Uganda Voted Third at ITB

The different World Travel Markets offer Countries and tour operators the world over an opportunity to showcase what they have and curve out a niche in the tourism industry which is the fastest growing industry in the world.

In the recently concluded World Travel Market in Berlin – ITB, several African countries were represented.

During the Travel Markets, different countries have the opportunity to impress the judges because there’s usually a vote for the winners. Small African countries which were once little known by tourists, have used this platform to market their tourism potentials. One of the African tour destinations which has benefited significantly from these World Travel Markets is Rwanda.

For four years this country whose main attraction is the mountain gorillas emerged winner for the continent Africa. It was last year however dethroned by its equally small neighbor – Burundi. In this recently concluded International Travel Market in Berlin however, Morocco emerged as the surprise winner.

Burundi was the runner up and the Pearl of Africa – Uganda came in third. Uganda’s achievement can be attributed to the Lonely Planet which voted Uganda as the best tour destination for 2012 given its peculiarity and uniqueness. The Country boasts of the rare and endangered mountain gorillas, Murchison falls, the third highest mountain in African – Mount Rwenzori among others. The country also has about 50% of all the recorded bird species in Africa. It is truly a birder’s paradise that has been little marketed. Some of the birds found in the Country are endemic.

Rwanda that dominated the continent for the last couple of years came in fourth whereas the other East African country Kenya, came in fifth. Rwanda and Kenya in comparison to its neighbors in the region invest heavily in marketing their tourism potential. For the last couple of years Kenya has been using in the region of $10m to market its tourism industry whereas Rwanda spends close to $5m. Uganda on the other hand has been using a paltry $300,000 on average to market its tourism through the Uganda Tourist Board.

The General Manager of the Uganda Tourist Board Baguma Cuthbert was accompanied by the Minister of the newly formed of Ministry of Tourism Professor Ephraim Kamuntu. They were accompanied by a host of tour operators from the country.

Tour operators and hoteliers use this opportunity to market their safari companies as well as their hotels and safari lodges. It is a good place to network and help boost one’s business.

Cyclist Killed By Elephant in Murchison Falls National Park

The local community around Murchison Falls National Park has been complaining lately about marauding elephants crossing the park boundaries into their precious gardens to eat and destroy their crops.

During a recent incident when locals were chasing away an elephant that had strayed out of the park into their gardens at around 9pm, a 35 year old cyclist Mr. Charles Okello Otyem was very unfortunate to ram into the elephant as it was crossing the road. According to eye witnesses due to the speed at which Mr. Otyem was riding he died instantly. The incident happened at the village of Gwara as Mr. Otyem was riding from the trading center of Diima to the town of Karuma all of which border Murchison Falls National Reserve.

For a longtime now the local community around the park has been complaining to the Uganda Wildlife Authority about the marauding elephants to no avail. Uganda Wildlife Authority the body charged with protecting wildlife in Uganda has not compensated the locals in any way or managed to control the elephants.

Tom Okello the Chief Warden of the Murchison Falls Game Park told the press the Uganda Wildlife Authority regrets the incident and has given food and a coffin to the family of the deceased to help meet the burial expenses. The Chief Warden also appealed to the local community to help Uganda Wildlife Authority in caring for the wildlife in and around the national park.

The local leaders including the Member of Parliament of Nwoya district Mr. Todwong Richard have appealed to the government to help in compensating the local communities whose property and crops have been destroyed by the marauding elephants.

Murchison Falls National Park is the largest national park in Uganda and one of the most visited by tourists. It has wide range of both plant and animal species. However, there has been a high level of poaching by the local communities around the national park and if left unchecked could adversely affect the high volume of tourists visiting the Park. A Murchison falls tour includes a visit to the top of the falls from which the park derives its name as well as birding watching, sport fishing and wildlife game drives.

Counting Hippos in Queen Elizabeth National Park

Queen Elizabeth National park will soon be visited by encumber of tourists that is February and March 2012 to carry out the Hippos counting census in Africa. This is an adventure trip and there is a fee of $100 per day for each seat, but breakfast, lunch and bottled water are included. Volunteers are entitled to go on more than one excursion (daily rate applies). Seats will be available for 12 days (please see regions and dates available for each day, making a total of 24 available seats.

You don’t have to be an African safari expert to become a volunteer hippo census-taker. In fact, if you have never set foot in East or South Africa, you are more than welcome to come along on this adventure.

Wild Fire Breaks Out in two Ugandan National Parks

The months of December, January and now February have traditionally been very hot in Uganda. As a result there have been a lot of bush fires in many of the upcountry areas in the country. Two of Uganda national parks have not been spared either. Queen Elizabeth National Park and Mountain Rwenzori National Park in Kasese are two of the game reserves in Uganda that have suffered wildfires in the recent weeks.

