Many tourists visit Uganda both local and foreign due to its scenic beauty and friendly welcoming people. However two members of the Japanese royal family (Prince and Princess Akishino) will also visit the country next month including Jinja although they will spend five days in the country while on there fist visit to the pearl of Africa.

Prince Akishino is the second son of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan. The Ambassador of Japan to Uganda, Mr Kazuo Minagwa, said. The visit presents an opportunity to both countries tourism development potentials. Above all the royal couple’s visit comes just when the two States are planning to commemorate 50 years of diplomatic ties. Uganda mainly exports Nile Perch, coffee, sesame oil and cobalt estimated at $20 million (Shs49.1 billion) to Japan. All in all Uganda shouldn’t miss to be among your favorite destinations any time as you plan for a trip to Africa.

According to the Auditor General the population of some of Uganda’s wildlife is drastically declining. The Auditor General said that, “Mostly affected are the lions in Queen Elizabeth National Park, whose population has reduced by 81 per cent, followed by ostriches (79 per cent), Zebras (74 per cent) and Uganda Kobs (69 per cent), among others”.

Tourism is today Uganda’s leading foreign exchange earner and contributes about 5.7% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product annually. It is predicted by the World Travel and Tourism Council that the impact of tourism in Uganda is expected to jump up by 5.9% from the current 3.3 trillion Uganda Shillings to about 5.8 trillion Uganda Shillings. This is expected to keep rising and estimates are it will reach as high as 7.4% of the Gross Domestic Product in 2021.

The Auditor General, Mr. John Muwanga alludes this to limited research as well as  a failure to understand the factors that are affecting the population of wildlife as well as their habitat. However, this is not the case. During a recent Murchison falls national park visit, I found out from interacting with the locals in the communities around that park that getting game meat for any of the different wildlife is quite easy if you get to ask the right questions.

For instance to get smoked hippo meat, all one has to ask for is charcoal and you will be asked for the number of kilograms that you need. It is a pity because of the people involved are supposedly the very people responsible for protecting and patrolling the areas around the conservation parks.

In Queen Elizabeth national park and Lake Mburo national park, the population decline in the number of lions can be attributed to the herdsmen in the areas around and within the park boundaries. These herdsmen have poisoned most of the lions that attack their cows as easy prey.

The Auditor General John Muwanga however insists and said “Catastrophic death and reduction in numbers of animals such as the Uganda Kob in Queen Elizabeth National Park and similar incidences in other parks has occurred without finding the root cause,”

The decline in the population of wildlife in Uganda can also be attributed to the encroachment into conservation areas and a case in point is the Mountain Elgon national park and East Madi Wildlife Reserve. The increase in encroachment for the collection of resources such as firewood and fruit gathering as well as poaching has significantly affected the wildlife natural habitat as well as the eco-balance in most of these national parks in Uganda.

According to the Auditor General some wildlife species such as Derbys Oryx as well as the white and black rhino have become extinct in Uganda.

Other species that have been enlisted as endangered species are the Bridget and Roan gazelle whose number currently is less than 110 in the country. The last census of these two species was in 1998 another sign that our wildlife need more protected and greater involvement from UWA than they are currently getting.

According to the Auditor General, Uganda Wildlife Authority has totally failed to protect Uganda’s flora and fauna. UWA is the body charged with protecting Uganda’s wildlife mandated by the constitution of Uganda. Being a statutory body it is charged with protecting Uganda’s flora and fauna but it has failed to do this with the rest of the country’s natural treasures. Tourism brings in tons of revenue annually and the Uganda Wildlife Authority collects millions of dollars from park entrance fees, however, this money is not being ploughed back correctly in protecting Uganda’s wildlife.

The Uganda Wildlife Act 2000 mandates the Uganda Wildlife Authority to take charge of all Uganda’s 12 wildlife game reserves as well as the 10 national parks in Uganda. All Uganda’s conservation areas as well as wildlife reserves are managed by UWA.

The Executive Director of the Uganda Wildlife Authority Mr. Andrew Sseguya however refuted the accusation of failure by the body saying that although they are responsible for the supervision, coordination as well as monitoring of all the activities relating to Uganda’s wildlife management there was need to increase funding of the Uganda Wildlife Authority. He also said that there is need to create an independent body that will be responsible for the research to supplement the functions of UWA as is the case in other countries.

According to the Executive Director although the Uganda Wildlife Authority needs  about 3,300 game rangers to adequately patrol all of Uganda’s national parks and game reserves, there are currently only about 1,200 rangers.

Mr. Andrew Seguya said that, “UWA is currently overwhelmed by other wildlife management issues resulting in limited concentration on research as a function of management”.

He further stated that, “The Wildlife Policy under review has already identified this need and is providing for the creation of a Uganda Wildlife Research and Training Institute to address the wildlife research and training gaps in the sector.”

