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UGANDA AIR OPERATORS
MEET SHELL
In the past the supply
of AVGAS, crucial to the Ugandan domestic
aviation industry, has often been erratic
and on occasions run out altogether, as
the present storage facility at Entebbe
International Airport was just enough to
receive one full tanker load at a go,
causing the tank to be empty before
refilling could take place. In particular
the key charter companies operating from
the Kajjansi airfield just outside Kampala
have been suffering of the supply
situation.
A meeting of UAAO and
Shell Uganda top executives, moderated by
the Uganda Tourism Association, has now
taken place and agreed to resume within a
fortnight to check costed options by
Shell, how to improve the availability of
the crucial fuel. The talks took place in
a friendly and constructive atmosphere.
Shell executives also inspected the
Kajjansi airfield and some of the
facilities which were added in the recent
past, such as maintenance hangers and
aircraft shelters, and witnessed several
take offs and landings during their three
hour session.
NOW WORLD BANK WADES
INTO FOREST DEBATE
In a timely turn the
World Bank has on August 29th released a
new report titled: "Managing Climate
Risk-Integrating Adaptation into World
Bank Group Operations,", which paints a
gloomy picture for the future of the least
developed and developing countries that
disregard environmental concerns and best
practice in pursuit and favour of economic
prosperity.
Local observers
immediately connected the report to the
current sharp debate over the use of
Mabira Forest, which corporate greed wants
to turn into a sugar plantation, and
conservationists and large sections of
civil society once again demanded, that
the forest be left alone and alternative
options, as offered by the Buganda
Kingdom, be pursued. Uganda has a
checkered history over her commitment to
the protection of natural resources and
game reserves, as past debates over the
degazetting of Pian Upe Game Reserve,
invasions of national parks by cattle
keepers and conversions of former forest
reserves into industrial parks or farmland
has shown.
The combined public
pressure also seems to have shown a result
when the President apparently developed
second thoughts and took a step back from
his former strong opinion to see the deal
go through, as a chorus of objection began
to rise across civil society, supported by
the key development partners, who also
found the proposal totally
objectionable.
CCTV COMING FOR
KAMPALA
With the news now
broken by a local daily newspaper it is no
longer a breach of confidence, although
the knowledge has been there for weeks
now. Entebbe International Airport, the
main road from the airport to the capital,
Kampala city spots and the key hotels and
conference venues will all be covered with
latest CCTV technology ahead of the
Commonwealth summit next year. At an
estimated cost of US Dollars 6 Million the
wireless cameras will transmit their
pictures into a main control and command
centre of the security services, which
will allow monitoring of crucial areas and
improve response times in case of any
trouble.
Leading hotels like the
Kampala Serena Hotel and the Sheraton
Kampala Hotel already have CCTV installed
on premises, as global industry standards
are expected of hotels of this quality,
but many other hotels have never caught up
with the latest security gadgets, door
lock systems and other state of the art
technology.
SHERATON KAMPALA
RETAINS ISO 9001-2000
CERTIFICATION
Three years down the
road from first attaining this prestigious
certification from Bureau Veritas Quality
International, and having gone through
fresh internal and external audits, BVQI
has now re-certified the Sheraton Kampala
once again for a further three years and
awarded a new certificate. The Kampala
Sheraton Hotel is presently the only hotel
in East Africa so certified. General
Manager Jawaid Akhtar received the award
from BVQI during a short function
recently.
AIRLINE 'DIVORCE'
NOW FINAL
The long lasting and
often acrimonious negotiations to dissolve
the business partnership between South
African Airways and Air Tanzania have now
at last been concluded. When in 2002 SAA
bought a 49 percent stake in ATC at a cost
of 20 Million US Dollars, it was
immediately thought that Kenya Airways had
dealt them a master stroke, stringing SAA
along in the bidding process and then
deciding not to put in a bid for Air
Tanzania on the eve of the deadline. KQ
then rather opted to by 49 percent of the
shares of privately owned carrier
Precision Air, which has in the meantime
grown into the largest Tanzania airline,
both domestic as well as
regional.
This error in judgment
by the then SAA management cost the
airline dearly. Not only did the
partnership not work out, inspite of a
management overhaul two years into the
venture, but the airline continued to
bleed money with SAA being unable to
impose a viable concept on the national
airline. The initial payment of 20 Million
US Dollars was now returned as 1 (One) US
Dollar, for which the Tanzanian Government
bought back the 49 percent shares, in
other words, while Tanzania now got their
airline back, SAA has lost a staggering
19.999.999 US Dollars and plenty of
reputation in the process too. This is the
second time a SAA venture in East Africa
fails, after they already went under with
Alliance Air, also known as Africa Joint
Air Services (AJAS) Limited, where Uganda,
Tanzania and SAA were partners in the
early 90's.
PREVIOIUS
NEWS UPDATE
DISNEY RHINOS ARRIVE
IN UGANDA
Wednesday night saw the
conclusion of a long set of negotiations
and discussions between the Rhino Fun d
Uganda and the Disney Corporation of the
United States. A pair of breeding age
rhinos were shipped from the US to
Entebbe, received and cleared for
immediate transport to the Ziwa Rhino
Sanctuary, where they will undergo the
required quarantine period and veterinary
supervision, before being released into
the main sanctuary's 18.000 acres to join
two other pairs already on
site.
Write to
info@rhinofund.org or to
yverkaik@rhinofund.org for more
information and to discuss how you can
assist in restoring rhinos to Uganda. The
fund is particularly keen to be assisted
in the acquisition of Eastern Black
Rhinos, which were last seen in the wild
in the early 1980's, before being poached
to extinction by marauding soldiers of the
regimes in place at the time in
Uganda.
BABOON MENACE CAUSES
COMMUNITY REACTION
Rural communities
living near the Busitema forest reserve
have now taken the law into their own
hands and are fighting back against crop
raiding olive baboon gangs. Baiting the
invaders of their farms and small holdings
with poisoned bananas they have
successfully defended their food sources
against the baboons. Uganda Wildlife
Authority has termed the animals outside
protected areas 'vermin' some years ago to
assist farmers &endash; over 80 percent of
Ugandans still live in the rural areas and
mostly make a living from agriculture
&endash; to combat the menace. However,
baboons which are found inside national
parks and reserves are still protected by
law. The Busitema forest reserve is
considered such a protected area and field
staff of the national forest authority is
now trying to make sense of the situation
to look after the interest of both people
and animals.
ROAD CLOSURES TO
CONTINUE
As preparations towards
improving the traffic and infrastructure
situation in Kampala ahead of the
Commonwealth Summit in November 2007
continue, roads will have to be cordoned
off for work. The national water
corporation is also installing a new
feeder pipe system to connect the third
water works phase with the city and its
environs, which has been impacting on some
of the major feeder roads into the
city.
Work on the main
bottlenecks into the business district,
the two Clock Tower roundabouts, however
continues to be on track and the new
traffic directions are slowly becoming
visible to road users.
Visitors to Kampala
need to be ready to go through diversions
and suffer some delays in point to point
traffic until the road works show their
full benefit for city
residents.
The same situation
incidentally also applies for Entebbe
municipality, where in particular the main
road to the airport will be subject to
diversions during the laying of new pipes
in coming weeks.
HOTEL AND TOURISM
TRAINING INSTITUTE TO OFFER
DEGREES
Uganda's national hotel
and tourism training institute, located at
the Crested Crane Hotel in Jinja, has been
designated as one of the 8 constituent
colleges of the new public university of
Eastern Uganda, which for the time being
carries the working name 'Busitema
University'.
The recently appointed
Vice Chancellor and his senior staff last
week visited HTTI and during the
discussions with the institute's
management requested, that the institution
begin to offer at least one Bachelor
Degree course in the hospitality and
tourism management field, starting in
2007.
Subject to relevant
facilitation through the Ministry of
Education and Sports with lecturer
recruitment and other logistics, the
institution is however ready and prepared
to start the new courses. The news were
broken during a function for outgoing
students of HTTI in the presence of the
Minister of State for Tourism, Hon.
Serapio Rukundo, by the Chairperson of the
Institute in his key note address. This
will provide further career enhancing
study opportunities for alumni of HTTI,
who have so far graduated from certificate
and diploma courses. HTTI is renowned for
its dedication to practical, hands on
training and even the degree courses will
retain a high element of practical
components to meet the expectation of
Ugandan employers and even allow graduates
to seek international employment in the
hospitality sector.
KENYAN MINISTER NOW
RAPS AIRPORT CONSTRUCTION
The Minister for Trade
in the Kenyan government, Mr. Kituyi, has
now termed the construction of Eldoret
International Airport a 'big mistake' and
claims the money would have been better
spent to improve and enlarge the Kisumu
Airport. The Minister was quoted in the
Kenyan media earlier in the week as having
said: 'the government is struggling to
keep afloat the Eldoret airport. This
proves that the construction was a big
mistake'.
Yet, the Minister may
have conveniently forgotten that the very
same government ripped the floor out of
Eldoret's cargo business by banning
flights over allegations of smuggling and
duty evasion, which prompted an almost
total ban to fly cargo directly from
mainly the Gulf into Eldoret.
The runway is also
under dimensioned as it is to allow full
load take offs from Eldoret to transport
flowers, fruits and vegetables in to such
places like the UAE or Europe, requiring
often an immediate stop in Nairobi for
full fuel loads.
UGANDA REMAINS
SUSPENDED FROM UNWTO
In a meeting with the
Parliamentary Sessional Committee on
Tourism, Trade and Industry and the
Parliamentary Sessional Committee on
Budget, the Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry, Dr. Sam Nahamya lamented the
indifference and intransigence of the
Ministry of Finance towards paying dues
for international organizations for his
Ministry. Uganda's membership in the
global UN tourism body UNWTO therefore
remains suspended and has been for a
number of years.
Uganda subsequently
looses annual grants for training and
marketing support as a member of the LDC
group of countries (least developed
countries). Some years ago the President
of Uganda directed the Ministry of Finance
to pay up the overdue subscriptions but
even this was ignored, citing lack of
funds.
In contrast, the Civil
Aviation Authority of Uganda is a paid up
affiliate member of UNWTO and regularly
attends the global and regional
meetings.
KEY TOURISM ROAD
GETS BITUMINIZED
The scenic road used by
tourists and locals alike between Kabala
and Kisoro, which connects the two main
gorilla national parks in the country, is
due to be re-graded and bituminized at
last. The Minister for Works and Tranport,
Hon. John Nasasira, has now announced that
the contracts will be signed in September
and work would commence soon
thereafter.
This will be a major
boost for farmers to get their produce to
the markets but also cut traveling time
and provide greater comfort on the road
for tourists, many of whom visit the
gorilla parks and enjoy the views from the
road across to the Virunga volcanoes and
the drive through tropical rain forests
and bamboo forests, which line the
road.
SECURITY CONCERNS
FOR TOURISM AS SENATOR OBAMA JETS INTO
KENYA
As Kenyan born US
Senator Barack Obama jets into Kenya today
as part of his African tour, concerns have
once again been raised on the security
preparations for other visitors and
residents. While Senator Obama will of
course be accorded security from the
presidential protection details, just a
few days ago the Russian Ambassador was
hurt when his car was stopped outside
Nairobi and he was robbed of valuables.
Reports have also emerged of a top of the
range luxury tented safari camp in the
Masai Mara having been raided and British
and American tourists robbed of their
belongings but reportedly not hurt. The
robbers made off across the border with
Tanzania, reminding the tourism sector
that security is an ongoing issue and
complacency has no place when it comes to
such crucial matters.
MORE OILFINDS IN
UGANDA
Additional wells
drilled in recent weeks again show
commercially viable quantities of oil and
the explorations companies are now
confident that once the production
infrastructure is being put into place, of
course after all the exploration drilling
and result assessments have been done,
that Uganda will indeed become an oil
producing country. This will have a
substantial impact on the future of the
country's economy.
FLATBEDS FOR SN
BRUSSELS
With the scheduled
fleet cabin conversion now completed,
passengers on SN Brussels Airlines flights
between Entebbe and Brussels can now enjoy
the comfort of flat bed business class
seats. The cabin interior in SN's Airbus
330-200 fleet was completely re-styled and
both economy and business cabins now
appear in their new look. Inflight service
also underwent some improvements to
reflect the growing competitive demands of
passengers traveling on this full service
carrier.
The new layout was last
week introduced in Kampala to travel
agents, frequent travelers and the
business community at large. SN Brussels
currently flies three times each week
between Brussels and Entebbe with
connections via Nairobi and connects from
there to dozens of destinations within
Europe and &endash; through code share
arrangements &endash; beyond.
PAY ONCE, PAY TWICE,
PAY MORE AND MORE
News have emerged from
Kenya about rising complaints over the
multiple charges levied on visitors to the
Masai Mara Game Reserve. Nation reporters
Allan Odhiambo and Jackline Moraa wrote in
their story about an increasing trend to
'milk' visitors through multiple entry
charges caused by the many community
groups, besides the conservancy and main
game reserve bodies. At the heart is the
struggle for equitable distribution of the
gross income raised through fees, which is
supposed to compensate for loss of revenue
through agriculture, crop destruction and
livestock losses.
While the 'communities'
have arguably benefited in the past
through the revenue sharing, which
financed clean water, schools, health
centres and similar activities, individual
land owners do not seem to have benefited
outright, something the 'new' fees are
supposed to address. Prof. Isaac Sindiga
has pointed out the potential impact of
such multiple charges in his research
document: 'Alternative tourism and
sustainable development in Kenya', in
which he warns of negative reactions by
visitors when faced with such multiple
charges. Kenya is undergoing a revival of
her tourism fortunes with first half
figures for 2006 again recording
substantial revenue increases as well as
higher visitor numbers, compared to bumper
year 2005, which had outstripped all
previous recorded increases. The Masai
Mara is a particularly fragile ecosystem,
connected in the South to the famous
Serengeti. A building ban and moratorium
was recently introduced to study the
impact of dozens of accommodation
establishments which have mushroomed in
recent years in the greater Masai Mara
area. In contrast, the Tanzanian
government has been rather restrictive on
new developments in the past and has only
a few months ago banned a further planned
resort development in the heart of the
Serengeti to preserve the unique wildlife
experience for visitors to one of the most
famous parks in the world.
In a related
development further news have just been
received of plans to raise the present US
Dollar 375 tracking fee for gorillas per
person per tracking in Rwanda to a
staggering US Dollars 500 from next year
onwards. From August this year a joint USD
375 fee for tracking was agreed between
the conservation bodies of Rwanda, Congo
DR and Uganda, which includes a small
commission for the safari operators, who
hitherto had to transact the tracking
permits on a 'net' basis. Tracking in
Bwindi / Uganda is possible with up to 32
permits per day, tracking in Mgahinga (8
permits per day) is presently suspended as
the habituated group is migrating between
Uganda, Rwanda and Congo DR and tracking
in Rwanda is now possible with 56 permits
per day, a daily maximum of 8 non staff
visitors per habituated group.
The full article by
Allan Odhiambo and Jackline Moraa of
Kenya's 'Daily Nation' can be found at
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category
MALINDI AIRPORT
READY FOR EXPANSION
The Kenya Airport
Authority has in a recent press release
announced, that the upgrading of Malindi's
airport (a coastal town about 100 KM north
of Mombasa) can now proceed. Initially the
work will cover a remodeling of the
arrival and departure lounges to allow a
simultaneous handling of up to 500
passengers. Also on the drawing board is
the relocation of the control tower. The
main and single runway is due for
expansion by another 1.500 metres once the
relocation of residents affected by this
measure has been completed. The runway
expansion will allow the use of larger jet
aircraft, as Malindi is presently served
by turboprops.
LAMU NOW, LAMU
THEN
Lamu has until now been
known for its tranquility and being able
to offer visitors a step back in time,
when reaching this archipelago. Plans are
now however underway by a Kuwaiti
consortium in conjunction with the Kenya
Government to build a modern seaport,
construct resorts and establish a railway
and road link. The priceless cultural
heritage of Lamu and the adjoining
communities' way of life is subsequently
under threat of a complete uprooting of
their traditional values and lifestyles,
something much more is expected to be
written about in coming months.
QUEEN TO VISIT AHEAD
OF CHOGM
H.M. Queen Elizabeth II
will be on a State Visit ahead of the
November 2007 CHOGM Summit, touring
Uganda. One of the spots to be visited by
her is Queen Elizabeth National Park,
which was named after her on the occasion
of her coronation. This should
substantially popularize Uganda safaris in
the UK and across the Commonwealth
nations.
