Travel News, African Safari Updates

Idi Amin died in Saudi Arabia just three years ago; Amin fled Uganda in 1979 after murdering upwards of 300,000 souls of both Ugandans and foreigners. Larger than life physically and metaphorically, he was a former heavy weight-boxing champion with a brilliant sense of leadership as a performance, and his dictatorship ruling, the methods were brutally prehistoric. His public relations slyness was accomplishedly 20th century. Smiling into cameras, Idi Amin dropped provocations like bombs. ‘ I don’t like human flesh, its too salty for me’, he one lamented.

The queasily enjoyable new fiction film, ‘the last King of Scotland’, based on the novel written by Giles Foden and directed by Kevin Macdonald, creates a portrait of this famous Ugandan dictator from onside the palace walls. Furiously paced with excellent performances by forest, Whitaker as Amin and James McAvoy as the foolish Scotsman who became the leaders personal physician, the film has texture of intelligence to almost persuade you that it actually has something not to say. The last king of Scotland makes the case that Amin was rational enough to understand Uganda’s tangled relationship with the British imperialism. Amin was a merchant of death compared with the historic British monarchy. He once wrote: ‘ Dear Liz, if you want to know a really man, come to Kampala’. Clearly the last king of Scotland film means this journey to be as inwardly directed as externally bound. Though the message in this film is one that that might make you blanch after nod, the misery of other people makes unsettling entertainment, no matter how pretty the pictures and valuable the players.

Amin’s brutal regime left Uganda in total mess; expelling the Asians was a nightmare that shut down the country’s economy and economic activities. Besides during the period of 1960s –1970s, Uganda was one of the preferred tourism destinations in East Africa. In late 1970s and early1980s the number dropped miserably due Idi Amins dictatorial policy in Uganda.  Today Uganda has risen once again and the economy is booming and growing at a high rate. Tourism in Uganda can’t be left out; Uganda being one of the gorilla regions has attracted many visitors to view these amazing Apes.

Kayunga District is well known as a pineapple land because pineapple seems to be a must grow crop in Kangulumira sub-county, kayunga district. Almost every household has grown the succulent fruit, said Ronald Kizito one of the growers. He tells a different story of frustration and disillusionment that the trend has changed since 2004 that he earned 0.5million from pineapple. The ambitious farmer has embarked on another project of large-scale pawpaw growing. Kizito lamented that if he has to survive the stiff competition, he must diversify. ´I have gone into pawpaw growing because very few people have planted it’, that the crop is on high demand yet with low supply. Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting for example is around the corner, there will be high demand of pawpaw and I will reap big, he said. Kizito expects the first harvest from his 40 trees in February 2007, and also plans to plant more. The earning from pineapple has dwindled because there are very many pineapple growers, and of course the higher the supply, the lower the prices, he explained. The earning from pineapple is no longer regular. In some seasons, he earns only 0.2m and with five labourers the earnings are sliced. To beef up his earnings Kizito now intercrops pineapple with bananas, cassava and pawpaws. Drawing his inspiration from CHOGM, tourism industry also stands to benefit from this.

The Queen of England will stay at Serena Hotel in Kampala during the commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), due in November next year. This was announced in a report circulated in parliament by Foreign affairs minister Sam Kutesa.

After months of assumption, with some hinting that the Queen would put up at the new state house building in Entebbe, the choice has now landed on the recently opened splendid five star Serena Hotel. Tight security measures will be put in place to protect Her Majesty and other 53 Heads of states in Serena hotel during the five days conference; a new radar system will be installed at Entebbe Airport and an additional security tower, an aircraft parking and VIP terminal building will be built. Other security plans include upgrading Kasese aerodrome and new landing sites at Lake Victoria. The government is also acquiring new equipments for investigation, computing, communication, counter terrorism operations, as well as setting up training programmes for security personnel.