The situation is being exacerbated by the climate change as well as the activities of poachers in the national parks. Official from the Uganda Wildlife Authority – UWA as well as the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces – UPDF fought the fires for about week and managed to bring it down in Mount Rwenzori national park.

Fires in the Rwenzori National Park

A group of about 30 tourists were doing hiking mount Rwenzori when the fire broke out on Monday. The tourist were at a height of about 4,600m above sea level when this occurred. According to the senior warden who is in-charge of Mountain Rwenzori national park the fires blazed for almost a week.

Mr. Kiiza further said that, “It has always been wet up there during dry season but this time climate change has taken an extra toll to deprive Uganda of its pride as global warming takes its toll on the tourism industry,” He said that, “Our team has worked round the clock since the fire was reported”. In addition he said that many birds and wildlife were killed by the fires negatively affecting the ecosystem and Uganda’s tourism at large.

The fires have destroyed several properties in the area. The director of Rwenzori Trekking Services, Mr. Hunwick John said his property was virtually destroyed and when the fire broke out he had about 20 clients who were doing mountain climbing in the Rwenzoris. However, his clients were safely evacuated from the mountains. The fire break out has made the authorities close Mountain Rwenzori hiking through the Kilembe trails.

Queen Elizabeth National Park

In Queen Elizabeth national park the fires blazed through several acres of land destroying plants and wildlife. It also destroyed several tourist facilities including many Kyambura Safari Lodge cottages.

The inferno destroyed several cotton fields in the communities neighboring Queen Elizabeth national park plus 30 goats in the area of Mubuku.

According to Mr. Guma Nelson, the area conservation manager of Queen Elizabeth national park, the fires have been hard to fight during the day due to the wind gusts which easily spread the fires to the different parts of the park.

Kyambura Safari lodges is a relatively new establishment with good cottages and facilities. It is pity that the fires destroyed half of its Cottages.

Wild Fire Rages in Queen Elizabeth and Mt. Rwenzori National Park

The months of December, January and now February have traditionally been very hot in Uganda. As a result there have been a lot of bush fires in many of the upcountry areas in the Country. The national parks have not been spared either.

Queen Elizabeth national park and Mountain Rwenzori national park in Kasese are two of the game reserves in Uganda that have suffered wildfires in the recent weeks.

The situation is being exacerbated by the climate change as well as the activities of poachers in the national parks. Official from the Uganda Wildlife Authority – UWA as well as the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces – UPDF fought the fires for about week and managed to bring it down in Mount Rwenzori national park.

A group of about 30 tourists were doing hiking mount Rwenzori when the fire broke out on Monday. The tourist were at a height of about 4,600m above sea level when this occurred. According to the senior warden who is in-charge of Mountain Rwenzori national park the fires blazed for almost a week.

Mr. Kiiza further said that, “It has always been wet up there during dry season but this time climate change has taken an extra toll to deprive Uganda of its pride as global warming takes its toll on the tourism industry,”

He said that, “Our team has worked round the clock since the fire was reported”. In addition he said that many birds and wildlife were killed by the fires negatively affecting the ecosystem and Uganda’s tourism at large.

The fires have destroyed several properties in the area. The director of Rwenzori Trekking Services, Mr. Hunwick John said his property was virtually destroyed and when the fire broke out he had about 20 clients who were doing mountain climbing in the Rwenzoris. However, his clients were safely evacuated from the mountains.

The fire break out has made the authorities close Mountain Rwenzori hiking through the Kilembe trails.
Queen Elizabeth National Park

In Queen Elizabeth national park the fires blazed through several acres of land destroying plants and wildlife. It also destroyed several tourist facilities including many Kyambura Safari Lodge cottages.

The inferno destroyed several cotton fields in the communities neighboring Queen Elizabeth national park plus 30 goats in the area of Mubuku.

According to Mr. Guma Nelson, the area conservation manager of Queen Elizabeth national park, the fires have been hard to fight during the day due to the wind gusts which easily spread the fires to the different parts of the park.

Kyambura Safari lodges is a relatively new establishment with good cottages and facilities. It is pity that the fires destroyed half of its Cottages.

Stakeholders Demand for a Functional Ministry of Tourism

Uganda’s tourism sector has been allocated an entire Ministry of its own having been separated from the Trade and Tourism ministry. However since its creation the Ministry has not been functional and now Uganda tour operators are demanding to meet the Minister of Tourism as well the committee of Parliament responsible for Tourism deliberations so as to forge a way forward and help the industry overcome the various challenges it is facing.

The President of the Uganda Tourism Association during a press conference last week the main issues that the stakeholders would like to address include the fact that the tourism ministry is not really functional as well as the other agencies associated with the travel industry in Uganda.