WILDLIFE 'EXPORTERS'
BAILED
Some notorious
'wildlife traders' were caught once again
in Uganda. Their attempt to 'export'' live
tortoises declared as mere 'shells' was
discovered in time before the reptiles
died in their containers. The pair was
promptly arrested and charged but then
eventually released on bail, awaiting
trial. The conservation fraternity in
Uganda, already opposed to the entire
concept of wildlife trading, is now hoping
for stiff custodial sentences at the end
of the trial, to deter other peddlers of
wildlife, birds and reptiles caught in the
wild and shipped off overseas to eager
purchasers in the developed
world
KENYA AIRWAYS SIGNS
CODE SHARE WITH TURKISH
AIRLINES
After more than a year
of flights from Nairobi via Cairo to
Istanbul, the two national carriers of
Kenya and Turkey have now signed a
comprehensive code-share agreement. This
will allow travelers of KQ to connect with
Turkish Airlines into Eastern Europe while
visitors to East Africa can now travel
from Eastern Europe via Istanbul. This is
the second major codeshare arrangement
Kenya Airways signed over the past few
months after a similar deal with Korean
Airlines.
TO BUILD OR NOT TO
BUILD
The latest information
from government about the planned
Commonwealth Road, which is to connect the
Entebbe Road from the airport directly
with the resort area of Munyonyo on the
shores of Lake Victoria, now indicates
that after all no funds will be found to
construct the new access. Previous
information was that the road was already
at tender stage and much hullabaloo was
made over the project. The new road would
have cut travel time to and from the
airport to a mere 35-40 minutes, whereas
presently &endash; depending on traffic
&endash; this can stretch to over 1 ?
hours.
EMIRATES NOW
CONNECTS ENTEBBE TO ADDIS
ABABA
Following a schedule
and routing change, Emirates, Dubai's
award winning airline, is now connecting
Addis Ababa with Entebbe 3 times a week.
Full traffic rights have been awarded by
the Ethiopian and Ugandan Civil Aviation
Authorities to the carrier and flights
have already commenced. The remaining 4
days will be served via Nairobi, where
however no traffic rights exist between
Entebbe and Nairobi.
TANZANIA TRAMPLES
EAC PRINCIPLES
Complaints have been on
the increase that Ugandan and Kenyan
business travelers to Tanzania are being
charged a USD 100 'fee' when entering the
sister state, which is in clear violation
of the protocols signed by the three EAC
partners in regard of removing non-tariff
barriers and enabling cross border
traffic. The Ugandan business community
has voiced grave concern over the
reliability of Tanzania to uphold the
mutually agreed to regulations, as they
also recently slapped additional tariffs
on iron sheets produced in Uganda. Several
members of the business community voiced
further doubts in a recent meeting to
discuss the future of the EAC over
Tanzania's commitment to the EAC, as they
were continuing to be a member of SADC,
while the other two member states and the
two applicants Rwanda and Burundi are
actually members of COMESA.
The charges by
Tanzanian immigration are considered a big
impediment on regional business
developments as apparently the 'fee'
&endash; others during the meeting called
it 'an extortion' &endash; is being
demanded every time business people cross
the border and show 'business' as purpose
of the visit on the immigration cards.
Barbs for the Tanzanian immigration for
that regressive measure!
ECOLOGY VERSUS
ECONOMY
The Uganda National
Forest Authority has voiced objections
over plans to cut down a quarter of one of
Uganda's best known forests - Mabira
Forest &endash; to create more acreage for
the adjoining Sugar Corporation of Uganda
(SCOUL), owned by the Mehta family. SCOUL
had a while ago applied to government for
land to expand sugar production to about
100.000 tons per annum, which would go a
long way to meet Uganda's domestic sugar
consumption. Ecologists within the NFA
however point out the huge negative impact
such a project would have, including
possibly nullifying an eco-lodge
development supported by the Dutch
government and Dutch NGO's inside the
forest.
Forests in Uganda have
in recent years been cut beyond
sustainable levels and the country is now
nearing a situation, where wood
consumption through timber and charcoal
production is eating in to the remaining
resources, with no new forest plantations
on a large scale being started. Industry
observers estimate that approximately
10.000 hectares of forest need to be
planted and re-planted immediately, with
further planting in coming years, and that
this excludes the proposed cutting of
about 7.100 hectares of forest as now
intended for Mabira.
Such controversy over
forests in Uganda has arisen in the past
also, when BIDCO, a Kenya based edible oil
company, had acquired several thousand
hectares of land on one of the Ssese
Islands, and cut the indigenous forests
for a palm oil plantation. This measure
was undertaken to reduce the importation
of palm oil from mainly the South East
Asian region, to save foreign exchange and
make the East African region more
self-reliant in edible oil production. It
met however with vehement protests at the
time from environmental groups who wanted
to save over 3.000 hectares of indigenous
rain forest and protect the habitat of
birds and animals.
KAMPALA SERENA HOTEL
TO OPEN ON MONDAY 31ST JULY
International 5 star
standards have at last arrived in Uganda's
hotel industry. After nearly 18 months of
reconstruction the new Kampala Serena
Hotel is set to open its doors to the
Kampala public and guests from around the
world on Monday. Estimates for the cost of
completely rebuilding the former Nile
Hotel, which hibernated within the 17
acres of gardens in the heart of Kampala,
presently reach 32 Million US Dollars. The
new hotel will conclude the core East
African presence by Serena Hotels, as
incidentally envisaged in the early 70's,
when the group was formed with hotels and
lodges across the region. Serena has in
recent years become the market leader in
quality terms and owns and manages an
impressive portfolio of award winning
resorts, safari lodges and camps and city
hotels. New to the group is the management
of a major conference centre, which is
expected to host the opening ceremony of
the Commonwealth summit in Kampala next
year and also the Executive Committee
meetings of the global group, expected to
bring nearly 60 heads of state and
government to Uganda.
In applying global best
practice in the hospitality industry to
the new hotel, the Serena group also
trained over 100 Ugandans in their
properties across the region over the past
1 ? years, who now form the backbone of
their service team, and have in addition
been able to attach training personnel
from in particular their leading Kenyan
and Tanzanian resorts and hotels to ensure
a smooth opening period.
Expectations are high
by Kampaleans as they have in the past
generally expressed their disappointment
with the lack of service and lack of
service delivery in other hotels across
the city. Now that Serena has really
arrived, this is likely to influence other
hotel operators to sharpen up their own in
house or external training, which will be
to the benefit of the entire industry.
All the critics of
government's divestiture of the hotel
&endash; it was government owned and
operated before Serena took over the hotel
in February 2004 &endash; have now been
silenced and proven wrong, as the fences
around the perimeter have been removed and
the new hotel's impressive architecture
and landscaping become visible to everyone
passing.
UGANDAN TOURIST
MAGAZINE STARTS WEBSITE
At last Uganda's
premier tourist guide magazine 'The Eye'
has gone on the web, where prospective
visitors to the country can now find more
information what social and other events
will take place during the time of their
intended visits. The magazine has
established itself in recent years as the
clear front runner in the market and has
earlier this year moved to bi-monthly
editions whereas previously only 4
editions a year were published. The Eye's
printed edition is free for the readers
and financed entirely through advertising
sales. It also contains, besides editorial
content, maps, a detailed directory of
restaurants, hotels, lodges and airlines
as well as consular / diplomatic mission
contacts. Visit www.theeye.co.ug
for more
information and regular updates on
Uganda's tourism sector.
UGANDAN TRAVEL TRADE
BLAMES ET BLOCKAGE ON KQ
Continued regulatory
problems for Ethiopian Airlines to resume
flights between Nairobi and Entebbe, and
on to Bujumbura, have been traced back to
the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, which
in turn is believed to have made itself a
willing tool of Kenya Airways. The Kenyan
carrier has only a few weeks ago
re-started the 4th workdaily flight
between Nairobi and Entebbe again, at a
time when Ethiopian had also wanted to
resume flights (suspended in mid 2005)
under COMESA rules. KQ reacted with
offering a special US Dollars 99 return
fare (plus taxes) on the route, a move now
interpreted by the Ugandan travel agents
fraternity as 'trying to keep ET off the
route by hook or crook' &endash; to quote
one agitated travel agent, who when told
his comments would be published, requested
and preferred anonymity.
The Ugandan travel
fraternity is further incensed by rumours
that KQ intends to 'phase out' its Ugandan
country manager only to 'supplant him with
another Kenyan' (quote by the same
individual). Said another leading travel
agent: 'we must of course continue to do
business with KQ, they are just too big to
ignore. But as and where I can I will
begin to sell other airlines much more,
because this is not on what they (KQ) are
up to. I struggled to help get them their
4th flight back and now they are already
abusing the rights again.' She also
preferred anonymity, fearing repercussions
on her agency for her forthright
comments.
NEW CARRIER FOR
MOMBASA ROUTE FROM AUGUST 01ST
East African Safari Air
Express has now confirmed that they will
commence operations twice a day, with a
morning and evening link, between Nairobi
and Mombasa.
The domestic route in
Kenya is said to be one of the most
lucrative one's in Kenya's domestic
network but also fraught with competitive
uncertainties, as every other airline
trying their luck in past years eventually
went out of business, leaving Kenya
Airways as the only predictable carrier on
the route so far. East African Safari Air
Express is closely cooperating in Kenya
with Jetlink, which is serving such routes
like Kisumu, Malindi, Lokichogio and Juba
in South Sudan. It is also operating
inclusive tour charters from Italy to
Kenya and said to be searching for
additional charter routes from Europe, now
that tourist traffic to Kenya has sharply
grown again in past year due to a
successful marketing campaign in key
market places.
BUILDING BAN IN
KENYA'S MASAI MARA
At last the recognition
has set in around Kenyan government and
conservation circles, that the Masai Mara
was suffering from some serious
'overpopulation' of lodges, camps and
other establishments. A moratorium on any
further buildings and expansions was now
directed by the National Environmental
Management Authority until a review and
new management plan for the game reserve
has been agreed upon. The greater Mara
ecosystem now reportedly has some 60
different developments most of which have
been build without a due EIA &endash;
Environmental Impact Assessment unlike at
other East African national parks, where
EIA's are mandatory. In contrast TANAPA,
the Tanzanian national park managers, have
recently halted plans to establish a mega
resort in the heart of the Serengeti
(which adjoins the Mara across the border)
and earned applause and commendations from
around the world for their effort to
protect the fragile ecosystems.
SINGLE VISA IN THE
MAKING
The three East African
sister states have made progress towards
the introduction of a single East African
Visa, which would cover tourists visits to
all three states. This would aid a long
standing aspiration to have tourists see
more of the attractions across the entire
region, which are diverse and complement
each other.
The single Visa issue
was in fact brought up by this
correspondent in 2001, when first
attending the East African Community
Committee on Tourism and Wildlife
Management and making his first
presentation as President of the Uganda
Tourism Association at the time. The
proposal was back then looked upon as
'utopia' by some participants from the
public sectors but later on caught the
attention of 'regionalists' across the
sister states, who shared the vision to
make travel to and across East Africa
easier, more user friendly and more cost
effective. The proposed measures are due
by late 2006. It is also in line with the
EAC's efforts to create a 'single sky'
once again and have air transport across
the region harmonized. Tourist Boards from
the three countries hope to be able to
announce the new measure at the World
Travel Market in London in November this
year.
BILL GATES VISITS
SHOMPOLE
An extended trip across
Africa by the world's richest man and his
fellow co-founder of Microsoft, Paul
Allen, has concluded with the visitors
staying at renowned Shompole Lodge in
Kenya. Dan Akroyd, the well known
Hollywood actor, was also reportedly with
them. Find out more about this exclusive
Kenyan wilderness experience
at
www.shompole.com
FAIRMONT HOTELS TO
INVEST IN THEIR KENYAN
PROPERTIES
A US Dollars 35 Million
rehabilitation and modernization package
for their Kenyan properties was revealed
this week. Fairmont bought a number of
hotels and lodges in Kenya from Lonrho
Hotels, including the famous Norfolk
Hotel, the Mount Kenya Safari Club, the
Mara Safari Club, the Aberdare Country
Club and The Ark. Major beneficiary of the
financial package will be the Nanyuki
bases Mt. Kenya Safari Club in a long
overdue measure, as the previous owners
had not spent resources on modernizing and
upgrading the club while seeking buyers
for the group.
Fairmont reportedly
also has designs on investing in Uganda
and Tanzania but first intends to
strengthen its position in Kenya and
better understand the East African market
before making further
investments.
CONCORDE
TRAVEL TURNS TO UNIGLOBE
One of
Uganda's leading, privately owned travel
agencies, Concorde Travel, has now signed
a franchise agreement with Uniglobe
Travel. Global travel distribution chains
have of late taken root in Uganda's travel
agency market. Carlson Wagonlit only
recently handed a full franchise to what
was formerly Swanair Travel and Safaris
and American Express has for a while been
represented through UTB 2004. Monique
Becker, Managing Director of Concorde
Travel, expressed her delight over the
franchise and said she hoped for a bright
future by offering global service
packages.
HORESBACK
SAFARIS ALONG THE UPPER
NILE
The upper
Nile valley from Jinja has in recent years
become synonymous with white water
rafting, kayaking, quadbiking, cross
country biking, bungee jumping and other
adventure activities. Jinja is after all
not in vain carrying the unofficial title
as 'East Africa's Adventure Capital'. A
new venture has now opened however
offering horse back safaris along the
Nile, which of course offers a different
view across the river and its rapids and
falls. Lessons for beginners are possible
but also longer treks with overnight
options at a privately owned riverside
lodge. Cost starts at 40 US Dollars for 2
hours and every additional hour adds 10 US
Dollars. Special rates for longer riding
trips are available through the company on
request, as are packages for adventure
stays in Jinja. Main promoter of the new
venture is renowned adventuress Natalie
McComb, who participated as the only woman
in the Nile Expeditions some two years
ago, completing the epic journey from the
Source of the Nile to the river's mouth
into the Mediterranean Sea near the
Egyptian port city of Alexandria. More
information at
info@nilehorsebacksafaris.com or via
www.nilehorsebacksafaris.com
DISNEY
CORPORATION NOW DONATES RHINO BREEDING
PAIR
The delay
in shipping two male rhinos to Uganda,
donated by the Disney Corporation of the
United States, has brought an unexpected
better result, as the company has now
finally decided to donate a male and a
female rhino to the Rhino Fund Uganda. The
necessary CITES permits are presently
being amended accordingly. This will bring
the breeding pairs on the Ziwa Rhino
Sanctuary to three, as two pairs had
already been brought there from Kenya,
where they were purchased. This generous
action will go a long way to restore
rhinos to the wild in Uganda, where they
were poached out of existence in the early
80's. Additional support by Disney was
also pledged to ensure the long term
viability of the sanctuary and its
conservation efforts.
HOTSPOTS
FOR LOUNGES
Kenya
Airways has now installed hotspots for
wireless access to the internet in their
lounges at Jomo Kenyatta International
Airport, which are open to business class
travelers and their frequent flyers. The
lounge desktop computer access will
continue however for travelers without
laptops, as has been the case so
far.
KENYA
SAFARI TOURISM SUFFERS FROM COST
INCREASES
The
introduction of a new levy on fuel in the
recent budget, amounting to over 3 Kenya
Shillings per litre, is beginning to show
its effects on the cost structure for
safaris. Park fee increases to now US
Dollars 40 per day for foreign visitors
are also impacting on prequoted and
prepaid business as safari operators
cannot suddenly alter their costed prices.
It has been a long standing problem across
East Africa that government bodies
introduce additional charges, leaving
private business reeling from the effects
and having to pick up the tab. In a
notable departure from this lamentable
praxis however Uganda Wildlife Authority
has for the fee increases effective 01st
August given half a year notice to the
Ugandan safari operators to allow them
notify their clients and re-cost safari
packages within the timeframe necessary by
European and American whole sale tour
operators.
SPEKE
RESORT AND CONFERENCE CENTRE OPENS NEW
ROOMS
The
lakeside Speke Resort has just announced
that another 120 rooms have been
completed, bringing the current total to
315 rooms. In addition the 'Commonwealth
Presidential Village' is now under
construction on the sprawling estate,
which will add 60 upmarket villas for the
visiting heads of state and government,
who are expected in late 2007 for the
CHOGM 2007 Summit. These villas will offer
all the luxuries and amenities such high
ranking guests will expect. After the
summit they are expected to be on offer
for long term staying clients who seek
luxurious, serviced housing at a prime
location along the shores of Lake
Victoria.