The commonwealth secretariat undertook to facilitate the training of the Uganda police in human rights issues and has emphasized the need for security to work with a human face during CHOGM meeting. The security concern are personal protection of her majesty, the Queen and other heads of delegations, the venue of the conference, dinners and other side events, the airport, high ways and junctions where guests will be passing as well as their residents and visit areas like the source of the Nile and Lake Victorian islands.  The Minister further stressed that government has undertaken consultation with a number of Commonwealth countries including the UK, and South Africa, on how possible collaboration and assistance relating to equipment, sharing experiences and training to strengthen the security during the conference. Uganda as country commonly know as ‘The pearl of Africa’ stands to benefit from CHOGM, improvement of basic infrastructure, such as roads and communication services, hotel expansion and tourism promotion, business opportunities, service delivery, beautification and hygiene, as well as employment and publicity for the country will be much improved.

The Rwanda emigration website has downloadable visa forms in portable digital format (PDF). Visitors from other parts of the world as well as Rwandan citizens now need not to travel looking for Rwandan embassy; they can now just fill in passport or visa application forms online and track them on the Internet to find out whether they are ready. The whole process is summarized online. The process is just a click of a mouse and a print out grants one an authorized entry facility into Rwanda. An entry facility is a document issued by the immigration department that enables citizens from other countries that do not have Rwandan Embassy to obtain a single entry visa at any official entry point. Online applicants can either use French or English. There is also application form in the Internet in Kinyarwanda, which are meant for Rwandans. With online tracking one will only collect documents when they are ready. This is meant to eliminate the syndrome of telling people to come tomorrow said Mr. Anaclet, at the helm of the time saving web based system, he also added that online process is more cheaper for one to use than spending on transport costs traveling now and again to the immigration offices. This is the most efficient procedure, by using web visa issuing and passport application Tourists can now easily access Rwanda gorilla region by simply getting visas through online visa tracking.

Despite a decade of war and environmental devastation, Rwanda’s mountain gorillas and their habitat have managed to survive. On the steep, misty slopes of the sabinyo Volcano, far above the green rectangles of sorghum fields that press against Parc National des Volcans, a family of mountain gorillas is frolic. Conservationist are taking closer look at the region, suggesting these wet, lush mountains, there is a lesson for the world about how an environment can withstand conflict.

During the 1990s, this tiny country in central Africa erupted into some of the worst ethnic conflict of the 20^th century. The peak of the violence came between April and July 1994, when Hutu militias slaughtered an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and other Hutu labeled ‘moderate`. The environmental degradation was huge. Rebels and government officials fought in the national parks, soldiers’ poached wildlife and refugees swarmed into protected forests.  The parc national des Volcans (PNV) was different. The PNV encompasses the Rwandan section of the virunga volcanoes, a looming mountain range in the border region where Rwanda Congo and Uganda meet. This is a home for mountain gorillas made famous by researcher Dian Fossey and the movie ‘Gorillas in the Mist’
This area saw intense fighting during the war. But despite the dangers, handful of NGOs continued to fund conservation projects and rangers continued to work as well as the local community supported the efforts. Rwanda and central Africa struggled with the long-term consequences of wars, environmental devastation, food shortages and deforestation to name a few however Rwanda’s gorilla region is growing at highest rate. NGOs and the junior staff helped the gorillas survive. Most of the people living around here know how this place is different from the rest of Rwanda. Today, tourism in Rwanda’s gorilla region is growing, and the soil is considered the best in the country an important factor in a society where 90% of the population farm. While conservationists say that in other areas it’s difficult to get local support for national parks, in Par des national volcans most locals are on board.

Kenya Airways have begun offering three flights a week departing from Nairobi every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, Kenya Airways has confirmed. Kenya Airways started direct flights to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris this year. The Airline believed that this new route would provide its customers in Eastern and Central Africa with suppleness of flying straight to France as well as connecting to mainland Europe and other parts of the world. Passengers from France will now also be able to fly directly to Nairobi and connect to the rest of Africa. This was launched as the expansion programme geared at delivering aviation services to key cities in Europe, Asia and Africa.

