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.

For your Kenya safari packages such as Masai Mara tours

• Murchison falls national park
• Queen Elizabeth national park
• Kidepo Valley national park
• Semliki national park
• Lake Mburo national park
• Bwindi impenetrable forest national park
• Mgahinga national park
• Mount Elgon national park
• Mountain Rwenzori national park
• Kibale forest national park

There are other game reserves such as Katonga game reserve and many others with in Uganda. The Country is blessed with many different natural resources and its main attractions are the mountain gorillas and chimpanzees. Mountain gorillas are endemic to Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Gorilla tourism is the leading tour attraction in these three Countries, for a mountain gorilla safari in Uganda and Rwanda one has to pay $500 for a gorilla permit which includes the cost of gorilla trekking, park entrance fees as well as the park ranger fees.

Kidepo national park is one of the top national parks in Uganda with unique plant and wildlife species. The park has some of the most rare wildlife species some of which are endemic to the region. To boost tourism in the national park the government is encouraging the building of safari lodges in the area to offer accommodations.

However a businessman Mr. Kodet who claims the President of Uganda had offered him Katurumu Lodge to take over management is now facing opposition from the Uganda Wildlife Authority which is mandated to manage all Uganda national parks.

The Uganda Wildlife Authority has asked Mr. Kodet to go through the formal process of acquiring any government asset before developing the national park which is located in the Karamoja sub-region.

According to the Uganda Wildlife Authority Executive Director Mr. Andrew Sseguya business man Cornelius Lorika Kodet is to be stopped from carrying out renovations of the Katurum lodge until he goes through the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority process.

Mr. Kodet is a successful businessman who owns a beach at Entebbe – Aero beach, Apule Safari lodge in the district of Mbale and Mount Moroto hotel in the district of Moroto.

However, the businessman Mr. Kodet has said he will carry on with the construction of Katurum lodge following the directive he got from the President of Uganda. He said that when the Uganda Wildlife Authority had initially wanted to destroy the lodge, they had requested for money from government to do it but he instead asked the President to allow him redevelop it and he got a letter from the then Minister of tourism allowing him to go ahead with the construction and renovations. Mr. Kodet says he has an investment plan and intends to go ahead with his construction works.

Katurum lodge was constructed in the 1970s but was later vandalized after the government of Idi Amin was ousted in 1979. To make it functional the business man has put on a new roof and is doing renovation activities in the interior of the lodge. However, Mr. Sseguya says that the businessman can only go ahead if he follows the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets process as well as the letter from the then Minister of Tourism Mr. Kahinda Otafiire.

Katurum lodge is a property of the Uganda Wildlife Authority and was recently advertised in the International Tender of Joint Ventures.

Your can read more on Uganda tourism from your Uganda travel guide or make a gorilla safari booking from the leading gorilla tours in Uganda site offering gorilla trekking in Bwindi as well as Rwanda gorilla safaris.

Mr. Luyimbazi Fredrick the Assistant Commissioner for Entomology has said that this will help boost tourist confidence in the area. Mr. Luyimbazi Fredrick visited the region recently during a Murchison falls safari and found that the number of tsetse flies in the region had greatly reduced.

The Assistant Commissioner toured Red Chilli rest house, Sambiya River lodge and the Uganda Wildlife Authority offices all which are located in the Murchison falls national park. He urged government to invest in the eradication of tsetse flies in the region.

There was an incident where a tourist provided negative publicity about the tourism in the Country. A tourist visited Murchison Falls national park in August 2011 and posted bad reviews about the place saying it swarmed with tsetse which is actually not true. The tourist was telling other tourists not to visit the region.

The entomologist said one other solution to the tsetse flies is spraying with environmentally friendly pesticides.

Apart from gorilla safaris in Bwindi, the other top Uganda tour package is a Murchison falls safari.

However due to poor use and mismanagement most of the lakes in Uganda are being over fished and illegal fishing practices such as catching of young and immature fish has led to a drastic decline in the number of fish is most of Uganda’s lakes.

In Western Uganda for example over 72 lakes are now without fish having been over fished. The extinction of fish is these lakes is testament to the illegal fishing methods as well as lack of regulations by the authorities.  The ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries under whose docket the management of fishing in lakes falls, has come up with stringent measures to curb illegal fishing in Uganda’s lakes. This includes confiscating illegal fishing nets as well as day and night patrol of the lakes. According to Mr. Ismail Bugingo the fisheries enforcement officer in west Uganda, the depletion of the lakes of fish has led to the local traders in the region trading in immature fish as well as a move eastwards to the central region lakes.