FINAL
ROUND FOR NEW CURRICULUM
CONCLUDES
Officials
from the Ministry of Education and Sports,
the National Council for Higher Education,
the National Curriculum Development
Centre, the Uganda National Examinations
Board, the Education Standards Agency, the
Uganda Vocational Qualifications
Framework, the Department for Industrial
Training and other relevant bodies were
joined by key development partners like
GTZ &endash; German Development Agency and
their Japanese counterpart JICA to review
and assess the work done by the previous
two workshops. Board and Management of the
national Hotel and Tourism Training
Institute were at hand to explain the
reasons for changing the curriculum to a
modular structure and updating course
contents to reflect the training needs for
the 21st century. Ministry officials
commended the initiative taken by HTTI to
move this agenda aggressively forward and
bring it to the point, where NCDC could
now embark on the process of assisting the
writing of the course contents and
syllabi. The launch of the new curriculum
is expected to take place in 2007
whereafter it will be a national
requirement for sector related training
institutions in order to be accredited and
certified. A fine example, says this
correspondent, of how determined action
speaks louder than talkshop
phantasy.
RAILWAY
TAKEOVER NOW FOR AUGUST 01ST
The long
awaited takeover of railway operations by
Rift Valley Railways Corporation is now
scheduled for 01st August. Here in Uganda
government will pay the present employees
their terminal benefits during the month
of July to allow the concessionaire a
clean start into their new business
venture. The new company has been given a
long term concession to run the Kenya and
Uganda railways as a private venture, but
with a clear commitment of the investment
volume to upgrade the rail lines and the
running stock of engines and wagons in
coming years.
In a
related development the Minister for Works
and Transport, Hon. John Nasasira, has
also dissolved the Uganda Railway
Corporation management to make way for a
team of consultants, who will now prepare
the company for formal handover to the
concessionaire.
AFRICANA
HOTEL OPENS NEW WING
After
construction over the past 24 months the
hotel has now opened a new wing which
contains meetings rooms and other
facilities. The largest meeting hall will
cater for up to 1.500 guests and smaller
conference rooms will supplement the core
facilities which already existed at this
popular Kampala hotel. It is located at
the lower end of the Centenary Park, which
itself adjoins the Kampala Golf
Club.
UATTI
AND UGAPRIVI TO COOPERATE
As a
result of the just concluded round of
stakeholder consultations for a new
national hotel and tourism curriculum, the
Uganda Association of Tourism Training
Institutions and the Uganda Association of
Private Vocational Training Institutes
have agreed to seek mutual membership. The
national Hotel and Tourism Training
Institute has already in principal
approved to seek membership in UGAPRIVI
and suitable UGAPRIVI members, teaching
catering, hospitality and tourism courses
at crafts and certificate level will be
offered reciprocal membership in
UATTI.
KENYA
ASSOCIATION OF HOTELKEEPERS AND CATERERS
NEWS
Ms. Lucy
Karume, CEO of KAHC, has just signed a
Memorandum of Understanding between the
main hotel association in Kenya and its
restaurant association counterpart. This
was aimed to 'merge the objectives' but
not the associations and attain yet better
advocacy and lobbying capacity and
sectoral influence. This cooperation is
unlike in Uganda, where the professional
Hotel and Catering Association of Uganda
has a hostile counterpart in the Hotel
Owners Association, which has habitually
restricted itself to tax and duty
reduction for its members but not taken
part in the general development agenda for
the industry. Only recently did UHOA
absented itself from the curriculum
development consultations, where only
employers associated in HCAU were
represented and took full advantage of the
opportunity to help shape the new
curriculum to suit their own needs and
aspirations.
Second
edition July 2006
'ROYAL
ASCOT GOAT RACES' FOR 26TH
AUGUST
The Speke
Resort and Conference Centre in Munyonyo,
on the shores of Lake Victoria, will once
again provide the venue for the annual
goat races, which have become a society
event for the who is who of Uganda. The
first ever such event was staged by the
Entebbe Sailing Club in 1993 at the Lugogo
rugby club pitch, but soon outgrew the
demand for more space and hospitality
tents. Over the years the event grew in
importance, now attracting nearly 10.000
visitors and it was first transformed from
a club charity into a limited liability
company and eventually sold by the sailing
club last year, when the demand on
manpower and preparation became too
demanding. More information at
www.thegoatraces.com or through
info@thegoatraces.com
KENYA
AIRWAYS ADDS B767-300 TO
FLEET
Following
a greater than anticipated growth of
passenger and cargo traffic in the first
half of 2006, KQ has now added a leased
B767-300 to allow for a more rapid growth
across the network. This is the 7th such
aircraft on the KQ fleet. The swift
response to the new situation is a credit
to the airline's management, which has in
recent years presided over record profits,
inspite of exploding fuel costs, and
record traffic growth on existing and new
routes. The airline's remaining three aged
B737-200 will also be replaced later in
the year with state of the art B737-800
models to add capacity and cut operating
costs on short and medium haul routes.
Additional routes to Congo Brazzaville and
Cotonou, Benin will commence in September
this year. Well done, Pride of
Africa!
In a
related development arrivals at Mombasa's
Moi International Airport have risen by
nearly a quarter for the first six months
of 2006 compared to 2005, statistics sent
by the Kenya Airports Authority to this
correspondent show.
LIONS
POISONED AT QUEEN ELIZABETH NATIONAL
PARK
At least 5
lions died of apparent poisoning in the
recent past in this park, which has become
the biggest crowd puller amongst Uganda's
protected areas. Cattle keepers, which
invaded the park in search for pastures
for their animals are suspected to be
behind the cruel acts, which the tourism
industry sees as an immediate threat
against their efforts to promote Uganda as
a wildlife tourism destination. In a
statement the Uganda Tourism Association
said: ' we are calling upon the Ministry
of Tourism, Trade and Industry and the
Uganda Wildlife Authority to immediately
restore the sanctity of the park and take
all necessary measures, to evict the
cattle and their keepers from the park.
All efforts to promote Uganda will be in
vain if such crimes go unpunished and our
resource of large predators in this park,
and Lake Mburo National Park for that
matter, continue to be killed in such a
fashion. Protected areas under the law
should be vigorously protected by
government and human interference of this
kind be stopped by applying the relevant
laws. UTA has in the past expressed equal
concern about similar invasions of the
Semliki Game Reserve (former Toro Game
Reserve) and government has to do much
more to restore the confidence of the
tourism and conservation fraternity that
they indeed mean business. Failure to act
can only be seen as a major failure on
government's commitment to support and
promote the tourism industry in this
country.'
RWENZORI
GLACIERS ALSO SHRINKING
The
recently concluded Rwenzori Centenary
Expedition has found evidence that the
glaciers on Africa's largest alpine region
have in recent years also receded
substantially. The climb to the top of the
mountain in fact took 5 hours from the
last camp instead of the 3 hours the Duke
of Abruzzi's team took 100 years ago,
although it was an identical route. One of
the climbers explained this time
difference with the absence of ice on the
final day. A scientific team is now to
study the cartography of the glaciers and
compare it with the last conducted in 1955
and the expedition reports of 1906.
However, the icecap of Africa's tallest
mountain, Kilimanjaro, has also been
shrinking at progressive pace in recent
years, indicating a likely link to climate
change and global warming.
PRECISION
AIR STARTS ENTEBBE FLIGHTS
Saturday
15th July will see the introduction of
renewed airservices between Entebbe
&endash; Mwanza &endash; Kilimanjaro /
Arusha when Precision Air, Kenya Airways'
Tanzanian partner airline, will fly the
inaugural service with an ATR 42 aircraft.
Good luck and happy landings from this
correspondent.
RHINO
ARRIVAL IMMINENT
The Rhino
Fund Uganda has issued a statement that
the arrival of two male rhinos, donated by
the Disney Corporation, is now imminent.
Upon arrival the rhinos will be undergoing
veterinary quarantine for up to 6 months
near the Rhino Fund headquarters at the
sanctuary, where a special holding boma
was constructed for such purposes. A
breeding programme is underway at Ziwa,
but tourists can of course visit the
sanctuary daily and see the rare animals
in their natural habitat. For more
information or for support to the RFU:
yverkaik@rhinofund.org
UWA
COOPERATES WITH INTERPOL
Uganda
Wildlife Authority has worked hand in hand
with Interpol to bring the masterminds of
illegal ivory exports to book. A major
shipment of over 3 tons was confiscated in
Shanghai in 2003 and only recently was a
key figure in this scam, a Senegalese
national, arrested in Kampala. He is due
to appear in court soon, although
presently out on bond, following alleged
pressure from influential West African
politicians and businessmen. The
contraband apparently had originated in
the DR Congo and was clandestinely
transshipped through Uganda, extensive
investigations revealed. Poaching is rife
in the DRC where little law enforcement is
taking place, not for people and even less
so for wildlife. Terror groups are known
to hide in the Garamba National Park in
Eastern Congo where the last free roaming
population of Northern White Rhinos has
been eliminated, following the stubborn
refusal by Kinshasa politicians early last
year to airlift the rhinos to safe refuge
in Kenya's Ol Pejeta Game
Reserve.
FIRE
DESTROYS AFRICAN HERITAGE
COLLECTION
An
extensive fire ravaged the premises of the
Nairobi based 'African Heritage' and
destroyed much of its near priceless
collection of fashion, art and crafts.
African Heritage, formed in the 70's by
Alan Donovan and Kenya's first Vice
President Joseph Murumbi and his wife
Sheila was long considered a continental
forerunner of African art collection and
later on also for African fashion and
modeling. Iman, today a leading name in
the fashion world, was discovered by
African Heritage.
NEW
TARIFFS FOR UGANDAN PARKS
The Uganda
Wildlife Authority is introducing new
tariffs after 2 years, effective August
01st. For more information on this
development visit www.uwa.or.ug or write
to uwa@uwa.or.ug
Stakeholders
were extensively consulted over the new
fees and had sufficient lead time to
inform their clients overseas. The next
increase is due in 2008.
'DISNEY
RHINOS' TO ARRIVE IN UGANDA EARLY
JULY
The Disney
Corporation has now received all required
permits to send two rhinos from one of
their theme parks to the Ziwa Rhino
Sanctuary, near Nakitoma / Nakasongola
District. Presently 4 rhinos populate the
nearly 18.000 acre sanctuary and the
additional 2 rhinos will add to the
breeding programme now underway. The
donation has been announced a while ago by
Disney and the translocation of the
animals will take place by air shipment
from Florida to Entebbe.
Rhinos
were poached out of existence in Uganda
during the civil war years in the early
80's but continued stability in the
country since 1986, when the NRM captured
power, has contributed to the revival of
wildlife conservation and of late the
re-introduction of such species under a
special breeding programme. More
information from
yverkaik@rhinofund.org
RWANDA
CELEBRATES 2ND GORILLA NAMING AND ADOPTION
DAY
'The land
of 1000 hills' as Rwanda is often fondly
called by her friends in the wide world,
has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of
the 1994 genocide. Tourism is once again a
fact of life and under Mrs. Rosette
Rugamba's able leadership at the National
Office for Tourism and National Parks
&endash; ORTPN, innovative activities were
created to market the approximately 230
remaining mountain gorillas to a global
audience. Saturday 17th June will hence
see the second naming and adoption
celebration of young, recently born
gorilla babies, an event made more special
by the presence of H.E. President Paul
Kagame. This top level attention to
tourism is in itself a signal how highly
rated conservation is in Rwanda. ORTPN has
over the past years also worked hard to
develop complimentary activities to
gorilla tracking and has been successful
to promote cultural tours across the
country and visits to the other national
parks. For more information please contact
Mrs. Rosette Rugamba, Director General of
ORTPN via
rosetterwandatourism@rwanda1.com
NAIROBI'S
JOMO KENYATTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO GET
FACE LIFT
Regular
travelers will utter a sigh of relief over
the prospects of 'real work' commencing
soon at JKIA. While there have been some
visible improvements in the check in area
in the past, the concourse congestion,
specially at busy periods &endash; which
are now most of the day in fact &endash;
on the departure level have become a
recipe for 'close contact' with other
travelers, many of whom have to push and
shove their way through the crowds. Chairs
have a while ago been removed to create
more space specially around the area of
gate 4, where arriving passengers from
planes without airbridge link enter the
terminal and immediately encounter
passengers queuing up for gate processing
at gates 4 and 5, before reaching the turn
off to the immigration area. JKIA was
recently voted as 'Best Airport' in the
region, which caused some hearty comments
by regular transit passengers from
Entebbe. An investment package of about 8
Billion Kenya Shillings is supposed to
cater for creating larger apron spaces and
the building of terminal 4 and largely
increased parking for airport
users.
Failure to
separate arriving and departing passengers
has for long delayed the category one
certification by the FAA, preventing
direct flights from the US to Nairobi, and
this key sticking point is also due to be
addressed in the modernization of JKIA.
Watch this column for
developments.
BUDGET DAY
IN EAST AFRICA
Thursday,
15th June is the agreed date on which the
Finance Ministers across East Africa will
take to the dais in their respective
parliaments at 14.30 hrs local East
African time to read the long awaited
national budget speeches. East Africa has
been plagued by sharply risen fuel prices,
up by about 40 percent compared to a year
ago and electricity shortages caused by
prolonged draughts in parts of the region,
reduced inflow to the lakes from
contributory rivers, silted dams and
dramatically lower levels of Lake
Victoria. It is expected that the
subsequent reduction in productivity of
manufacturers and rocketing cost
structures the harsh economic realities
will hit home, when the budgets are
finally on the table. (Due to editorial
deadline written and dispatched before the
reading of the budget &endash; analysis in
next week's column.)
UWEC
OFFERS ANNUAL PASSES
A 'Friends
of UWEC' (Uganda Wildlife Education
Centre) annual pass is now available to
entice yet more visitors to the facility,
located a few minutes from Entebbe
International Airport along the shores of
Lake Victoria. UWEC is already one of the
most visited attractions in the country
but can always do with more visitors to
raise funds towards the sustainable
operation of the centre, which depends to
over 70 percent of their annual budget on
donations.
KABAROLE
CRATER LAKES TO GET FISH STOCK
The scenic
landscapes around Fort Portal, located in
the foothills of the fabled Mountains of
the Moon (Rwenzori Mountains), is dotted
with many crater lakes, many of which are
beautiful to look at but otherwise bare of
much economic value other than providing a
source of water to the area. Plans are now
underway to stock many of those lakes with
fish in order to provide 'sport fishing'
for visitors but also a source of
nutrients to the nearby communities, who
can supplement their incomes by selling
mature fish on the local
markets.
HILTON IT
IS &endash; BUT THEY ARE
'SHTUMM'
Groundbreaking
for the new proposed Kampala Hilton Hotel
took place under heavy security in Kampala
on Tuesday 13th June in the presence of
President Museveni. All efforts to get
Hilton personnel on site for an interview
failed as their minders claimed their
principals could 'not talk to those
pressmen when they are with the
President'. Efforts to trace the Hilton
staff at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel also
failed to produce results as several
messages left went totally
unanswered.
So much
for free of charge PR and an early
shot
KENYA
AIRWAYS ADDS CHINA FLIGHTS
Effective
September this year a fourth weekly flight
to Guangzhou will be added to the route by
Kenya Airways, reflecting the growing
demand in seats and cargo space. These
flights are in addition to the flights to
Hongkong, from where easy connections
allow mainland travelers to board Kenya
Airways flights. The East African
countries have now all signed Memoranda of
Understanding with the Chinese government
as approved tourist destinations and
traffic from and to China has been growing
in leaps and bounds.
CHINA
VISITS TO UGANDA
A visit by
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his
delegation also coincided with a
familiarization trip of a group of 10
Chinese touroperators, who visited the
country's natural attractions. China last
year signed a Memorandum of Understanding
with Uganda's Ministry of Tourism, Trade
and Industry, which is now being
operationalised, to attract more Chinese
visitors to the country. Present flight
connections are served by Kenya Airways
(see above column item), Emirates through
daily flights and Ethiopian Airlines,
which also connects to Beijing via Addis
Ababa.
The
Chinese Premier and his delegation also
signed a range of bilateral agreements,
most notably for Investments, Trade and
Human Resource Development. 40 African
nations will assemble in China later in
the year for the Africa / China Forum and
Uganda is expected to participate in a
further effort to promote tourism and
trade in tea, coffee and available raw
materials.