Currently KQ uses Paris as supplementary connection point on addition to Amsterdam and London for passengers traveling to other destinations beyond Europe. The airline has added two destinations to its West Africa route, which is Congo Brazzaville and Cotonou in Benin. There are now 30 International destinations covered by Kenya Airline in Africa including 11 cities in central Africa.  These new destinations are operated jointly with the flight moving down in Brazzaville before proceeding to Cotonou. The flight operates every Tuesday and Friday.

In March this year, Kenya Airways also launched flights to Freetown, Sierra Leone. This is very promising, tourists who would now love to get to the pearl of Africa Uganda, East Africa, and the rest of Africa from Europe and other parts of the world can now get there directly through Kenya Airlines. What about Gorilla tourism in Rwanda and Uganda, Kenya Airways has made it easier for you.

Meanwhile, Ethiopian airline has been chosen African airline of the year 2006 by the African Aviation Journal.  The Airline one of the Africa’s oldest, won the African Aviation Award. Ms. Susan Mcdernoff, deputy assistant secretary for Aviation and International Affairs at the USA Department of Transport, recently handed over the award plaque to Ethiopian Airlines chief executive officer Mr. Ato Girma Wake. The awards ceremony was held in Cape Town South Africa September 8^th 2006. The occasion also marked the climax of the conference

The Uganda Wildlife Authority has opened the northern gateway into Murchison falls National Park after more than 30years of closure. Wangkwar and Chobe gates have been closed since the 1970s due to insecurity. Although tourists mostly used these routes to enter Murchison Falls National Park in the 1960s and 1970s, these routes couldn’t be accessed in the 1980s and has remained so until recent that the Uganda Wildlife Authority opened the gates officially following the peace deal between Ugandan government and the LRA rebel group.

The President of Uganda His Excellency Yoweri Museveni presided the official opening of the two gates. The king of Buganda, Tooro and Bunyoro were among the honorary wardens who attended the ceremony. The gates have been opened for some months now and the results are still positive. The number of tourists visiting Murchison falls has increased sharply to about 200 visitors entering the Park daily since the opening of these gates. During the past four years the Uganda peoples defense forces has worked closely with UWA to ensure safety of tourists who visit Murchison falls National Park but the number of tourists visiting the park was small compared to the arrival to day.

In almost all cultures in the world, ceremonies celebrating the naming of newly born babies are plentiful affairs and attractively, the Rwandan community has extended this practice to the primate world. The Rwandan Tourism Body held its second annual gorilla naming ceremony in which 12 primates born since last year were publicly named. The colorful event held at the sprawling Gorilla Nest Hotel attracted many high profile guests that included diplomats, ministers, and members of the senate, the private and the local community. The President of the senate, Dr. Vicent Biruta and the first lady Jeannette Kagame led the ceremony by naming the first two baby primates Urumuli meaning light and Agaseke meaning decorated baskets respectively. Some of the baby gorillas where named by the representatives from the Uk, US, Congo, Belgium, and Netherlands where most of the Rwanda’s tourists come from in recognition of their contribution to the conservation of the primates through gorilla tourism in Rwanda

Meanwhile, on another development, Uganda is set to organize for gorilla naming ceremony due to take place on November 25^th this year, in Bwindi Impenetrable National park. At least 8 gorilla babies have been born since January 2004 when the last ceremony was organized. The names of the gorilla babies whose age’s range from a few months to two years will be revealed on that day of the ceremony. A baby gorilla, which was given a name by Nabagereka the Queen of Buganda from the Habinanja group, will also be part of the ceremony. The naming ceremony is aimed at garnering public support for the conservation of the gorillas and promoting gorilla tourism locally and internationally in Uganda. The naming ceremony will allow other members of the public to propose names but on a competitive basis as a strategy for raising funds for the conservation of these gorillas. The person or company that will make the highest offer will be the one to name the gorilla. Bwindi Impenetrable national have 4 groups of habituated gorillas each of which is allowed to receive only 8 groups of tourists for tracking a day.