The Uganda Wildlife Authority – UWA, the body mandated to conserve the Country’s wildlife does not also have a functioning executive since the inquiry into the miss-use of the PAMSU – Protected Areas Management for Sustainable Use investigations began headed by the retired Justice George Kanyeihamba. All this has hinder decision making in the tourism sector in the Country. The Uganda Travel agencies and other stakeholders would like to have all these issues addressed.

Uganda Tourism Board – UTB has the mandate to sell the Country as a tourism destination to different markets but it too has been incapacitated by among many things a measly budget (approx. $300,000 – $900,000 a year).

Stakeholders in the industry are demanding that the commission into the inquiry of how about $38m was miss-used during the Protected Areas Management for Sustainable Use – PAMSU should be expedite investigations so that the disbanded executive members of the Uganda Wildlife Authority can resume work as the acting directors don’t really have the mandate to make important decisions.

Uganda’s major tour attraction is the gorilla safari packages that it has to offer. Mountain gorilla tours can be done in bwindi impenetrable forest national park as well as Mgahinga gorilla national park found in the South West of the Country.

UWA PAMSU Project Commission Stopped

The Commission of Inquiry into the misuse of $33m that was meant for the Protected Areas Management for Sustainable Use (PAMSU) has been brought to a grinding halt by the Minister for Tourism, Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu.

However, Prof. Justice George Kanyeihamba the head of the Inquiry has vowed to continue with the investigations which the Minister says has overstayed its mandate. The commission was initially given three months to carry out its investigations and make a report into the misuse of the funds which was mainly donor money from the World Bank. However due to delays the inquiry was given an additional one and half months to finalize its investigations into the project which was under the Uganda Wildlife Authority.

Justice George Kanyeihamba however says it is only the president who can stop him and has vowed to carry on with the investigations. He further says it is the corrupt officials who are trying to protect one another and stall the investigations.

According to the constitution the Minister can only play an advisory role to the president and it is thus the president who can stop him from carrying out investigations. The inquiry which has been running for some time now has unearthed a lot of rot within the Ministry of Tourism and Uganda Wildlife Authority.

The head of the Commission of Inquiry at the time of writing this article is conducting a press conference at the Uganda Wildlife Authority headquarters on Kitante Road and will reveal most their findings thus far.

According to the Minister during a cabinet meeting in which there was a unanimous decision to stop the inquiry, the Commission had failed to deliver a comprehensive report on their findings, it had also failed to meet the timeline set out for its investigations and had even after consultations failed to give a definite timeline for finishing its investigations.

Uganda’s tourism unlike that of its counterparts is lagging behind due to lack of proper management and failure to market and sell Uganda so as to make it the destination of choice. Uganda has plenty of tour attractions that have been left to run down.

The Wamala tombs which is cultural heritage site is a case in point. The tombs have been neglected by the body responsible for marketing tourism and the marketing has been left to individuals and the Buganda Kingdom. Even the repairs is done by volunteers in the local community.

Another tourist site the Nyero rock paintings is an area that has no protection whatsoever and is managed by locals. The guides are mainly children with little knowledge about the value of the area. Archeologists and some curious tourists are the only people who visit these ancient paintings.

Bugala Island on Lake Victoria has appeared on the tourism products from Uganda Tourism Board and it is a shame there’s no mention of Speke’s Fort which was built in 1862 in it. These are historical sites and has a lot of tourism potential.

Tourism is the fastest growing industry in the World and contributes 12% to the global GDP, but Uganda has placed little emphasis on the industry which is mainly being marketed by individuals and local tour operators.

Rwanda for instances puts $5m in marketing and showcasing its tourism potential and despite the fact the half the World’s mountain gorillas can only be found in Uganda. Rwanda gorilla trekking is current doing better than mountain gorillas in Uganda. Kenya spends $23m and Tanzania $10m in marketing Kenya safaris and Tanzania safaris respectively compared to Uganda’s $330,00.

Tourists Shun Mount Elgon over Bududa Landslides

TOURISTS have shunned Mt. Elgon Forest National Park over the March 1 landslides that ravaged Bududa. The park indicated in a report that out of 410 tourists that visited Mt. Elgon from January to May, only 144 were registered in March.

Of the 144 visitors, 122 were local students. This was a drop from the 152 tourists that were registered during the same period last year.

The figure dipped further to only 40 tourists in April although it rose to 92 in May. But this was still lower than the 98 to 190 tourists who visited the park during the same period last year.

The report noted that most of the foreign tourists who comprise nearly 90% of the park’s visitors, kept away. Regular foreign tourists at the park include Britons, Germans, Americans, Dutch, Israelis and Canadians.

March and April each registered only 27 foreign tourists. However, the figure slightly rose to 37 in May. Save for the 13 German tourists, one Dutch and an American who visited the park in March, the Israelis, British, and Canadian visitors kept away during the tragic month.

