 countries in the whole world where you can find gorillas. This attracts alot of toursits from all over the world to come and have a memorable experience when they spend time with these cloes relatives of man. Therefore Ugandans should be sensitized about this gift of nature they ahve got in their own country and stop endagering the gorillas.

By Nakiboneka Halimah
Uganda Safaris and Travel News Reporter
Kampala Uganda

Uganda has set its eyes to cash in on fundamental gorilla tracking.

On September 26^th 2009, the fundamental network to track the gorillas will be launched in Kampala and will be witnessed by world leaders and local and international superstars.

This was revealed by Ms. Eunice Mahoro, the Director of Tourism Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) in an interview with East African Business Week.

She explained explained further that fundamental gorilla tracking will involve stationing of cameras within Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and trackers will only be able to track gorillas with the help of Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates.

“All this will be possible by one logging on website www.friendagorilla.org which will work in the same way as Face book, Twitter and My Space. Once you befriend a gorilla or gorillas, you will be interacting with your gorilla friend on a weekly basis and you will get updates on the movement of your gorilla friend(s) in Bwindi. And all you do is paying just one dollar or an equivalent in Uganda shillings to any of the mobile telephone networks and you will get yourself a gorilla friend,” Mahoro said.

She continued to say that once someone befriends a gorilla; that person will be able to follow births, new relationships and genealogy of your friend, all life long.

“But you do not have to be on the social network site, you can track your gorilla friend on www.friendagorilla.org site by going to the web page Geotrack,” Mahoro said.

She explained that come September 24, the Nshongi gorilla family in Kisoro will be officially launched by tracking this biggest family of gorillas with 34 individual members which has been habituated for tracking recently.

“This is the year of the gorilla and we want to get everyone on board. We shall have many campaigns starting August 31 with gorilla road shows; culminating in a fundraising corporate gala at Kampala Serena Hotel. With the website connection and the gala, we hope to raise about US$2 billion (US$1 million),” Mahoro said. She explained that tourism last year contributed $600m and the biggest chunk came from gorilla tracking and currently, the tourism sector contributes 4% of the country’s GDP.

Lillian Nsubuga, the Communication and Public Relations Manager UWA, said the money raised will mostly be used for constructing fully operational clinics around the national park and one project that will be initiated by the community.

By Nakiboneka Halimah

Uganda Safaris and Travel Guide News
Kampala Uganda

The transport costs from Entebbe to Kalangala Islands have doubled after Uganda’s only active vessel on Lake Victoria, MV Kalangala, temporarily suspended operations to pave way for its inspection. The vessel’s insurance had expired creating fear among users about their safety.

International Marine Surveyors from South Africa were contracted by the government to carry out the inspection. Fares from Nakiwogo Landing Site to Lutoboka in Ssese Islands where recreational and relaxation sites are found have increased from Shs12, 000 to Shs25, 000 on a speedboat and transport from Kasenyi water ways to Kalangala on a ‘normal’ boat costs between Shs18, 000 to Shs25, 000 up from Shs10, 000.

Tourists to Ssese Island beaches now find it very hard to travel with their vehicles as it was before.” We can’t travel with our vehicles to the island or carry much load yet we are paying twice more money than we used to pay on the ship,” Mr. Umaru Malume, a tourist found at Nakiwogo landing site, said on Friday.

Businessmen who carry bulky materials from Kampala to Ssese can now only use the ferry at Bukakata Landing Site in Masaka which is about 100 miles from Kampala.

The ferry also has its inconsistencies -it sometimes takes long to dock at the landing site or even have irregular trips between the two landing sites. Ssese Islands is a popular tourist destination because of its good camping sites while Kalangala is one of the biggest business hubs on the lake. State Minister for Transport Simon Ejua recently revealed that the inspection would take two weeks and the vessel will be functioning by the start of September.

Every year, the vessel undergoes inspection to ascertain its operational safety status. A source in the Works Ministry, who preferred anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the press, said registration of the vessel is likely to cost the tax payer $3,467 (about Shs7.3m) while docking  will take $7,980(about Shs16.5m). The vessel was built in 2005 in fulfillment of President Museveni’s 2001 campaign pledge to the islanders.