Uganda Safari News

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.