To effectively protect Uganda’s wildlife the Uganda Wildlife Authority has to; reduce the threat posed by invasive plant and wildlife species, recruit and have a good number of rangers to effectively avert threats from poachers and well as illegal activities within and outside the conservation areas, ensure the security of protect areas, maintain and  develop necessary infrastructure in the protected areas such as game drive trails as well as work together with the communities around the safari parks in Uganda to improve conservation.

It is good to know that the audit of Uganda’s wildlife found out that most Uganda’s wildlife and protected areas are not being adequately protected by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. It for instance found out that over 6,000 hectares of Mountain Elgon national park is under encroachment and Uganda Wildlife Authority says most of this is difficult to address due to court cases and injunctions.

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.

The investigations into the misuse led to the disbandment of the entire board that was replaced by acting directors. The previous board headed by Dr Boysier Oumar Muballe was dissolved by a High Court ruling after it was deemed illegal.

However, there has now been a new board of trustees that have been announced. They come from different backgrounds ranging from tour operators, conservationists, hoteliers as well as honorary wildlife officers.

Mr. Ben Otto the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministries of Information and Broadcasting, Tourism and Education has been appointed the Chairman of the new Uganda Wildlife Authority Board.

Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu under whose docket the Uganda Wildlife Authority – UWA fallings said the new board members have been appointed from various backgrounds basing on their expertise and competence. They took into consideration the different needs and criteria required to be on the board.

However, many stakeholders claim that the appointment of MR. Khan Mani who is a member of the Madhvani Group of Companies who have for a long time now had an interest in building a golf course in Murchison falls national park was not appropriate. Conservationists have for a long time resisted the move although it was approved by the President.

According to Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu however, everyone one has a vested interest in the conservation of wildlife. He also stated that the Wildlife Act has a clause that asks any one to declare their interest in any matter before it is discussed.

The Madhivani Group of companies have several safari lodges in the different national  parks notably Paraa safari lodge in Murchison falls National park and Mweya safari lodge in Queen Elizabeth national park.

Mr. Mani Khan was appointed to the board as a representative of hoteliers who are a stakeholder in the tourism industry in Uganda. According to Prof. Kamuntu, the board is full of stakeholders who all have an interest in the conservation of the country’s wildlife.

Many legal experts say that if Mr. Khan is to take up his position on the board he should resign his position with the Madhvani group.

According to Mr. Andrew Seguya, the acting Executive Director of the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the body has been plagued with a shortage of staff with a shortage of over 1,000 game rangers. There has been rampart encroachment on protected areas, poor funding of Uganda’s tourism as well as massive poaching. We ran an article about the state of Uganda national parks with regard to Massive poaching. This article can be found here.

Pedophile

Uganda’s tourism industry has been growing in leaps and bounds over the past few years. It has been voted by Lonely Planet, a leading travel guide as the best travel destination for 2012. The country is blessed with a plethora of wildlife and flora. Some of which are endemic to the region.

However, the high number of tourists coming to Uganda is not just because of the plentiful flora and fauna. Uganda has also been targeted as a sex tourism destination as well.

The downside to this however was a recent court ruling in which a tourist Mr. Emin Baro age 53, a teacher from Turkey was sentenced to 2 years for pedophilia. According to investigations Mr. Baro had over the last 6 years been involved in the defilement of minors some as young as 10 years. He would take the pictures of these naïve young girls and post them on internet pornographic sites where he would charge a fee.

Mr. Emin Baro entered into the country 6 years ago on a tourist visa; however, since his entry he has been involved in the molestation of minors across the country. He would pay the girls just about a dollar for all this. He was found to possession passports for Macedonia and Newland as well.

Activists say many of these ill-intentioned tourists are exploiting the economic vulnerability of these girls.

He was charged with child molestation and possession of child pornographic materials. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison or pay a fine of just about 2,500 US dollars.

According to the Judge, Rosemary Bareebe, the leniency in the judgment was because the client pleaded guilty. She told the client that child pornography is not acceptable in Ugandan society and is condemned.

According to prosecution, the fact Mr. Baro pled guilty meant that they were not able to delve into the nature of business although it was understood that he uploaded most of his materials to several websites.

The girls where variously abused in the districts of Jinja, Kampala and Masaka at different times. He would pay the girls anywhere from $1 to $2 for this absurd business and abuse.

Human rights activists across the country were enraged at the length of the sentences although they were pleased with the conviction. The say the length of the sentence was not a deterrent for those who would otherwise engage in the activity in future.

Acording to Mr. Wandega Anslem the Uganda Program Manager of ANPPCAN – African Network for the Prevention and Protection again Child Abuse and Neglect, the Judge should have given Mr. Baro a sentence of at least 10 years.