It was
also revealed in an end of mission press
conference that China was prepared to
finance and build the new proposed railway
between Juba and the Northern Uganda
railheads at Pakwach and Gulu, which would
open up the markets for Southern Sudan's
imports and exports.
RWENZORI
CELBRATIONS GRACED BY KING
OYO
The
returning centenary expedition, comprising
20 Ugandan and Italian climbers, were
greeted with a grand function at Uganda
Museum (which had also dedicated an entire
exhibition hall to the Rwenzori Mountains
ecosystem, the culture of the people
living near the mountains and the
expedition of the Duke of Abruzzi 100
years ago) followed by a reception and
recognition ceremony at the Uganda
Wildlife Authority headquarters next
door.
King Oyo,
the famous 'Child King' of the Kingdom of
Tooro, was the main Guest of Honour. He
arrived with the Queen Mother Best
Kamugisha.
The
Minister of State for Tourism, Wildlife
and Antiquities represented the Uganda
government and officials from government
bodies like MTTI, Tourism Uganda / Uganda
Tourist Board and the Civil Aviation
Authority were also present. In fact, CAA
Uganda announced the donation of funds to
construct an additional rest camp at high
altitude, to boost mountaineering tourism
to the Mountains of the Moon with better
and more facilities. It was also announced
during the celebrations that the Italian
government has sponsored the setting up of
a new meteorological station at an
altitude of about 5.000 metres, which when
fully functional would automatically
transmit data to the Meteorological
Department in Entebbe and the Civil
Aviation Authority.
DOMESTIC
AVIATION TO GET BOOST
Eagle Air
has now submitted a proposal to the
tourism fraternity of how best to
effectively serve the country's national
parks by linking the available airfields
with Entebbe or Kajjansi. Presently drop
off for passengers is possible at the
Pakuba airfield in Murchisons Falls
National Park and the Entebbe &endash;
Kitgum service can be extended at a cost
to Kidepo Valley National Park (see recent
column items and feature article on this
park).
Other
parks however are presently only reachable
by charter traffic, mostly originating
from the Kajjansi airfield near Kampala,
which is costlier than using scheduled
services.
The
Private Sector Foundation Uganda tourism
working group together with the Uganda
Tourism Association, the Uganda
Association of Air Operators and the CAA
has also been looking keenly into ways and
means to lower operating costs for
domestic air operators with the aim of
stimulating air safaris, which are already
a major tourism component in Kenya and
Tanzania.
TWO
CHIMP BABIES RESCUED FROM
POACHERS
Only
recently did Uganda Wildlife Authority and
other security personnel rescue two young
chimps from poachers and traders along the
common border between Uganda and Congo. In
the DRC's present state of political and
administrative flux poachers and wildlife
traders find an easy playing field but are
faced with a resolute protection system of
wildlife here in Uganda, when they come
across the border to sell of their
trophies and live animals.
As often
before a trap was laid for the traders,
when the 'prospective buyers' &endash;
comprising UWA and security staff, went to
meet with them for the
transaction.
LOOSE
COMMENTS SPARK CONTROVERSY
The
upriver Nile expedition, which followed on
the exploits of the famous Nile Explorer
Expedition of 2004/5, which
circumnavigated the entire length of the
River Nile from the source in Jinja to the
Mediterranean port city of Alexandria as a
global 'First', also tracked the earlier
explorers to the source of the ultimate
headwaters to the Nyungwe National Park in
Rwanda, which eventually form the Kagera
River, one of the main contributory flows
into Lake Victoria.
Ill
formulated talk however now tried to
relocate the source of the River Nile from
Jinja to the springs of the headwaters of
the Kagera River, which seems totally
contrary to conventional and accepted
beliefs and facts, that the late British
explorer Speke identified the source of
the river at the then Rippon Falls, where
Lake Victoria begins to form the River
Nile.
This
mouthing off now ended up in Ugandan and
Rwandan media as a matter of dispute over
the actual location of the source of the
river, towards which end this
correspondent recommends a detailed study
of the records of the Royal Geographical
Society in London and other recognized
sources of geographical
knowledge.
CAA TO
UPGRADE KASESE AIRFIELD
CAA's
Deputy Managing Director Mr. Rama Makuza
has announced that the airfield in Kasese
was due for a major upgrading to allow
regional traffic with larger turboprop
aircraft make use of the aerodrome. The
work would include tarmacking of the main
runway and construction of terminal
buildings which would accommodate customs
and immigration for flights to and from
Congo. Improved field condition will also
stimulate more tourist traffic to access
the nearby national parks of Rwenzori,
Queen Elizabeth and Kibaale and assist the
business community with regular air
connections to and from Entebbe and
Kajjansi.
KENYA
AIRWAYS HONOURS AGENTS AND SLASHES
FARES
In a
function held in Nairobi for travel agents
from across the East Africa region, Kenya
Airways Commercial Director Mr. Hugh
Fraser announced special fares between
Entebbe and Nairobi of only 99 US Dollars.
The same fare will also apply for flights
from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar
until the end of July. KQ only recently
resumed their 4th work daily flights
between the two airports and now has to
more actively sell seats, since they also
added extra flights to Dar and the 'Spice
Island'. The fare is restricted to certain
early morning and late evening flights and
conditions apply. In the meantime UTB 2004
and Carlson Wagonlit Travel Uganda,
formerly Swanair, were amongst the best
performing Ugandan travel agents and given
awards for their efforts to sell Kenya
Airways.
INTERNATIONAL
PRIMATOLOGICAL SOCIETY MEETS IN
UGANDA
The 21st
world congress of the society opened this
week in Entebbe with about 1000
participants from across the globe
assembled to discuss the future of
primates. The congress was opened by His
Excellency President Museveni who in his
key note address called upon
environmentalists presently opposing the
building of additional hydro electric
plants near Bujagali and Karuma falls to
support the building of hydroelectric dams
along the upper Nile valley, to save
forest from being cut down for firewood
and charcoal making. Only wider use of
electricity, especially in rural areas,
can prevent the natural forests from being
cut down, said the President.
The
President also recognized Mrs. Jane
Goodall, Founder of the Jane Goodall
Institute, for her lifetime dedication to
the protection and care of primates,
especially the chimps, for which she has
gained global fame and
admiration.
UGANDA
OIL STRIKE OF COMMERCIAL
PROPORTIONS
Hardman
Resources and Tullow Oil announced last
week in London that their Waraga 1 well
sunk near Lake Albert has found
commercially exploitable quantities of
crude oil with an estimated flow of 4.200
barrels per day. Other test drilling
results have also established an
encouraging trend of available oil and gas
deposits. Should indeed oil be found
within Uganda's borders in significant
quantities it would undoubtedly transform
the country in coming years.
ETHIOPIAN
AIRLINES STRUGGLES WITH
REGULATOR
The
planned flights by Ethiopian Airlines on
the route Nairobi &endash; Entebbe
&endash; Bujumbura have been halted for
the time being due to issues the airline
has to resolve first with Kenyan
regulators. Ethiopian Airlines can in
principal operate on the routes under
COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa) rules, which allow member
states to operate through a member country
into a third member state (and more)
without any restrictions. The flights had
already operated until late 2005 and were
then suspended by the airline which
intended to resume operations from early
June. Watch this column for more
news.
CARLSON
WAGONLIT TRAVEL LAUNCHES UGANDA
FRANCHISE
Swanair
Travel and Safaris Ltd. is one of the
leading Ugandan travel agencies. For the
past few years they have been operating
under a partnership agreement with CWT,
but in view of their expanding business,
which includes an implant travel section
at the US Embassy in Kampala, the company
decided to take their relationship a step
further. In a recent function at the
Sheraton Kampala Hotel the company
re-branded itself as 'Carlson Wagonlit
Travel Uganda'. Kristine Pasi, Product and
Services Manager for the Global Partner
Network of the CWT HQ gave a presentation
on CWT's global business links and the new
opportunities for the Ugandan market as a
result of the increased cooperation
levels. Ms. Eugenie Nsubuga Windt, CEO of
Swanair and long serving Chairperson of
'The Uganda Association of Travel Agents
&endash; TUGATA' received a long ovation
at the end of the presentation, which had
filled the Sheraton ballroom to capacity
with leading figures and executives from
government, the business community and all
the airlines operating in and out of
Uganda. Galileo Uganda was also
represented and warmly congratulated the
CWT team for the prominent role they
played in making use of the Galileo CRS,
which she said was also powering the CWT
software. Uganda Investment Authority CEO
Dr. Maggie Kigozi in her keynote address
also recognized Eugenie for the pioneer
work she had done for the travel industry
in the past and highlighted the numerous
awards conferred upon Swanair in recent
years by airlines and travel associations.
Adds this correspondent in his capacity as
President of the Uganda Tourism
Association, of which TUGATA is a leading
member: 'I have known Eugenie for the past
13 years and rarely seen such a determined
lady. She knew in the early years of
Swanair where she wanted to go and she has
reached her goals. If there is further
innovation to be seen in the travel
industry in Uganda in coming years, be
assured that Eugenie will be at the very
core of it and lead the pack once
again'
SHERATON
KAMPALA INCREASES 'NO-SMOKING'
ROOMS
As a
commitment during the recent global
anti-smoking-day, the Kampala Sheraton has
added more floors to their 'no-smoking'
area, now covering 50 percent of the
entire hotel. By law smoking in public
areas and the restaurants is already
banned and only on the outside terrace can
smokers still light up. Said Jawaid
Akhtar, the hotel's General Manager in a
reply to questions posed to him by this
columnist: 'shortly after we completed our
phase 1 of refurbishments and renovations
it was increasingly obvious we had to
cater for our rising numbers of
non-smoking guests. We therefore decided
to isolate four entire floors and strictly
make these guest rooms' non-smoking areas.
Our breakfast room Victoria, all function
rooms, meeting rooms and the Rwenzori
Ballroom are equally non smoking areas. As
a hotel in Uganda we have taken a leading
role in creating smoke free zone in our
public areas'. It is not the first time
that Sheraton Kampala Hotel has taken such
an industry-leading decision and position
to improve the condition of its guests and
visitors. Other hotels in the city are now
expected to follow this trend.
Sheraton
Kampala Hotel last weekend also held a
'golf tournament' in the 9 acres of
gardens surrounding the hotel. Top
business clients, government officials,
airline managers and members of the
diplomatic corps were invited to the one
day event and both men and ladies trophies
were up for grabs. The fully catered for
event, which also featured lady caddies
for the first time in a 'tournament' in
Uganda, was generally judged a success and
will be repeated in 2007.
UGANDA
WILDLIFE AUTHORITY GET NEW BOARD
CHAIRPERSON
Before
moving from Tourism, Trade and Industry to
the Energy portfolio Hon. Daudi Migereko
had appointed prominent city lawyer Andrew
Kasirye as new Chairman of the Board of
Trustees for a period of three years. He
succeeds John Nagenda, Senior Presidential
Advisor on Media Affairs, who served for
two terms.
KENYA
AIRWAYS PROFIT GOES UP
Inspite of
the globally rising aviation fuel prices,
which are now at record level, Kenya
Airways posted a pre tax profit increase
of over 26 percent for the just ended
financial year while the after tax profit
still rose by 24 percent. Kenya Airways
has in recent years undergone a full
restructuring, acquired a new and expanded
fleet of wide body aircraft, both
B777-200ER as well as B767-300ER, has
spread their network across Africa and
into the Far East and added extra
frequencies to their key destinations (3
times a day Nairobi &endash; Amsterdam).
They have without doubt become not only an
African airline success story but can now
hold their own in global terms, where
especially American carriers are still
wallowing in red ink. And all of this with
a 'home grown' Kenyan CEO at the helm.
Congratulations to 'The Pride of Africa'
&endash; a name now truly
earned.
Meanwhile,
Kenya Airways CEO Mr. Titus Naikuni has
made a commitment to the Ugandan market
that fares would be reduced on the Entebbe
&endash; Nairobi route with the resumption
of the 4th workdaily frequency and that
special excursion fares would be
introduced to market the additional
capacity now again available on the route.
Since the introduction of KLM's non-stop
flights between Amsterdam and Entebbe
there is less connecting traffic taking
place between the two airports, as the
three weekly KLM flights have soaked up
some of the pressure for seats. With the
introduction of flights to Seoul / South
Korea by Kenya Airways in codeshare with
Korean Air there is however once again a
growing demand to connect through Nairobi
and additional new connections to recently
introduced African destinations has
underscored the importance of Kenya
Airways as regional airline
giant.
SERENA
KAMPALA OPENING JUST WEEKS
AWAY
All hands
are now reported 'on deck' at the new
Kampala Serena Hotel (formerly Nile Hotel)
with the projected soft opening just 5
weeks down the line in mid July. The
recruited staff has now been brought on
duty and those 100+ staff, who were
selected during the 10 month operating
period before closure in December 2004 for
deployment and training in Serena's Kenyan
and Tanzanian properties, are now also
returning to their 'new' workplace. They
will form the backbone of the team
expected to open the hotel. Serena's
philosophy is not just to offer a 5* hotel
structure, something which has been
created over the past 15 months, but to
back it up with 5* service by well trained
and dedicated personnel. The formal
opening date will be announced in due
course in this column.
HILTON
FOR KAMPALA?
News have
emerged in Kampala, that one of the new
hotels planned for opening prior to the
Commonwealth Summit in late 2007 would be
managed by Hilton International.
Confirmation has been sought but no
responses were received as yet from either
Hilton or the promoters of the new hotel
by the time of going to press. The
promoters of the project, two Sudanese
nationals, have proposed to invest some US
Dollars 90 Million for the construction of
a 300 suite and room hotel tower and were
offered a prime piece of land of about 15
acres in the very heart of Kampala's
fashionable Nakasero area to construct the
hotel. Groundbreaking is reportedly taking
place on 15th of June. Watch this space
for further developments.
NEW
MINISTERS FOR TOURISM, TRADE AND
INDUSTRY
As
expected and indicated in last week's
column, the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and
Industry has a new political leadership.
Cabinet Minister is Hon. Mrs. Janat
Mukwaya and the State Minister portfolios
are now held as follows: State/Tourism by
Hon. Serapio Rugundo, State/Trade by Hon.
Wambuzi Gagawala and State/Industry by
Hon. Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu.
Congratulations to them all on their
appointments!
UCOTA
OPENS 'RUBONI COMMUNITY CAMP' AT RWENZORI
NATIONAL PARK
Following
an upswing in demand for accommodation,
the Uganda Community Tourism Association
&endash; UCOTA has recently opened the
Ruboni Camp just outside the Rwenzori
National Park entrance. As is customary
with UCOTA, local communities are entirely
responsible for the maintenance and
management of the new facility, which
presently offers 4 bandas and tents
(sleeping 8) and will be expanded as
operations continue. A restaurant with
emphasis on well cooked and well presented
local dishes offers meals throughout the
day for resident and non resident guests.
The new camp is about 9 KM off the Kasese
&endash; Fort Portal road towards the
Mountains of the Moon and occupies a 'spot
with a view' &endash; offering spectacular
sights towards the mountains and also the
surrounding area. Information is
available through Mrs. Helen Lubowa at
ucota@africaonline.co.ug
STAKEHOLDER
CONSULTATIONS FOR NEW
CURRICULUM
The Uganda
national Hotel and Tourism Training
Institute in Jinja has now, jointly with
the Ministry of Education and Sports and
the EU funded Uganda Sustainable Tourism
Development Programme, set the dates for a
comprehensive review of the new curriculum
proposals. During the latter part of June
and in July relevant stakeholders will
have the opportunity to discuss the
modular structure of the new draft
curriculum and have opportunity to input
additional details, before the National
Curriculum Development Centre then reviews
and (hopefully swiftly) approves the new
framework. The constituent members of the
Uganda Tourism Association, employers in
the hospitality and hotel sector, other
vocational and tertiary institutions in
the same field and students
representatives will have the opportunity
to be heard together with representatives
of the Ministry of Education and Sports
and their education related bodies and the
Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry
and their marketing and conservation
related bodies.
B
737-200 ADVERTISED FOR SALE
Speculation
is rife in aviation circles over the
owners of a B 737-200 which has been
advertised for sale in the Daily Monitor
(www.monitor.co.ug) of 05th June. Only one
such aircraft is presently registered in
the country according to a CAA source
which preferred anonymity, reportedly
belonging to defunct East African
Airlines. Shell Uganda had some time last
year applied for a registered charge over
the aircraft to secure a substantial debt
by the airline for aviation fuel. CAA is
also reportedly owed money for fees but
this could not be independently verified.