Similarly, no tourists from the neighbouring Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania of Burundi, Tanzania and Kenya visited the park in March. “Heavy rains characterised with landslides were occurring on various parts of the mountain. The Bududa landslide scared away many tourists,” Stephen Nyadros, the Budadiri entry point information officer, said.

“About 15 foreign tourists expected to hike on Mt. Elgon through the Budadiri trail cancelled their bookings with us in March. “Fortunately, the trend is steadily picking up again,” Nyadros pointed out.

He disclosed that most of the cancelled bookings had been rescheduled for May to September. The park experiences peak periods from June to September, and December to March, statistics show.

Other prominent visitors to the park comprise scouts and students on holiday from Europe and North America. A total of 2,903 tourists visited the park in 2009, down from 3,844 the previous year.

The main tourist attractions for hikers on the mountain include the wildlife, hotsprings, caves, waterfalls and the Wagagai peak that stands at 4,321 metres above sea level. However, after the Bududa tragedy that claimed over 350 people at the Nametsi trading centre, the Government declared Mt. Elgon prone to more landslides and warned residents to evacuate to the temporal camp at Bulucheke.

To allay fears among tourists, a 16-member-team from The Uganda Tourism Board took a four-day hike on Mt. Elgon through the Budadiri trail in Sironko district from June 15 to 18. Molly Mpiriirwe, the board’s senior information officer, narrated that there was no imminent danger to tourists on the mountain.

“We had a thrilling experience on the mountain. “Throughout our journey, we neither saw cracks nor mini-landslides. “We call on more people to come and tour the park to explore its beauty,” Mpiriirwe said.

Tourism, agriculture and forestry are top on the list of the national primary growth areas of the newly-released National Development Plan. In 2008, tourism contributed 9.2% or $1.2b to the gross domestic product (GDP), while in Kenya, it brought in $3.5b or 10.8% to GDP according to the World tourism and Travel Council.

This variation maybe directly linked to the massive investment that Kenya puts into the sector. According to the draft corporate strategy plan 2009-2012, Kenya spends sh27b in marketing.

Tourism arrivals surged from 512,000 in 2004 to 844,000 in 2008; an increase of 65% boosted by the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2007.

IGG Cancels Gorilla Park Contracts

THE Inspector General of Government Raphael Baku has directed the Uganda Wildlife Authority to cancel all the illegal and irregular contracts it made with the Nkuringo Conservation and Development Foundation and Uganda Safari Company in Kisoro district.

The contracts were monopolizing gorilla tracking in Nkuringo on the Southern periphery of the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

The IGG in a report “Monopoly of sale of gorilla trekking permits by Uganda Wildlife Authority to a private company,” directed UWA to comply with all the laws and policies that govern it in executing its mandate without taking advantage of the ignorance of the communities it works with.

“The illegal and irregular contracts, namely the agreement between Uganda Wildlife Authority and Nkuringo Conservation Development Foundation of 30/8/2004 and its addendums of 23/11/2006 and 29/11/2006 and the agreement between Nkuringo Conservation and Development Foundation and the Uganda Safari Company should be revoked,” the IGG said in the report.

Tourism stakeholders in 2007 complained to the IGG of discrimination, irregularities and illegalities in the management and issuance of gorilla tracking permits by the Uganda Wildlife Authority to a few companies.

They argued that this created unfair monopoly in the tourism business.
They were concerned that Uganda as a whole had lost tourism business including all benefits accruing from the sector to only one Kisoro Hotel operator, Uganda Safari Company, who had been given exclusive rights to sell gorilla tracking permits and allegedly attract tourists to an eco-lodge.

Investigations by the IGG office indicated that UWA encouraged individuals to form a private company with which they operated private businesses in respect to gorilla permit tourism, edging out others.

The IGG in the report recommended that UWA should draw up a well- thought out framework for the development of tourism opportunities for the whole region where Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is located not for particular isolated areas.

“The sub-counties of Nyabwishenya and Kirundo where Rubuguri and Nteko parishes respectively fall, should, in consultation with the district takeover the Nkuringo tourism project and improve development for the benefit of their communities after other modalities have been addressed.

“The sub-counties have the mandate and capacity to plan for their local communities, and can be held responsible for transparency, accountability and reporting because they have a planning and budgeting mandate for their parishes,” the report said.

Kasubi Tombs Burning!

It appears the Kasubi Tombs, over a hundred years old, are up in flames right now.

Okay, the Kasubi Tombs, a UNESCO World Heritage site, are burning up.

Usually it is arson when a place like that burns down. They are made of grass thatch, the tombs, so the fire will be absolutely devastating.

Already, some fuckwits around me are saying “Government!” I’d be more-likely to say “Opposition!” But I guess it is more-likely some staffer who was careless with fire. Let us wait for news.