A study carried out by African Network For the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect – ANPPCAN, in Jinja district which is a hub of tourists activities, many of these tourists are involved in child pornography especially along the beaches.

Uganda is attracting many tourists given its many tourist attractions. Some the Uganda tour attractions include:

Murchison falls national park

Mountain gorilla trips

Uganda birding trips

Photo Courtesy of New Vision, Uganda’s leading daily.

During the exhibition that was intended to sell Uganda, there were several posters as well as banners showing the different wildlife in Uganda. The pictures included flora and fauna which depicted them in different postures as banners that included catchy phrases such as irresistible Uganda which showed beautiful girls of the Karamojong tribe. This was to give the people of feel of Uganda’s culture and people.

In addition to the optical nutrition, Uganda tea and coffee was served to the people who attended the exhibition so as to give them a real true feeling of the Pearl of Africa. There were also different handicrafts on display that were being quickly bought by the people who visited the exhibition.

The exhibition was organized by Honorable Grace Akello the President’s Principal Private Secretary who was assisted by Mr. Mutenza Willy who is an International Marketing Consultant born in Uganda. PRESTO was launched as a result of the attendance of the Brussels Expo Holiday Fair which was organized by the Brussels Embassy in conjunction with the Brussels Airline under the assistance of Ambassador Mirjam Blaak.

The Presidential Initiative on Sustainable Tourism – PRESTO was launched to commemorate the creation of the Ministry of Tourism Wildlife and Heritage which had hitherto been under different ministries. At the occasion the President introduced the new minister for Tourism in Uganda, Hon.Emphraim Kamuntu.

The PRESTO project is intended to facilitate sustainable tourism in Uganda and according to the President of Uganda  “While tourism is about travel, Uganda’s 5-year National Development Plan (NDP) recognizes the tourism sector as one of the ‘Primary Growth Drivers of the Economy’ that directly creates employment and investment opportunities, generates national and household income, brings in foreign exchange, and creates a market for local products at source. Tourism is in essence the opening of a window of opportunities into Uganda. At the global level, tourism is one the world’s most traded services, with a high potential for a multiplier effect at the national level. 880 million tourists worldwide generate US$ 852 billion.”

Uganda gets most of its tourists from the United Kingdom thus the President’s choice of London as the place to launch the initiative.  Unlike her neighbors, Uganda is targeting high end tourism so as to enable sustainability as well as protect the environment.

As a tourism destination Uganda received several accolades in the last couple of years:

1.      Lonely Planet – a World-leading travel guide of sorts voted Uganda as the number one Tourism Destination of 2012

2.      The Virunga Volcanoes which extends to the Bwindi and Mgahinga national parks in Uganda has been included among the “Must-see-places for 2012”. The list includes 20 tour attractions and places that one must visit in their lifetime. You can do gorilla safari in Bwindi as well.

3.      Of all Africa’s birding sites, Bwindi Impenetrable forest which has been designated a national park – Bwindi national park is the number birding site in Africa. Bwindi is also famous for its mountain gorillas offering gorilla trekking opportunities for tourists to the region. Murchison falls national park located in North Western Uganda is also among the top 10 birding safari sites in Africa.

4.      Mountain Rwenzori national park located in Western Uganda has also been voted one of the leading hiking places in Africa and the World.

5.      In the National Geographic Magazine, the tree-climbing lions of the Ishasha sector in Queen Elizabeth National Park were the photo of the month.

According to the President of Uganda the Country has a lot of cultural and ecological resources to offer the world with a lot of hidden treasures that the world still has to discover. According to statistics Uganda has over 18,783 flora and fauna species recorded and has one of the richest biodiversities in the World.

Uganda’s hospitality is legendary and tourists visiting the country come away with a feeling of awe and desire to come back and visit.

Some of the major tour attraction not mentioned above includes a visit to the gorillas in the Bwindi impenetrable forest national park. Gorilla safari packages fetch the country more tourist dollars than any other tour attractions in Uganda.

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.

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The Rwanda Development Board announced in January that the price of mountain gorilla safaris permits would be increased by 50%. This development was welcomed by the districts around Volcanoes national park where the mountain gorillas are located as the RDB has a revenue sharing program in which the communities are the tourist attractions take 5% of the revenue generated by any of the tour attractions.

Districts like Nyabihu, Burera and Musanze are optimistic that they will reap big from the increase in the gorilla tour fees. This view however, is not shared by the Rwanda tour operators who argue that increasing the gorilla trekking price would only serve to drive the tourists to Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo the only other Countries where these gentle giants can still be found.

In Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo the gorilla safari prices have not been increased and the gorilla permits still cost $500.

The tourism revenue sharing program was introduced by the Rwanda Development Board in 2010 and so far there’s over 113m Rwanda Francs that the districts neighboring the tour attractions and parks are to share.