The carrier had been involved in a long
lasting dispute with Kenya Airways over
route rights between Entebbe and Nairobi
but, when granted one daily flight in
April 2005 at the expense of Kenya
Airways, failed to ever make use of it,
leading to a loss of over 48.000 seats in
and out of Uganda over the last 14 months.
Reports on the airline and its misfortunes
were regularly filed in this column, the
last one revealing that Uganda airline
veteran Fred Obbo and his associates had
taken over all shares of EAA. The Boeing
737-200 is reportedly a 1977 model (ex
United Airlines) and the asking price was
set at US Dollars 1.5 Million, generally
considered largely excessive for the type
of aircraft in the present business
environment. Fred Obbo's own airline
venture 'Africa Direct' is reportedly in
the market for a newer and more fuel
efficient type of aircraft in a 'combi'
version, allowing both passengers and
cargo to be carried on the main
deck.
ANONYMOUS
LETTERWRITERS TRY TO SMEAR CAA
IMAGE
Letters
recently published in the local print
media with 'names withheld' were
attempting to smear the image of the CAA.
The Ugandan aviation regulatory body has
been excelling in the region over the past
years and Entebbe International Airport
been repeatedly voted as 'best East
African airport' in continental surveys.
CAA is currently engaged in an ambitious
expansion and infrastructural investment
programme, which will in coming years see
the relocation of the cargo section away
from the passenger terminal side to the
'old airport', where presently the UN is
maintaining its air operations base for
the supply of its MONUC troops in Congo
and as an aviation springboard for other
ongoing operations in the region. CAA has
on occasions come under 'anonymous fire'
by apparently disgruntled employees and
ex-employees but always been cleared of
any alleged misconduct by subsequent
enquiries and investigations.
NEW
LODGE FOR LAKE MBURO NATIONAL
PARK
A tented
safari lodge is presently under
construction outside Lake Mburo National
Park, overlooking lakes Kachera on one
side and Mburo on the other. The Mihingo
Lodge as it will be known will feature 10
spacious, self contained tents under high
shades build of local deadwood and will
have a swimming pool and other amenities
upon opening. Being located outside the
park the lodge will offer guided walks and
mountain bike tours into the 200 acres of
surrounding land also belonging to the
lodge. Opening is expected in early 2007.
Watch this column for update reports.
Information on this and other parks and
reserves in Uganda at the Uganda Wildlife
Authority site www.uwa.or.ug
RWENZORI
CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS IMPACT ON AVAILABLE
ROOMS
With the
celebrations of the 100th anniversary of
the first climb of the Mountains of the
Moon by Italian aristocrat Duke of Abruzzi
now just weeks away, available lodge
spaces near the mountains have been
filling up rapidly. Jacana Safari Lodge in
Queen Elizabeth National Park is reporting
generally full house over almost the
entire period, the commemorative
expedition will be up in the mountains in
late June/early July. Readers wishing to
visit this part of Uganda over mid June
till mid July are best advised to secure
accommodation spaces in advance to avoid
disappointment. Additional expeditions and
climbs will be organized through Uganda
Wildlife Authority and Rwenzori Mountain
Services and details can be obtained from
uwa@uwa.or.ug, Tourism Uganda (Uganda
Tourist Board) at utb@starcom.co.ug or at
www.rwenzoriabruzzi.com
SN
BRUSSELS INTRODUCES 'FLAT BED' BUSINESS
CLASS SEATS
The formal
launch in Uganda of the newly installed
flat bed seats in business class took
place on 23rd May with the completion of
the re-vamping of the aircraft fleet
interior cabin layout. The coveted flat
bed has become a major selling point for
airlines around the globe and the
introduction of the new feature on their
Airbus A330 fleet will definitely enhance
the market position of the Belgium based
carrier. SN presently operates 3 flights
per week from Brussels to
Entebbe.
NILE
WATER TALKS IN CRITICAL
STAGE
Egypt will
host another round of crucial talks with
the East African nations over the use of
their water resources, i.e. tributary
rivers to Lake Victoria and the Nile
waters in the face of stiff resistance by
the East Africans over the ongoing
recognition of age old colonial
agreements, which were imposed on them at
independence by the British. Britain had
entered into water use agreements with
Egypt in 1929 and 1959 and the East
African states, in the face of a prolonged
draught, have flexed their muscles over
the unfettered use of their water sources,
which they claim are their natural
resource, over which use they must be able
to decide as independent states and not
vassals to outdated and enslaving colonial
agreements.
UGANDA
TOURISM BILL 'STUCK' WITH A
BUREAUCRAT?
While
other ministries in the final run in to
the 7th Parliament being wound up on 11th
May presented their urgent bills for the
required hearings and approval, it now
appears that the draft tourism bill was
sitting on a bureaucrat's desk for several
weeks, missing submission to parliament.
While seeking further details and
clarification about this development from
the Ministry, the tourism private sector
already expressed their disappointment and
concern over such failures. Much of the
implementation of the tourism policy but
also the creation of the tourism
development fund levy is contingent on the
law being passed first, before such
additional measures as the re-constitution
of the national tourist board or passing
new regulations can be
effected.
PRESIDENT
DIRECTS TAX WAIVER
IMPLEMENTATION
Following
sustained complaints from the business
community over the ongoing foot dragging
of the Uganda Revenue Authority to
implement the government / private sector
agreement of February this year, which was
to waive tax on diesel for generators over
100 KVA capacity, the President now issued
a directive to URA to 'implement
immediately' the agreement. Businesses,
including hotel and meeting facilities,
were bleeding money during the current
electricity rationing regime, when power
is switched off for 24 hrs at a go, and
often even longer than that. The use of in
house generators at least keeps the
business going but at a high cost, more so
in view of the recent price increases for
diesel and fuel, which have now reached
record levels. This reflects the ongoing
high crude oil prices on the international
market, which hits developing countries
especially hard.
PLASTIC
BAGS TO FACE TOTAL BAN
The
environmental management authority NEMA
has now called for a total ban on
production and importation of plastic bags
and advised to use paper bags instead. The
demand has been greeted with applause by
environmental and tourism groups while the
manufacturers association has voiced its
concern and objections over the long
expected development, asking for more time
and other mitigating measures to protect
the local manufacturers. Discarded plastic
bags account for much of the waste problem
in Kampala and the urban centres, as they
are not bio degradable. They also pose the
additional problem of clogging up drainage
and sewerage channels, causing floodings
and pipe breakages.
UWA NOW
REJECTS GOLF COURSE PLANS
In a press
conference held by Executive Director
Moses Mapesa, UWA formally rejected the
golf course plan for Mweya Safari Lodge in
Queen Elizabeth National Park, citing a
2003 requirement for a comprehensive EIA,
which the concessionaire failed to carry
out.
An offer
at the time to relocate the project to the
park boundaries was rejected by the
concessionaire but public pressure made
the plans fold at the time. Until such a
comprehensive environmental impact
assessment has been carried out, UWA will
not even consider the matter.
ROYAL
DAISY AIRLINES EXPANDS
NETWORK
The latest
information from this privately owned
carrier is that Goma and Bukavo can now be
reached by scheduled flights from Entebbe
in addition to the present destinations
like Arua, Yei and Juba. The airline uses
an Embraer 130 for its domestic and
regional flights and plans are underway to
add more aircraft to cope with the
expanding network.
MINISTRY
OF TOURISM BEGINS
CLASSIFICATION
Following
the joint development of classification
and grading criteria under the auspices of
the East African Community, Uganda has now
began to embark on the classification
phase for the hotel and hospitality sector
across the country, starting with the
Entebbe &endash; Kampala &endash; Jinja
corridor before moving into upcountry
locations.
The
exercise has been made easier through the
PAMSU (World Bank Protected Areas and
Sustainable Use programme) initiative some
time earlier, which funded a cataloguing
of available facilities across the
country.
Once the
new tourism bill has been presented to the
new parliament, regulations are expected
to be enacted swiftly thereafter by the
Ministry, based upon which the grading
will then also go underway. This will be a
more controversial phase as presently
Uganda has two true 5star properties, the
Kampala Sheraton Hotel and the soon to be
opened Kampala Serena Hotel, whereas
various hotel owners allocated themselves
5 stars, something often criticized by
both users as well as industry analysts as
completely off reality.
PRESIDENT
MUSEVENI SWORN IN
12.55
p.m. on May 12th concluded the recent
elections in Uganda with the formal
swearing in for another 5 years term of
office of President Yoweri Kaguta
Museveni. His inauguration was witnessed
by 11 Heads of State and Government from
across Africa and a large crowd of
supporters and onlookers inspite the rainy
conditions. Yellow, the colour of the NRM,
was in overwhelming evidence and even
umbrellas were showing the nation's
favourite colour of the day.
Also on
the 12th May the term of office of the
members of the 7th Parliament also
expired, as did the term for mayors and
other elected officials, and cabinet was
also dissolved effective 11 a.m. that
day.
Uganda is
now awaiting the inaugural session of the
8th Parliament with the election of the
speaker and the deputies. Formation of the
new government is expected to follow soon
thereafter, once parliament has vetted the
names submitted by the President for
inclusion in his next government line
up.
PRECISION
AIR BAGS AWARD
The 2005/6
Airline of the Year award in Tanzania was
recently handed over to the Precision
Air's top management in Dar es Salaam,
after the Tanzania Tourist Board announced
the winner during the recently concluded
Africa Travel Association annual general
assembly in Accra / Ghana. The airline has
been outpacing its competition, namely Air
Tanzania, the nominal national carrier, in
all areas of performance, including
passenger growth, network growth and
acquisition of new aircraft. The airline
presently connects an extensive domestic
network, including flights to the key
national parks and Zanzibar, but also to
Kenya (Nairobi and Mombasa), Malawi
(Blantyre and Lilongwe) and UAE/Dubai.
Flights to Entebbe/Uganda will commence
from July this year onwards (as mentioned
in last week's column) followed by
Mozambique and the Comoros later in the
year.
Precision
Air is a sister company to Kenya Airways,
which holds a 49 percent stake in the
airline, and has recently as only the 5th
African airline been certified for
e-ticketing, before embarking on a IATA
Safety Operations Audit later in the
year.
APOKA
LODGE DUE TO OPEN NEXT MONTH
The
latest addition of Semliki Safaris / The
Uganda Safari Company to their circuit of
upmarket properties will be the new Apoka
Safari Lodge in Kidepo National Park in
June. The company already operates the
Emin Pasha Hotel in the fashionable
Nakasero area of Kampala, the Semliki
Safari Lodge in the Semliki Game Reserve,
formerly Toro Game Reserve, and is also
developing a new concession awarded to
them to build an eco friendly high class
lodge near Nkuringo / Bwindi National
Park. The company also recently acquired
their own light aircraft to fly their
safari guests around the country without
having to spend their precious time on the
road, maximizing the safari experience in
the parks. Find more details at
www.safariuganda.com
KENYA
WILDLIFE SERVICE HIKES PARK FEES
A
hefty doubling of park entrance fees for
Kenyans and foreign residents will come
into effect by mid 2006 after KWS
published their latest tariffs. Citizens
will from then onwards pay 200 Kenya
Shillings while residents other than
citizens will have to fork out 1.000 Kenya
Shillings per person per day. Foreign
visitors must dig 10 US Dollars deeper
into their pockets as their fees rise from
30 to 40 US Dollars per person per day.
Kenya has been enjoying a boom over the
past 1 ? years after an EU support
programme invested some 20+ Million Euros
into promoting Kenya as a
destination.
UGANDA
TOURIST BOARD REBRANDS
Only months after taking the helm of
the national tourist board as Chairman Mr.
Roni Madhvani recently introduced major
changes to the image of the organization.
Now re-named 'Tourism Uganda' the
organization's new identity is to project
a fresh image and more determined efforts
to penetrate new and emerging markets and
re-establish Uganda as a leading
ecotourism destination in its present core
markets, i.e. the European Union and North
America. In addition to the traditional
wildlife safaris, bird watching and
mountaineering, rafting and related river
activities have established themselves as
extensive niches now becoming mainstream
activities. There are now also more
visitors coming to explore the extensive
and often nearly untouched forests to seek
out rare orchids and butterflies while
cultural tours to the kingdoms of Buganda,
Tooro, Busoga and Bunyoro are beginning to
take root. See the revamped website of
Tourism Uganda at
www.visituganda.com
USAGA
CELEBRATES WORLD TOUR GUIDE
DAY
The Uganda
Safari Guide Association organized bird
watching and also a guided walk across the
city's cultural monuments last weekend in
recognition of the global tour guide day,
which is normally celebrated in February.
USAGA is a member of the Uganda Tourism
Association and has been instrumental in
the recent past to help develop a new
guide training curriculum, examination
standards for guides and have offered
specialized guide training for bird and
cultural guides to improve the quality of
guiding services across the tourism
sector. Together with the Uganda Community
Tourism Association they also trained
guides for many of the local sites across
the country, where resident guides explain
to visitors the significance of the
location and the age old traditions and
believes of the inhabitants of the
area.
The school
and pre-school children who participated
in the bird watching event, one as young
as 5 years old, managed to identify 125
species of birds within the space of 3
hours, of course with the help of their
experienced senior bird guides, who are
making conscious efforts to draw in
schools into the activity. In comparison,
this correspondent who lives on the shores
of Lake Victoria has marked some 138
species in and from his garden over the
past 14 years, so not a mean achievement
for the youngsters. All participating
children were then given binoculars as
presents and the category winners earned
extra prizes for their efforts in spotting
the most birds and making a drawing of a
bird of their choice.
CRUDE
OIL DRIVEN PRICE INCREASES HIT
HOME
Following
persistently high fuel cost on the
international oil markets the cost of
petrol, diesel and kerosene has once again
risen to new all time highs. Mobile phone
company MTN, which recently celebrated
reaching 1 Million subscribers after 8
years of operations, has also raised phone
tariffs. This is due to their base
stations now being cut off electricity for
24 hr cycles and relying on generators to
keep them operating. However, visitors to
the country have a cushion effect as the
value of the Uganda Shilling has in recent
weeks also been gradually declining,
probably reflecting the growing
inflationary pressure.
KAMPALA
CITY COUNCIL ORDERS HOTEL BUILDING
STOP
The latest
venture of the locally owned Imperial
Hotels Group seems to have run into
problems with the city council, which
ordered all building activity stopped.
Allegedly no environmental impact
assessment has been undertaken for the
site and lodged with NEMA &endash;
National Environmental Management
Authority nor were allegedly any soil
samples submitted to determine the
strength and size of the foundations.
There are also apparently unresolved
issues over un-approved architectural
plans and persistent complaints from city
residents about encroaching on the road
reserve which is a mandatory requirement,
while the construction in this case
reaches the pedestrian pavement. The hotel
development is located between the Kampala
Sheraton Hotel and the Kampala Serena
Hotel and upon completion supposed to add
much needed rooms for the Commonwealth
Summit in Kampala due in late 2007. Watch
this column as news develop.
'ANCIENT'
CROC PUT TO SLEEP
A 52 year
old Nile crocodile, which has been at the
Uganda Wildlife Education Centre, formerly
the Entebbe Zoo, has finally been put to
sleep, after an operation in mid 2005 and
ongoing veterinary attention failed to
improve its health.
The animal
was brought to the Animal Orphanage, as it
was known in 1957, and was estimated to
have been 3-4 years old at the time, and
has ever since been at the Entebbe
facility.
Average
age for a Nile crocodile is said to be
around 45 years in the wild although some
of the reptiles are estimated to have
lived into their 70's and beyond.
A
dedicated reptile enclosure was built in
the late 90's when UWEC underwent its
transformation to become one of the most
visited tourist sites in the
country.
REGIONAL
TOURISM EARNINGS UP
For the
first quarter of 2006 Kenya's booming
tourism sector has recorded a revenue
increase to 14.7 Billion Kenya Shillings,
which constitutes over 8 percent growth
compared to 2005. A sustained publicity
campaign by the Kenya Tourist Board over
the past 1 ? years is now beginning to pay
off for the sector. Similar increases are
reported from Tanzania, Uganda and
Rwanda.