A case in point is the confiscation of over 300Kg worth 2.5m Uganda Shillings (approx. $1000) of immature fish which was impounded by officials. The fish was destined for the Democratic Republic of Congo where there’s a high demand for fish. Some of the fish species that are being threatened are tilapia and Nile perch.

According to Mr. Yassin Matovu, the Entebbe Fisheries Department field officer there is no imminent plan to reintroduce new fish species to the already depleted 72 lakes. In areas like the Murchison falls, there is a good example of how important our fish and water bodies can be managed. Sport fishing in Murchison falls is good recreational activity which does not threaten the number of fish the Murchison bay. There are a high number of tourists who visit the region to carry out sport fishing bringing in a good amount of revenue to the locals and the Country at large.

It is a shame that many of these illegal fishermen are being protected by the local politicians instead of facing serious fines. Condoning these illegal activities will only serve to deprive the poor local communities of a good source of food and livelihood. As earlier mentioned proper planning of our fishing industry not only ensures that there’s a continued supply of food but also foreign exchange from tourism. Sport fishing in Uganda is a good Uganda tourism attraction and with a well managed fish population it is definite that sport fishing can become a major tour attraction.

This is an example of how Uganda has failed to take advantage of its tourism potential. Tourism in Uganda is one of the fasters growing sectors at a rate of 21% and has grown by 50% in the last 10 years. Currently we have put more emphasis on gorilla tour in Bwindi impenetrable forest, with gorilla trekking bringing in over $3m annually.

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.

According to statistics from the Uganda Wildlife Authority the number of tourists to Uganda national parks is mainly foreign non-resident tourists who average about 61,000. This is closely followed by students on field trips who make up approx. 42,000 while only a palty 30,000 are locals.

This project is expected to be conducted with the help of ornithologists as well as the many local bird guides who were recently trained as well as seasoned birders.

The acting director of tourism and business services of Uganda Wildlife Authority, Mr. Stephen Sanyi Masaba this initiative is aimed at helping to promote the bird watching in the Country as well provide information about Uganda ‘s bird species to the international community.

Uganda has over 1047 recorded bird species which is more than half of the bird species found in Africa as a continent. According to Mr. Masaba bird watching in Uganda alone has the potential to generate over Shs 126 billion approx. $45m each given year if only the Country could attract 10,000 foreign tourists to see birds only. At press conference at the Uganda Media Centre, he said that in 2008 compared to mountain gorilla tracking which brought in $3.3 million, Uganda birding watching brought in $6m.

During the event all the birds seen or heard in the wild will be recorded. The birding tours will be carried out in the following selected sites

1. Semliki national park

• Murchison falls national park
• Lake Mburo national park
• Mount Elgon national park and forest
• Kibale forest
• Mgahinga
• Bwindi impenetrable forest
• Kidepo valley national park

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.

Mountain Elgon national park

This year due to a crack that has deepened and is now over 40 kilometers there has been a landslide that has led to the loss of two people.

According to a letter from the Minister of Water and Environment read by Mr. Gershom Onyango who is the director for environmental affairs, the whole region of mountain Elgon in Uganda surrounded by the people of Bugisu is heavily encroached for farming and fireword. He said they should be relocated in order for the government to help conserve the region and also to avoid any more catastrophe like that in Bududa last year in which at least 363 people were buried during a devastating landslide in the village of Nametsi. The disaster caused over 10,000 people to be displaced and it destroyed over 2,000 homes. The estimated loss from the damage was over 3 billion shillings (approx. 1.5m dollars).

Ms. Maria Mutagamba stressed the importance of growing trees and how forest cover helps to regulate the climate and provide habitat for wildlife as well its medicinal value to people. Mountain Elgon national park and the forest reserve around it acts as a water catchment area, for the whole of the region of Eastern Uganda and Western Kenya. The minister was speaking at Bulucheke camp in which the people displaced by the landslide of last year were first settled before being transferred to Kiryandongo District in Western Uganda.

The minister stressed the importance of growing trees and forests in preserving the eco-system. She said it is important that each person plant trees to help conserve the environment. Mountain Elgon is important to Uganda tourism and brings in a huge number of tourists to the Country. There are several tourist activities that are carried out and these include wildlife tours, sipi falls tour as well as mountain hiking safaris.