This revenue is shared by the local governments, community organizations some who include widows, those that have given up poaching as well as other Non Government Organizations. The funds are used to carry out projects such as building community centers and halls, construct roads, build classrooms, construct teachers’ housing units etc.

According to the community leaders, this is a very welcome program and benefits the locals around the national parks. One local resident said it was very incredible to see the developments that the tourism revenue is bringing to the district of Musanze. This is a way for money got from tourism to trick back into the local communities.

The revenue sharing scheme has helped in ensuring that locals take an interest in the conservation of the parks as well as the flora and fauna as it benefits them directly. The Revenue sharing scheme has helped in changing the perception of the poachers who now view the wildlife as something that they too can benefit from directly if conserved.

According to the Chief Park Warden of Volcanoes national park Mr. Prosper Uwingeli, the 5% revenue from tourism that is ploughed back into the community has helped in promoting sustainable tourism in the Volcanoes national park.

The Rwanda Development Board has also introduced new gorilla trekking packages for VIP groups in which a group of tourists can exclusively book a whole mountain gorilla group (Family) and are provided with customized services at a cost of $10,000 per group.

Tourism however remains a foreign concept to many Ugandans despite the benefits that it is providing to this Country. Very few Ugandans have visited the different national parks in Uganda. Although the size of the British Isle, Uganda has over 10 national parks in addition to other different game reserves and conservation areas.

About 125,203 tourists visited Uganda national parks in 2004; however by 2009 the number of tourists had increased tremendously to 145,000 arrivals.

Uganda’s tourism despite its great initial potential after independence was greatly affected by the dictatorial reign of Idd Amin in the 1970s. A large number of Uganda’s wildlife was decimated due to poaching and poor management of the wildlife.

Rhinos for instance were hunted to extinction in Uganda. This was partly due to superstition by the soldiers who believed that wearing a rhino horn made one invincible.

However also during the 1990s there was war in northern by the Lord’s Resistance Army – LRA as well as south western Uganda by the Allied Democratic Forces – ADF and media reports about these incidents negatively affected the country’s image.

One of the worst of these incidents was the massacre of tourists in Bwindi national park who had gone on a gorilla safari in 1999 by the ADF rebels. Gorilla tourism is the leading foreign exchange earner for Uganda’s tourism. Almost all Uganda tour packages have gorilla trekking in Bwindi included in the itinerary.

The other notable incident was the killing of students from the Jimmy Sekasi Institute of catering and hospital by the LRA in 2001 in an area of Uganda’s largest national park – Murchison falls national park in northern Uganda.

In order to realize the goal of conservation, conservations have poverty alleviation as one of the key objectives of conservation of wildlife. Uganda Wildlife Authority has for years now made it a point in its revenue sharing program to ensure that 20% of the annual revenue collected from any national park goes back to the communities surrounding the national park or tour attraction.

In total there has been over $2 million that the Uganda Wildlife Authority has given back to the local communities in the national parks through their local governments and the money is often used to provide services to the community as well as start projects for the locals in the area.

There are over 30 districts found around Uganda’s national parks and protected areas. All these districts under their local government have identified projects under the revenue sharing scheme that the Uganda Wildlife Authority can partly finance.

These locals have identified projects such as constructions of classrooms, teachers’ houses, clinics, roads, irrigation schemes, community halls and centers etc.

In addition to this locals benefit from tourism activities directly, for instance the locals around Bwindi Impenetrable forest national park as well as Mountain Rwenzori national park earn more in a month than most civil servants earn in a year from being porters to the tourists when doing gorilla trekking and Rwenzori mountain climbing.

Ssezibwa falls

All the stories are given in details at the destination by the guides, as well as they take to the shrine where people go for blessings, cave that has very big snakes, and many more things to watch. So attractive are the falls and can appear so cool physically which you ought not to miss out on your visit to the Pearl of Africa.

Attractions and activities: The sounds of hissing waterfalls welcomes you here, the environment in Ssezibwa has natural color. Climbing the diamond shaped edge rocks is a fascinating adventure of Uganda tours. A lapse in concentration could land one into the hands of the falls. At Ssezibwa falls tourists enjoy bird watching and hunting. There is also music, dance and drama. Ssezibwa falls is one of the places contributing to Uganda safaris.

The beautiful green vegetation like Bamboo and Erithina, the 7 meters high waterfalls, and the harmony of Bird songs above the trees creates beautiful scenery for relaxation and enjoyment. Rock climbing and bird watching are main activities at the site, and Geologists visit the site in numbers. Wildlife includes the Bush Monkeys, red tailed monkeys and many other primates and Birds.

The dark waters rise up to 90 feet during the rainy season, with fascinating sounds from the pouring waters, holding the secret not known to many, unique and rich traditions, acknowledged only by those who love culture and serene.

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