Overall,
East Africa has undergone a substantial
revival of its tourism fortunes over the
past 18 months, as anti travel advisories
are no longer taken as seriously as was
the case in the more distant past due to
misuse and exaggeration of such
'advisories'. East African tourist boards
have also been spending more money in
marketing and image building in key
consumer markets but also new and emerging
markets, while the region's premier
international airline, Kenya Airways, has
been adding new wide bodied aircraft,
expanded the route network to cover
additional destinations and increased
capacity on their key European, African
and Middle East / East Asian routes. While
traffic routes through their Nairobi hub,
the entire region has enormously benefited
from this development and the addition of
the new Paris route from June onwards will
bring even more visitors to the entire
region.
ANNUAL
UGANDA RHINO STAMPEDE FOR 06TH
MAY
Rhino Fund
Uganda, City Tyres and OnCourse Uganda are
organizing Uganda's third
ARRIVALS NOW OVER
660.000
Preliminary figures now
released by the national statistics body
indicated that arrivals for 2005 stood at
about 662.000, compared with the figures
they released for 2004 which UBOS &endash;
Uganda Bureau of Statistics &endash; put
at 512.000. If confirmed this would
underline the trend over the past 6 years,
when in average some 20 percent annual
growth was recorded in arrivals to the
country. However, as mentioned the figures
are not finally confirmed. In a related
development East African citizens will in
coming years also be able to cross the
national borders of the East African
sister states with a simple ID, then
removing the element of East African
visitors from the statistics, who will
thereafter begin to show under the
regional domestic tourism figures, which
are expected to benefit from the
transition, while international arrival
statistics will then have to be modified
and the 'loss' of cross border traffic put
into the new adjusted context.
' COMMONWEALTH
ROAD' TO CONNECT AIRPORT TO
RESORTS
Ahead of the
Commonwealth Head of State/Government
Summit in 2007 a long demanded road
connection, opening up a direct road link
from the airport in Entebbe to the main
lakeside resort area in Munyonyo, has now
been approved and tenders are underway.
The new road will allow visitors to bypass
the present bottleneck entrance into the
city proper by branching off way ahead of
the congested areas, allowing visitors
scenic views over Lake Victoria on their
way to the hotels.
In a related
development, the landmark 'Clocktower'
&endash; donated in the 50's by the
Kassim-Lakha family to commemorated the
coronation of Queen Elizabeth at the time,
will remain a traffic island in the new
road pattern leading into the city. The
former roundabout with palms trees and
ornamental shrubs had to give way for a
complete re-development of the roads
leading into the city, as this particular
area was a constant source of long traffic
jams in the past. The reconstruction will
cover all major roundabouts leading into
the city and the commercial district of
Kampala, in order to improve traffic flow
ahead of next year's Commonwealth
Summit.
ENTEBBE ROAD TO
BECOME DUAL CARRIAGE
Also ahead of the
Commonwealth Summit the main road
connecting Kampala with the International
Airport in Entebbe, a stretch of some 42
Kilometres, is due to be upgrade from its
present 'wide' status into a dual carriage
way to ease traffic flow. This will also
serve to improve traffic when the State
House in Entebbe will be re-opened ahead
of the Summit. State House Entebbe,
formerly seat of the colonial Governors
and then occupied by the sitting Head of
State of Uganda, has been closed for some
years to allow for a complete
reconstruction and modernization and
President Museveni is expected to return
to the State House after the process in
completed in 2007.
FINAL PHONE NUMBER
CHANGE DELAYED
April 15th was set to
see the fixed landline network in Uganda
also add a digit, as was done earlier in
the year for the mobile networks. While
the Uganda Communications Commission did
advertise the date once again the main
landline operator Uganda Telecom reacted
the following day announcing a delay of
the transition. Watch this column to get
the information when the change is finally
going underway, which will bring Uganda
into line with international telecoms
conventions in regard of numbering
sequences.
UWA SHOWS LEADERSHIP
ABOUT THE ALBERTINE RIFT
ECOSYSTEM
Further to a report
filed recently in this column, Uganda
Wildlife Authority has now published their
own details of border transcending
cooperation with Rwanda and Congo (DR)
over national parks and game reserves
straddling international borders along the
Albertine Graben. This follows broad
agreement between the three national
bodies looking after wildlife conservation
in October last year in Goma, where a
tripartite agreement was signed. A senior
UWA official also mentioned to this
correspondent that matters of policy are
entirely in their own domain and while
they appreciate development partners
supporting their initiatives such action
must be coordinated with UWA and approved
in advance by them, as otherwise such
exercises end up tainted and generally
useless.
KENYA AIRWAYS IN
FURTHER EXPANSION DRIVE
East Africa's leading
carrier has just signed a code share
agreement with Korean Air which is aimed
to open the lucrative South Korean market
for the East African countries. Flight
connections will be via KQ's three weekly
flights to Bangkok, from where Korean Air
will provide onward connections to Seoul
and beyond. Korean Air is a member of Sky
Team, a global airline alliance led by
KLM/Air France, which Kenya Airways has
joined as the first African airline
member.
In time for the summer
schedule Kenya Airways has also added a
third daily flight between Nairobi and
Amsterdam, a route operated in conjunction
with KLM.
AIR SERVICE
REGULATION CONSULTATIONS NOW FOR NEXT
WEEK
The consultative
exercise for the new proposed East Africa
wide air service regulations has now been
re-convened for next week in Arusha at the
EAC headquarters after being delayed to
make way for the Head of State Summit and
Ministerial Summits which took precedence.
Regulations and aviation policies need to
be harmonized across East Africa before
political resolutions towards a single sky
can be fully implemented. Uganda
stakeholders will be represented through
Uganda Tourism Association on behalf of
BARiU (Board of Airline Representatives in
Uganda) and UAAO (Uganda Association of
Air Operators) and the East African
Aviation Academy in Soroti.
GARANG AIR CRASH
REPORT RELEASED
The long awaited
official report on the enquiry into the
crash last year of South Sudan SPLM/SPLA
leader Dr. Garang was released in Kampala
and Khartoum simultaneously during the
week. As was widely expected the report
concluded primary pilot error and
specifically mentioned 'the captain's
failure to maintain horizontal and
vertical situational awareness of the
helicopter's proximity to the surrounding
terrain, resulting in inadequate clearance
and controlled flight into
terrain'.
It also cited the
'captain's decision to continue visual
flight into deteriorating weather
conditions and the inadequacies in
operational systems.' The helicopter,
which was until the crash used by the
Uganda President, was otherwise found safe
and sound, having only a few weeks earlier
been serviced and overhauled at the
manufacturer's base in the Ukraine. The
probe team consisted of aviation experts
from Uganda and the Sudan, supported by
officials from Kenya and the USA. Internal
investigations will continue in Uganda to
try and establish why the pilot maintained
5.5oo ft altitude while the surrounding
mountains were at least 6.000 ft high. The
report also firmly ruled out any other
causes but being an accident.
PEMBA CHANNEL NOW A
MARINE CONSERVATION AREA
Following enabling
legislation last year Tanzania's
government has now established a marine
conservation area for the Pemba Channel
with the ultimate aim to have it declared
a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The
conservation areas will cover an area of
about 42 nautical miles in length.
Additional patrol vessels are being
procured in order to effectively guard the
channel area. Zanzibar and Pemba's main
source of income is from tourism and this
further measure is expected to yield
positive results in the future, protecting
the marine resources more effectively and
conserving the ecosystem for future
generations.
Previous
Edition
PRESIDENTIAL WIN NOW
COURT SANCTIONED
The win in February's
presidential elections for President
Museveni is now full and final. The
petition to the country's Supreme Court by
the looser Dr. Kiiza Besigye has been
dismissed, as it was incidentally in 2001
when the same theatrics took place.
Swearing in of President Museveni for the
new term will be on May 12th at the very
latest, at which time he will commence his
third term in office. There was general
joy and relief amongst the business
community, specially the tourism
fraternity, as the predictable policies of
the NRM government are now to continue for
the next 5 years. The President in
particular has taken increasing interest
in conservation issues and the tourism
industry over the past years and with what
is expected to be a strong team at the
Ministry of Tourism the outlook is bright
for the further growth of the
sector.
EAC PROGRESS TO TAKE
TIME
A report in eTN last
Thursday, about the opening of the
internal borders for free movement of
people and labour, seems to have overjoyed
too soon. Analysis of the proceedings of
the Head of State Summit last week in
Arusha now confirm, that the envisaged
date for this development is set for 2010.
Yet, the business community across East
Africa has already responded to this time
frame by demanding a fast tracking of
bringing the internal borders down. It was
sadly also noted that Tanzanian tour
operators are lobbying their government in
Dar es Salaam to continue keeping non
tariff barriers by compelling Kenyan tour
and safari operators to switch their
passengers on entry to Tanzania, a
position which may not be compatible with
the ideals and objectives of the
revitalized East African Community. Such
operations between Uganda and Kenya enjoy
already a great deal of freedom and no
'market flooding' by Kenyan firms has been
observed but rather increased cooperation
and bilateral agreements between leading
safari operators.
RAILWAY CONCESSIONER
TO TAKE OVER ON JULY 01
The Rift Valley Railway
Consortium, which has taken over the
concession to run both Kenya and Uganda
Railways, will formally take over
management of the two former parastatals
on July 01st this year but has already
moved manpower into the two corporations
to allow for a smooth transition. It was
also learned that the proposed extension
of the Uganda Railway into South Sudan has
made progress and substantive
announcements are expected soon in this
regard. Watch this column for more news on
this particular story.
RWANDA COMMEMORATES
12TH GENOCIDE ANNIVERSARY
The tiny East/Central
African nation was in a sombre mood when
it commemorated the 12th anniversary of
the infamous genocide in 1994, which cost
over 800.000 lives from the Tutsi and
moderate Hutu community. During his
address to the nation President Kagame
soundly rejected criticism of him ruling
with a firm hand, saying those who
criticized him now stood by silently when
the mass murders were committed 12 years
ago.
Rwanda has undergone a
total transformation since the present
government took power and marched into
Kigali to end the killings, and tourism in
particular has been on the upswing, with
gorilla tracking one of the most popular
activities. The country was also put on
the map by the two Nile expeditions, one
downstream and one upstream, both of which
also navigated the River Kagera, generally
considered as the most distant source of
waters feeding into the River
Nile.
ALICIA VISITS
UGANDA
Grammy award winner
Alicia Keys has concluded a 4 day visit to
Uganda, during which she visited HIV/AIDS
centres to lend her support to the global
fight on the disease. The visiting
programme saw her tour such centres in
both Kampala and upcountry locations,
where she acquainted herself with the
circumstances of HIV/AIDS on community
level. Alicia Keys has been a prominent
voice in the global fight against HIV/AIDS
and will continue her ambassadorial work
in the future knowing better how the
disease impacts in particular on African
society.
GOLF COURSE IN THE
PARK ?!?
Controversy has once
again arisen over a renewed proposal, this
time on the back of the preparations for
the Commonwealth Summit, to construct a
golf course in the heart of the Queen
Elizabeth National Park. Outraged
conservationists, some of whom called this
correspondent over press reports in the
New Vision of 12th April
(www.newvision.co.ug), pointed accusing
fingers at the Director Tourism Operations
of MARASA, the holding company owning and
operating the Mweya Safari Lodge, to hide
behind the Commonwealth Summit
preparations to bring up a defeated
proposal of some years ago, when sharp
controversy had arisen in the public over
an attempt to convert prime park land into
a golf course, while Uganda Wildlife
Authority had offered an alternative site
at the edge of the park. Former UWA
Chairman and Senior Presidential Advisor
on the Media Mr. John Nagenda also once
again went on public record to express his
outrage with the proposal and offered
detailed insight into the previous process
of forcing the issue through political
influence peddling.
Some concerned members
of the tourism fraternity were also quick
to point out, that the current Chairman of
the Uganda Tourist Board Mr. Roni
Madhvani, who is also the Managing
Director of MARASA, may be in a difficult
position to explain why his company was
re-floating the proposal which may impact
on Uganda's standing vis-à-vis her
conservation commitment and impact on
visitor numbers as well as on conservation
support by the international community.
The world Bank has a 37 Million US Dollar
programme underway in support of Uganda's
national parks and game reserves and may
also not be too pleased seeing a key area
of the most visited park converted into a
concessionaire golf course.
POWER CUTS IMPACT ON
INFLATION
The ongoing power cuts
affecting the country, with power to
designated areas being cut for 24 hours in
a go, and often more than that for the
flimsiest of reasons given by Umeme's
(electricity distribution company)
customer service staff, has now shown an
affect in the inflationary trends in the
country. Operators of generators in excess
of 100 KVA power output have been waiting
for several month now to have government
implement a tax rebate scheme for the
purchase of diesel and the sharply risen
production cost have now translated in
inflation reaching nearly 8 percent, up
from 5 percent last year. Financial
analysts have expressed fears that
continued high fuel prices coupled with
the shortage of electricity supply may
catapult inflation rates into the double
digit figures.
KENYAN SAFARI CAMP
GETS GLOBAL AWARD
'Campi ya Kanzi'
&endash; a community rooted safari camp
development in the Kyulu Hills outside
Tsavo West National Park, in which the
Masai communities are directly involved,
has been globally recognized by the WTTC
summit in Washington as the winners of the
global conservation award. The panel of
distinguished judges picked the Kenyan
safari property over a large number of
others, recognizing the outstanding work
done by the proprietors of the
camp.
KQ ADDS MORE AFRICAN
DESTINATIONS
True to their bid to
become Africa's leading airline, Kenya
Airways has now added Asmara / Eritrea and
Freetown / Sierra Leone to their expanding
African network. The inaugural Freetown
flight was on April 06th while the Asmara
flights will commence on May
03rd.
On the international
scene Paris will be added to the list of
European destinations with the expanded
summer schedule from June onwards. All
flights have connections from Entebbe
although the Uganda Government still has
not allowed KQ to restore their 4th work
daily flight on the route, which was taken
a year ago amidst sharp controversy, to
allow a now defunct Ugandan airline on the
route. This decision has cost Uganda some
40.000 seats on the route, led to regular
'full house' situation, kept fares high
and cost Kenya Airways dearly having to
keep an aircraft on the ground in Entebbe
for 6 hours instead of carrying visitors
to and from the country.
COMMUNITY TOURISM
CREATES HOMESTAY STANDARDS
The Uganda Community
Tourism Association has now created a
sample home-stay product to assist
Ugandans in areas conducive to tourism
developments meet the expectations of
potential guests. Enquiries for home-stay
visits have grown sharply over the past 2
years and the introduction of guidelines
and standards will assist in a proper
product development to the benefit of
visitors as well as the hosts.
HOTEL OWNERS EARN
BARBS
The assertion of the
hotel owners association, generally
considered as a mere lobby group rather
than a sectoral trade association, that
they have the capacity to take over the
management of the national hotel and
tourism training institute, has caused
both consternation as well as some well
deserved barbs from industry analysts. The
contention by their chairman that they are
to train 35.000 staff ahead of the
commonwealth summit in particular exposed
the vanity of their proposal, as the
entire country does not employ such a
number of staff in the hotel and
hospitality sector. In turn industry
observers have voiced their concern over
some hotel owners openly flouting building
regulations, encroaching on wetlands and
devoting little if any resources to their
own internal human resource development
while trying to 'grab' a national
institution which has in recent years
undergone a complete transformation to a
professionally managed facility. In any
case, the Institute is earmarked as a
constituent college of the new public
University of Eastern Uganda and to become
the core of the proposed Faculty of
Tourism and Hospitality Management,
towards which end a new curriculum has
already been developed and is presently
undergoing stakeholder
consultations.
OLDONYO LENGAI
ERUPTS
A volcano, overlooking
the plains of the lower Serengeti, which
has long been a simmering hotspot, where
tourists could get a glimpse of an active
volcano in relative safety, has now
reportedly erupted. Across East Africa
volcanic activity has been recorded in the
past with the most substantial such
eruption a few years ago near Goma /
Democratic Republic of Congo, where
sections of the town and of the airport
ended up covered roof high in lava flows.
The Masai tribesmen of old believed that
the top of the mountain was the seat of
their deity although many of them have in
recent decades converted to
Christianity.
ALBERTINE GRABEN
ECOSYSTEM GETS 'ATTENTION'
A 'development partner'
of Uganda's conservation efforts has now
held a workshop in which they discussed
with selected stakeholders the future of
this important border transcending
ecosystem, which includes the Rwenzori
Mountains but also the Semliki river basin
and Lake Albert and its environs.
Surprisingly however, Uganda Wildlife
Authority does not seem to have been fully
involved from the onset of the exercise
and senior officials expressed some
consternation that they should not have
been at the very core of the activity,
holding the mandate to manage the
country's protected areas. This is not the
first time that this 'development partner'
has caused uproar through their
activities, which are not always felt to
be for the best of the affected
parties.
RHINO FUND UGANDA
EDUCATION PROGRAMMES REPORT
SUCCESS
Since the opening of
the rhino sanctuary at Ziwa Ranch in
October last year almost 5.000 school
children have already visited the
sanctuary under the RFU's education
programmes, which are funded largely
through donor support and donations. A
separate visitor reception and education
centre has been built to support the
activities and introducing conservation
awareness amongst children is felt to be
the best course of action to promote long
term sustainability for the Rhino Fund,
the sanctuary and similar upcoming
initiatives. More information from
yverkaik@rhinofund.org
AIR SERVICE
REGULATION CONSULTATIONS
DEFERRED
The consultative
exercise to harmonize air service
regulation across the region, had to make
way for a Head of State Summit of the East
African Community in Arusha as well as
ministerial summits. A new Secretary
General, Tanzanian diplomat Mr. Juma
Mwapachu, was installed at the meeting
after outgoing Hon. Amanya Mushega from
Uganda has completed his 5 year term of
office. The ascension of Rwanda and
Burundi to the EAC was also subjected to
further negotiations, for which no time
frame was given yet. New dates for the
regional aviation consultations will be
advised
UGANDA WILDLIFE GETS
GLOBAL KUDOS
Uganda's persistent
gorilla policy and conservation measures
over the past 15 years have yielded
international recognition. A recent UN
report mentions that the 'Great Apes
Survival Project - GASP' has singled out
Uganda as the sole country with a constant
growth of gorilla number. 'GASP noted that
Uganda is the only country in which
gorillas have been consistently on the
rise and where the population is part of
effective legislation that recognizes its
habitats within the gazetted national park
system of protected areas', say sections
of the report. UWA has been benefiting
from the PAMSU (protected areas management
and sustainable use) project of the World
Bank over the past decade, but concerns
are growing that with the end of the
project Uganda will have difficulties to
raise the necessary funding from its own
limited and small resource base. An accord
was entered in Goma / DRC in October last
year, where the three signature countries
Congo, Rwanda and Uganda agreed formally
on the conservation of the gorilla habitat
and their border transcending conservation
in the Virunga range. Numbers of gorillas
in Uganda are nearing the 400 mark and 4
groups have been habituated for visits by
tourists, leaving the bulk of the animals
'off limits' to live in peace.
QUESTION MARKS OVER
KINGDOM HOTELS KAMPALA SITE
Public controversy has
arisen over recent media reports, that the
19 acre site, where the present Shimoni
Primary School is located, would be given
for 'free' to the world's fifth richest
man to build a hotel in the heart of
Kampala. In addition talk of long term tax
holidays were floated. Most controversy
however was raised by revelations that the
relocation of the school to a new area
would not at all be underwritten by the
tycoon but left to the Uganda government,
translating &endash; if it is true what
the papers stated &endash; into tens of
millions of US Dollars 'subsidy' to the
investor. Local hoteliers raised the issue
of equal treatment for them while
concerned parents are worried about the
school being closed for the project
without the replacement being ready. Watch
this column for further
developments.
CAA LOOKS AT FURTHER
GROWTH
After another sterling
performance in 2005 for both cargo and
passengers, the CAA is now looking at a
long term average growth of at least 7.5
percent, which industry observers however
term 'very conservative'. Growth in recent
years was almost always well into the
double digit figures and as more airlines
show interest to fly into and through
Entebbe &endash; which is rather generous
with 5th freedom rights through its open
sky policy &endash; more traffic is
expected to use Uganda's sole
International Airport. Domestic aviation
has also been growing substantially as the
CAA is rehabilitating more and more
upcountry airfields. Presently about 50
such airfields exist across the country
and the Uganda Association of Air
Operators together with the Uganda Tourism
Association has asked government to have
at least one airfield in each of the
country's districts, which would require
presently at least another 18 to be
constructed.
2006 should also see
the work advance in the reconstruction of
the 'old airport' to which side the cargo
and domestic operations will be relocated,
leaving the present terminal solely for
international arrivals and departures. The
old airport is presently used as main
operations air base of MONUC, the UN force
for the Eastern Congo.
EAGLE AIR INCREASES
JUBA / YEI FLIGHTS
Another flight has been
added to the route by Eagle Air, which now
operates every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
and Saturday, following an increase in
demand for air travel between the two
cities. Juba is the capital of the South
Sudan and seat of the Government of South
Sudan. Said Capt. Tony Rubombora, CEO of
Eagle to the question of daily flights:
'as demand grows we shall add another
flight until we can operate daily
services. We operate a 19 seater LET 410
which also offers some limited loose cargo
capacity and is well suited to the
operating environment in Yei and Juba, as
we need no ground equipment to turn this
aircraft around'
MORE HONOURS FOR
KENYA AIRWAYS
Following the swoop at
the East African Travel News awards
ceremony recently, where the airline
scooped 5 of the coveted 'best' awards,
the African Aviation Magazine now once
again recognized KQ as Africa's best
carrier &endash; the 5th time over the
past 7 years &endash; in their recent
meeting in Casablanca. Criteria employed
were amongst others customer care,
inflight service, financial performance,
network expansion and fleet modernization,
all areas where East Africa's premier
airline has set the standards for the
continent in recent years.
CAA TO BUILD MORE
TERMINALS AT AIRFIELDS
The ongoing effort of
CAA to improve the quality of air
transport around the country were given a
further boost with the announcement of two
public tenders to build a small terminal
building at the Kidepo airfield, a remote
and scenic national park in the border
triangle between Uganda, Sudan and Kenya,
while the existing terminal at Kisoro is
due for expansion and modernization.
Kisoro is the gateway for gorilla
tracking, located in the border triangle
of Uganda, Rwanda and Congo DR and allows
easy access to both of Uganda's gorilla
parks, Mgahinga and Bwindi. Especially the
drive from Kisoro along some lakes towards
the Nkuringo tracking point at the Eastern
side of Bwindi is considered one of the
most scenic across the country. Meanwhile,
an applicant air operator from the January
licensing hearing has made a range of
public allegations against CAA over their
licensing status in a press conference
this week. It is however recalled that
this operator wanted to introduce an
outdated Antonov aircraft to fly regional
routes for cargo collection, and was told
at the meeting that ICAO's binding
guidelines were to phase out existing such
aircraft from the registries and not allow
fresh registrations. Further allegations
that CAA officials were 'never available'
are also not matched by reality, as
requests for information or meetings by
this correspondent have never failed to be
accommodated in the swiftest possible
manner. Frustrations by unsuccessful
applicants are not unknown but rarely
boiled over so far into public press
statements of such nature.
INZIKURU STRIKES
GOLD AT COMMONWEALTH GAMES
Dorcus Inzikuru,
reigning world champion over the 3000
metre steeplechase distance, has also
bagged the Commonwealth Games crown in
Melbourne with a convincing win over her
nearest two Australian rivals. This gives
Uganda her first ever gold medal in track
events at the Commonwealth
Games.
LAKE VICTORIA LEVELS
FALLING FURTHER
Minister of State for
Water Mrs. Maria Mutagamba was now
compelled to admit that lake water levels
had fallen to their lowest since 1923 and
almost half a metre below the 1961 level,
hitherto the lowest since Owens Falls dam
was built in the 50's of last century.
She also made reference
to the previous unsustainable level of
water discharge for electricity production
contributing to this development, a
connection otherwise long denied by
official in the energy sector.
CHECK BUILDINGS,
GOVERNMENT IS URGED
Following the collapse
of a make shift church in a suburb of
Kampala during a torrential thunderstorm
last week, government and the Kampala City
Council were urged to ensure full
compliance with building standards and in
particular inspect hotels and hotel
buildings sites ahead of next year's
Commonwealth Summit. Last year a hotel
under construction by a local business man
partly collapsed and multiple
infringements were detected through a
Commission of Enquiry.
NTUNGAMO &endash;
RUKUNGIRI ROAD FINALLY
COMPLETE
A brand new road
connecting the two townships has recently
been opened, cutting traveling times from
previously 4 hours to less than 45
minutes. The road, branching off from the
main Kampala &endash; Kabale highway, also
allows easier access to the main gorilla
national park of Bwindi and the Southern
Sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park.
The road is due for further extension to
the Congo border at Ishasha and will then
form part of the Trans Africa Highways
system, connecting the coastal harbour
city of Mombasa with the East and Central
African hinterland.
UWA HAS MORE
POACHERS SURRENDER THEIR
GEAR
Ongoing community
efforts by Uganda Wildlife Authority have
now resulted in over 600 former poachers
around the country handing in their traps
and poaching gear. UWA now regularly
shares 20 percent of their gate collection
with neighbouring communities, an effort
which seems to have paid off well for
conservation efforts.
AIR SERVICE
REGULATIONS TO BE DISCUSSED IN
APRIL
The long awaited
stakeholder workshop for the East African
aviation fraternity will now take place in
Arusha between April 05 &endash; 07.
Stakeholders from across East Africa will
assemble to discuss the latest draft of
almost 1000 pages, which is aimed to
harmonize the regulations in preparation
of the planned introduction of a 'single
sky' regime, due later in the
year.
ITB JUDGED A SUCCESS
FOR UGANDA
The Ugandan team
representing the country at the just
concluded ITB reported sharply increased
interest in the destination and impressive
forward bookings, not only for gorilla
tracking but all the other attractions the
country has to offer. Of special interest
were the centenary celebrations of the
first successful climb of the Rwenzori
Mountains for which a series of special
expeditions are expected to come to the
country in the second half of the
year.
NO BIRD FLU IN
UGANDA
The specially
constituted bird flu task force has just
released their latest report, in which it
was affirmed that no cases of bird flu
have been detected in the country.
Intensive monitoring is ongoing and in
particular UWA rangers and safari guides
are on the lookout. Communities
neighbouring national parks, game reserves
and wetlands have been sensitized and
responded well to their added
responsibilities.
KENYA AIRWAYS SCOOPS
AWARDS
The most recent edition
of the annual Travel News awards in East
Africa once again saw KQ receive 5 of the
coveted trophies, including best African
airline, best regional airline, best
domestic airline, best business class and
best inflight magazine. KQ also holds the
'title' of most respected company in East
Africa, which is a result of a survey
conducted annually by
PriceWaterhouseCoopers amongst the leading
business executives across the
region.
KQ TO PURSUE AIR
TANZANIA LIAISON ?
Kenya Airways Tanzanian
partner airline Precision Air has now made
formal proposals to the Government of
Tanzania to be considered for managing
ailing Air Tanzania, now that their
cooperation with South African Airways
seems definitely headed for a break up. No
decision is however expected before the
partnership is formally dissolved,
expected to last possible until the end of
the year. Meanwhile, Precision Air is
intensifying efforts to offer extra
flights and more capacity to step into the
void left by Air Tanzania's gradual
disappearance from the skies.
PRESIDENT MUSEVENI
SWEEPS ELECTIONS
With a sound majority
of 59.28 percent President Museveni,
fondly referred to as M7 by his
supporters, put all doubts to his
popularity to rest, as he trounced his 4
rivals, with the nearest contender
remaining in the 37 percent margin while
the three others scored 1.58 percent, 0.95
and 0.82 percent respectively. Even in
parliament the NRM has a sound majority
with 190 directly elected MP's, making it
227 with their already previously elected
special interest group members. Tourism,
Trade and Industry Minister Daudi Migereko
was also returned to the house with a
solid majority of votes while long serving
State Minister for Tourism, Hon. Jovino
Akaki Ayumu lost his parliamentary seat.
Election observers from the Commonwealth,
the EU, the USA, the African Union and the
East African Community all declared the
elections to be free and fair with only
minor infringements reported, a testimony
that there was no rigging as alleged by
the losers in their desperation of yet
again loosing to the most popular
candidate. Three of the defeated
candidates have already conceded while
main rival Dr. Besigye is once again
resorting court action, an avenue he
already unsuccessfully chose after his
loss in 2001. However, he himself is
likely to be charged with opening a ballot
box at his home polling station, in
addition to pending charges already before
court.
UGANDA AT
ITB
Visitors to our
national stand at ITB Berlin can find the
Uganda Tourist Board and private sector
participants in Africa Hall 21 a, stand
number 112. As always, our hospitality
will extend to a cup of original Ugandan
tea or coffee but the tourism trade
cocktail, sponsored by SN Brussels
Airlines Uganda, will require an
invitation.
JOINT AIR SERVICE
REGULATIONS INTO FINAL
CONSULTATIONS
The East African joint
air service regulations, which will form a
harmonized document valid for all the
sister states once they are agreed upon
and passed, will now go into their final
consultative stages with a regional
stakeholder meeting due in April this year
in Arusha / Tanzania. The three civil
aviation bodies will be joined by staff of
the East African Community, members of the
US FAA and aviation stakeholders from
across the region to discuss the latest
draft version of the regulations.
Ugandan stakeholder
body UAAO &endash; Uganda Association of
Air Operators has already prepared
submissions in regard of airfield
licensing and VFR operations into such
fields and similar responses are expected
from the Kenya Association of Air
Operators and their Tanzanian colleagues.
Issues have also arisen
over the cost of the exercise for non
civil aviation staff to go to Arusha for
several days. The largely US funded
exercise is said to impose heavy cost on
the private sector for full participation
in the consultative stages and
stakeholders have subsequently requested
to have funding extended to them too for
key participants to avoid reducing the
consultations to a farce due to low
stakeholder turnout.
UWA OFFERS MORE
CONCESSIONS
In their latest bid to
privatize services within the protected
areas network, Uganda Wildlife Authority
has now advertised 2 concessions for
motorized launches to undertake trips on
the Nile to the Murchisons Falls as well
as the Nile delta, where the river enters
Lake Albert. It is also expected that this
will be followed soon by similar efforts
in Queen Elizabeth National Park, where
the launch trips along the Kazinga Channel
are amongst the most popular activities in
the park. More information through
damian.akankwasa@uwa.or.ug or
uwa@uwa.or.ug
INFLATION RUNNING AT
6.2 PERCENT
The impact of the dry
spell on food items and ongoing high
prices for fuel, combined with the
shortage of electricity have had an impact
on annual inflation, which presently
stands at 6.2 percent but pointing upwards
in the medium term. The Uganda Shilling
subsequently depreciated slightly over the
past weeks. Daily exchange rates can be
found at www.newvision.co.ug
ITALIAN EMBASSY
HOSTS DISCUSSIONS ON CENTENARY
CELEBRATIONS
Ahead of the centenary
celebrations of the first recorded
conquest of the fabled Mountains of the
Moon by Duke of Abruzzi, the Italian
Embassy invited stakeholders to a
consultative meeting. At the same time
participants of the just ended annual BIT
tourism trade fair in Italy also met.
Uganda won the exhibitor raffle for free
BIT participation in 2007, saving some
13.000 Euros in fees which can now be
re-deployed to improve the stand design
and presentation in next year's fair.
Interest in climbing
the Rwenzori Mountains has also risen
sharply in Italy and the Italian Alpine
Club will be one of the key partners for
the activities in June and July this year,
including organizing several expeditions.
The planned programme and more details for
the event can be found at
www.rwenzoriabruzzi.com
UWA ADVERTISES MORE
CONCESSIONS
The Kibale Forest
National Park concession for the Kanyanchu
Bandas has now been re-advertised as no
suitable proposals were received so far.
Kibale is one of the key parks to watch
primates and is said to be home to 13
species, including chimpanzees. Also
advertised was the Ishasha area of Queen
Elizabeth National Park (Southern sector)
where up to 10 luxury tents and
complimentary facilities will be up for
grabs. Ishasha has a tree climbing lion
population and is rich in animals and
birds. More information can be obtained
from the Director Tourism, Business
Development and Planning Mr. Damian
Akankwasa through
damian.akankwasa@uwa.or.ug or visit
www.uwa.or.ug for more information on
available commercial ventures with
UWA.
Uganda East Africa
News (Continued) DRAUGHT DRIVES
INFLATION
After gradually
reducing to 3.2 percent in 2005, inflation
has now gathered speed again due to
draught related price increases of food
stuffs and presently stands at 6.5
percent. Fuel price increases were also
considered amongst the main causes for the
current inflationary trends.
SN BRUSSELS FEATURES
UGANDA IN NEW INFLIGHT
MAGAZINE
Besides the regular
'newspaper' type inflight reading SN
Brussels Airlines has now also re-started
a bimonthly proper magazine 'Spirit of
SN', which will be available on all
flights. Uganda has received critical
accolade in the first edition mentioning
the Ngamba Island Chimp Refuge as well as
devoting a major article on 'Bananas mean
Business', highlighting the importance of
Uganda as a major grower of many banana
varieties.
TOURISM SECTOR
PROTESTS POWER CUTS
The Ugandan tourism
sector has now joined with the Private
Sector Foundation to formally protest to
government over the increasing shortage of
electricity, which impacts more and more
on the profitability of smaller hotels and
restaurants and unreasonably hampers
guests enjoyment, when suddenly TV's go
off or the hot water runs out. In an
immediate response the Electricity
Regulatory Authority granted 3 licenses
for proposed additional thermal plants,
which are due to arrive from June onwards.
Electricity cost will subsequently go up,
as hydro generated power is much cheaper,
but until lake levels have restored to
previous marks, hydro power is not likely
to meet the energy needs of Uganda. Two
new hydro plants along the upper Nile
valley below the present dam in Jinja are
in the pipeline but will take years to
complete.
PRIVATE SECTOR
FOUNDATION ADDS TOURISM WORKING
GROUP
In recognition of the
growing importance of the tourism industry
for the economy of Uganda, the Private
Sector Foundation Uganda has now moved to
de-link tourism from the general services
sector and established a dedicated working
group at national apex level to deal with
issues pertaining to the sector. This
correspondent is privileged to have been
chosen to chair the working group and has
invited eminent personalities from the
hotel-, aviation- and touroperations sub
sectors to join hands with him in
advancing the private sector agenda
vis-à-vis sectoral incentives and
fiscal measures from government and to
improve the enabling framework for a
fuller development of tourism in the
future. Notably, the Chairman of the
Uganda Tourist Board Mr. Roni Madhvani,
also owner of Mweya and Paraa Safari
Lodges and Mr. Yusuf Mubiru, Director of
Volcanoes Safaris, current Vice President
of tourism apex body UTA and former
Association of Tour Operators Chairman and
presently also serving on the Board of
Trustees of the Uganda Tourist Board, will
be represented on the working group, again
demonstrating the private sector's close
cooperation with the Tourist Board. Others
on the group will be the present Chairman
of the Hotel and Catering Association of
Uganda, a member of the domestic air
operators' association executive, a
representative of the community tourism
establishment and the Chairman of the
Board of Airline Representatives in
Uganda.
Besides making its own
proposals from the private sector stand-
and view point it will also act as a
catalyst to respond to government,
development partners and NGO documents on
tourism, strengthening the efforts already
undertaken by the Uganda Tourism
Association in this regard by adding the
voice of the national platform PSF U, of
which UTA is a member since PSF U's
formation in the late 90's.
SHERATON KAMPALA
OWNERS TO LIST 20 PERCENT ON
USE
The Director of Finance
of Apolohotel Ltd. &endash; the owning
company of the Sheraton Kampala Hotel and
itself owned by MIDROC of Saudi born
sheikh Muhammad Al-Amoudi, announced
preparations to list 20 percent of the
Apolohotel shares on the Uganda Stock
Exchange. This was part of the 2001 sales
agreement, when the Government of Uganda
sold its shareholding in the company to
MIDROC conditionally that at a later stage
the company would list on the USE and
allow Ugandans to buy shares in a
privatized company.
PARAA LODGE GETS NEW
VEHICLES
During the ongoing
programme to upgrade Paraa Safari Lodge in
Murchisons Falls National Park to the
standard level of its sister lodge in
Queen Elizabeth National Park, Mweya
Safari Lodge, a new fleet of 4x4 vehicles
was now introduced for resident guests at
the lodge. The vehicles provided transport
to guest arriving at the Pakuba airfield
in the park centre, or alternatively from
the Budungu airfield on the Southern river
bank of the Nile, but also take guests for
game drives and to the top of Murchisons
Falls. The vehicles are also available for
use by non-residents with prior bookings.
Visit www.paraalodge.com for more
information on the facilities.
MORE GOOD NEWS FOR
KENYA AIRWAYS
Information just
availed to this correspondent indicates
that the passenger volume carried by KQ in
the last quarter of 2005 grew further by
an astonishing 17 percent while cargo
volumes grew even faster by 27 percent,
owing to the introduction of the new
B777-200ER on key routes to Europe and the
South/Far East. KQ's European routes
showed a passenger increase of 20 percent,
higher than network average, pointing to
sustained high demand for flights to Kenya
from the key European market places like
London and Amsterdam. Inter African
traffic also rose by about 18 percent as a
result of new routes and capacity
increases, using larger aircraft, while
domestic traffic rose by about 20
percent.
MV KALANGALA OFF FOR
TRIAL RUNS
The long awaited lake
steamer, which is to connect Port Bell
(Uganda's main Lake Victoria port on the
outskirts of the capital Kampala) with
some of the most scenic spots of the
country, the Ssese Islands, has now left
the construction dock for its trial runs,
before being formally commissioned. It
will sail up to Kalangala, to which a
daily service will then be established,
followed by other routes and stopovers, as
demand grows. The new ship is able to
carry about 100 passengers and up to 120
tons of cargo, which will bring relief to
Ssese Island farmers and fishermen, being
able to reliably send their produce to the
main markets in Kampala.
UWA IN RECORD
TAKINGS
Inspite of having
offered a 50 percent discount for park
entrance fees to Ugandan, the Wildlife
Authority still collected over 1 Billion
Uganda Shillings, equivalent to just over
500.000 US Dollars, during the period of
December 15 &endash; January 15. Record
numbers of visitors were entering the
parks, including many East African
citizens and residents, who came to
explore the game parks and reserves in
Uganda during the holiday period, taking
advantage of a 25 percent rebate in the
rates applicable to them. Final statistics
of the 2005 performance will be available
within days and actual figures can then be
obtained from this correspondent via
uta@imul.com or through Uganda Wildlife
Authority at uwa@uwa.or.ug/
damian.akankwasa@uwa.or.ug
DEBILITATING DRAUGHT
HITS PARTS OF EAST AFRICA
The lack of sufficient
rain in recent years has now stamped its
mark on some of the landscapes of East
Africa, leaving rural populations starving
and shrinking lake and river waters across
the region. All three East African sister
states are now suffering from a shortfall
in hydro generated electric power, with
Uganda and Kenya negotiating the speedy
introduction of additional thermal power
plants, driven by diesel engines. The
shrinking waters of Lake Victoria in
particular have raised the alarm levels at
the EAC, and probably triggered alarm
bells as far as Cairo, since the existing
Nile Water Treaty allows Egypt and Sudan a
major say over the release of waters from
the Jinja dam, where Lake Victoria
transforms itself into the source of the
Nile River.
Kenya alone is now
reported to look at a half billion US
Dollars investment programme to introduce
thermal plants and pay for the fuel bills,
but ultimately the consumers across the
region will be hit with higher tariffs
unless they prefer to sit in darkness, not
a pleasant alternative says this
correspondent, who thankfully has his own
standby generator to keep household
appliances and office equipment running
during the 'load shedding' which hits ever
second evening and every second day now
across Uganda. Even Tanzania has not been
spared and some water reservoirs for use
to generate electricity are now reportedly
down to a third of their original
capacity. Most hit however are the rural
population when their crops fail and their
domestic animals begin to die when water
sources dry up. The same applies to some
of the game parks, where the herds are
migrating larger distances to find pasture
and water. Periodic draught periods have
hit East Africa over the past decades but
with sharply grown populations each
draught circle now hits harder, as there
are more people to feed.
UGANDA SUSTAINABLE
TOURISM PROGRAMME UNDERGOES
REVIEW
The long expected and
overdue mid term review of the EU funded
sustainable tourism development programme
at the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and
Industry is now underway, with
stakeholders having the opportunity to
candidly review the progress made over the
past nearly 3 years and comment on
expectations and meeting targets of the
programme, which has mainly benefited the
Uganda Tourist Board and the public sector
so far. Private sector stakeholders now
asked for an add on to specifically target
capacity building of the private sector
and the establishment of a tourism trade
secretariat, which will then be due to
some regular funding from the new tourism
development fund levy, which is to come
into effect once the new draft tourism
bill has finally been presented to
Parliament for debate and passing. This
however is not expected to happen before
the General Elections and in all
likelihood only the next Parliament will
deal with these issues.
KENYA AIRWAYS TO
COMMENCE PARIS FLIGHTS
Shortly after speaking
to KQ CEO Titus Naikuni, where he made
reference already to a further network
expansion to destinations expected to
yield quality traffic for the airline, the
announcement has now come through that KQ
will from June this year begin flights to
Paris / France. The expansion, meant to
come sooner, was temporarily delayed due
to a shortage of aircraft. As revealed in
the interview, KQ is due to get another
B777-200 ER and a new B767, the latter of
which will be deployed on the Paris route.
In 2005 over 40.000 French nationals
visited Kenya and the new non-stop flights
between the two capital cities are
expected to sharply increase these
numbers. Further information indicates
that initially 3 flights per week will be
offered, due to expand as traffic volumes
grow once the route has established
itself.
SKAL KAMPALA GIVES
TO CONSERVATION
Three main conservation
groups in the country now benefited from
the proceeds of last November's annual
tourism ball, which commemorates Skal
Kampala's founding in 1994. The Rhino Fund
Uganda received One Million Uganda
Shillings, as did Ngamba Island, a chimp
refuge on Lake Victoria and also the
Wildlife Clubs of Uganda, which promote
conservation across the nation's schools.
The donations were handed over the current
club president Mohit Advani at the popular
Atithee Restaurant in Nakasero / Kampala.
Well done SKAL!
DIRECTOR OF TOURISM,
TRADE AND INDUSTRY TO
RETIRE
Long serving Director
of Tourism, Trade and Industry, Ms.
Blandina Nshakira, who was previously
serving as Commissioner for Tourism and in
other senior capacities, will retire from
public service in April this year, after a
distinguished career, which saw her rise
to the Director level at MTTI. This
correspondent wishes Blandina well for her
future and acknowledges many years of fine
cooperation by her in order to jointly
develop the tourism industry into a major
economic force in Uganda, an objective
well near achieved by now.
KENYA REPORTS RECORD
TOURISM RESULTS FOR 2005
Inspite of multiple
anti travel warnings against Kenya during
2005, the returns now available and as
released by the Chairman of the Kenya
Tourist Board Mr. Jake Grieves-Cook,
record results were recorded for the past
12 months.
Arrivals grew by an
average of 23 percent, after an already
vastly improved 2004, and the country
received about 1.68 Million visitors, up
from the previous year high of 1.36
Million arrivals. Earnings have also risen
to an estimated 680 Million US Dollars,
making 2005 the most successful year in
Kenya's tourism history yet. Figures from
Uganda will be available shortly, as the
Uganda Bureau of Statistics is finalizing
the statistics for all borders and the
International Airport in Entebbe, due to
be released in early February. Watch this
column for the awaited update.
A WEEK TO GO FOR NEW
PHONE NUMBERING
As a reminder to
regular readers of this column, that as of
01st February an additional digit '2' is
being added to the mobile phone networks
across Uganda after the present prefix
&endash; make sure you do amend all your
Uganda contacts accordingly. Uganda
Telecom's fixed line network will undergo
a similar change on April 15th and this
will also be announced again in this
column.
WORK ON ROUNDABOUTS
TO START
The Japanese
Government's grant to Kampala city is now
being put into action with work commencing
at several key roundabouts leading in and
out of the city, which have in past years
become bottlenecks for traffic flow.
Ongoing work will inevitably result in
some delays but traffic is expected to
flow much more smoothly once the
reconstruction works have been completed
later in the year. The city landmark
'Clocktower' donated by the Kassim Lakha
Family on the occasion of the coronation
of Queen Elizabeth, will however remain at
its present location and not be demolished
or moved, after successful intervention by
the monument conservation society and
other likeminded bodies, which lobbied the
city council and government to protect the
landmark monument.
Third edition January
2006
By Prof. Wolfgang H. Thome MBA
Ph.D.
RIP JOAN
ROOT
Animal film icon Alan
Root's ex-wife Joan, who was part of
producing the Roots' successful and award
winning series of films on animal
behaviour such as 'The Year of the
Wildebeest', which are often shown on the
global conservation and adventure channels
like Discovery, National Geographic and
Animal, was killed in her sleep by unknown
assailants on Friday 13th on her farm
outside of Naivasha, about 100 Kilometres
from Nairobi. No motive has been
established as yet and the hunt for the
killers is on, as apparently nothing was
stolen and the shots were fired at her
through the bedroom window. Other such
prominent conservation personalities like
Joy and George Adamson also fell
prematurely to killings, leaving a stain
on Kenya's reputation as a peaceful
nation. It is sad to see such prominent
personalities being murdered in cold
blood. Having known Alan and Joan for
almost my entire time in East Africa I
extend my sincere condolences to Alan and
the rest of the Root family.
EAGLE EXTENDS
AIRLINKS TO YEI
Following the start of
a 3x a week service between Entebbe and
Juba a few months ago, Eagle has now added
Yei to their network, which will be served
through an en-route stopover for
passengers wishing to embark or disembark
at that Southern Sudanese town. Eagle's
Managing Director Capt. Tony Rubombora
during a recent meeting with this
correspondent firmly committed himself to
developing routes into the South Sudan and
providing airlinks capable of allowing
easy connections on to other international
flights out of Entebbe for the South Sudan
traveling public. Eagle Air is also
Uganda's leading domestic aviation firm
with scheduled flights to a number of
upcountry airfields. They operate a fleet
of predominantly LET 410's.
SN BRUSSELS BRINGING
FLAT BEDS TO ENTEBBE FROM
JUNE
Once the present
refurbishment of their A 330 fleet is
concluded, SN Brussels Airlines will bring
the coveted flat bed business class seat
on to the Entebbe route as of June 27th
this year. This was learned by eTN East
Africa when talking to the local SN
management while discussing the imminent
European SN Sales Team trip to Uganda,
which will take place in early February.
About a dozen country managers will
assemble in Uganda to strategize and
during their social programme they will
visit Bujagali Falls, do some rafting and
see the SoftPower community centre and
other attractions in the vicinity of the
upper Nile valley. (Also see article on
SoftPower in last week's
column)
It was also learned
that there were changes at top management
level in Brussels, when both their
Executive Chairman and their CEO retired
within weeks of each other and were
replaced by a new face at the helm of the
airline. Also new is the integration of
Virgin Express with SN Brussels. New CEO
of SNV, which now combines SN Brussels
Airlines and Virgin Express, is Mr. Neil
Burrows. It was also revealed that a 4th
long haul aircraft will be made available
to boost the fleet, which now serves 14
African destinations in East and West
Africa, one of the most comprehensive
networks to the African continent out of
Europe, where SN connects 57
destinations.
BWINDI KILLER GETS
15 YEARS &endash; ONLY
As reported last week
one of the killer gang who murdered
American and British tourists after
crossing into Uganda a few years ago, was
convicted of murder. The sentence however
was astonishingly light with only 15
years, as even simple armed robbery often
attracts a death sentence. The judge in
his ruling said many people in the home
countries of the victims 'abhor the death
sentence' but instead of jailing the
killer for life he imposed only a 15 year
sentence, possibly also considering the
Bizimana gave himself up voluntarily in
2004 and cooperated with the authorities.
Three other Rwandan Interahamwe militia
members are presently awaiting trial in
the US. Bizimana's lawyer said he would
appeal the sentence.
AIRBUS COURTING
KENYA AIRWAYS
The Airbus
representative for Africa and the Indian
Ocean region, Mr. Hadi Akoum, has
confirmed a fresh approach by the European
aircraft manufacturer towards Kenya
Airways, one of the leading African
carriers. KQ retired their A 310-300 fleet
a few years ago in favour of an all Boeing
fleet and has since then upgraded and
renewed their fleet with the latest B
777-200ER models as well as additional B
767 and B 737 aircraft. Kenya Airways also
operates a maintenance facility for their
own aircraft and Boeings operated by other
airlines, a consideration which reportedly
also played a role in Ethiopian Airlines
deciding against the purchase of Airbus
aircraft, since they too have their own
well respected maintenance facility in
Addis Ababa.
Meanwhile, Mr. Akoum
also called upon the Kenya Airport
Authority to get ready to receive the new
A 380 and prepare for the necessary
modification in equipment and buildings.
Presently only Johannesburg is compliant
with A 380 requirements, making it the
only African airport so far.
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