UWA graft probe-team named
The Minister of Trade, Tourism and Industry Mr. Kahinda Otafiire has appointed Col. Stephen Kwiringira to head the committee to investigate allegations of corruption against two suspended top Uganda Wildlife Authority officials.
Other members on the committee include Mr Amos Wekesa, the chairman Uganda Tourism Association, Dr John Bosco Nizeye from Makerere University and Mr Denis Bireije. Col. Kwiringira is a former director of operations at the Internal Security Organisation.
The Uganda Wild life Authority, (UWA) executive director Moses Wafula Mapesa and Sam Mwandha, the director of conservation, are currently on forced leave.
Mr Joseph Tibeijuka, the director for finance, has been appointed acting executive director.
The team, according to a source, will investigate alleged mismanagement of money from gorilla permits and Zziwa Rhino Sanctuary in Nakasongola District.
Gen. Otafiire said yesterday that the officials will have an opportunity to clear themselves on the allegations contained in the IGG’s report.
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Uganda Tourism Vibrant Despite Bomb Blasts
The Uganda Tourists and tour operators earlier have been weary of the situation and its impact on the tourism sector. However, players in the field say apart from inquiries, there are no tourists canceling their booking and safaris that characterize the season will go as planned.
Hundreds of tourists book vocations in Uganda during this period to visit parks and especially to trek gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Concerns whether they would cancel their trips or change their itinerary have been quelled by further bookings, according the Mr Moses Mapesa, the executive director of Uganda Wildlife Authority, a body that is charged with keeping the national parks, among other tourism attractions
Assuring Tourists, Mr Mapesa said he has not received any cancellation, something that reassures the sector that the bombs scare will not seriously affect the business. On Wednesday morning, tour operators held a meeting at the Uganda Tourism Board offices in Kampala at the meeting, they resolved on safety measures of tourists in the country and those about to arrive.
Though the primary aim of the meeting the upcoming World Travel Market (WTM) fair in London due in November, tour operators addressed matters regarding the bombs scare because they could be damaging to their business.
Miss Najjuka, the manager of Katona tours and travel said that though some tourists who booked with her company are concerned and have been inquiring whether it is safe to visit the country, she is glad that none of them has cancelled and have sent 6 groups of Tourists to National parks this week. Three Tourists are hiking Rwenzori, One couple is on 21 days Vacation to celebrate their marriage , a group of 5 has gone for a grand safari and the rest of the groups are tracking gorillas.
Mr Baluku, a secretary general of the Association of Uganda Tour Operators (AUTO) said,, "No park has been far closed, so as long as visitors observe safety precautions, the situation is very normal."
Uganda Tourism Board's Edwin Muzahura added, "I have met the private sector in tourism and we have agreed on updating our clients on the situation back home." He said providing factual updates on the website, twitter and face book helps tourists understand the situation as it is, and not to scare them away.
"These scares happen anywhere and tourists cannot stop to come because two bombs are detonated in some parts of Kampala. For example, South Africa was on high alert before and during the World Cup, but millions of football fans watched the games peacefully. The situation in Kampala is very controllable and every other places tourists visit, are more security conscious than possibly they have been."
Mr Mapesa adds, "People out there understand that there are security concerns in America, Europe, Asia and everywhere." He said there are reasonable security measures in place to protect the tourists from harm, adding, UWA has enough security on its own in all national parks.
"The safaris are done in the total guidance of our staff. We tell our visitors to travel during the day and to be inside by 7p.m.," he says, adding, "And even when a tourist asked for a self guided tour, we advise them on routes and give them a map."
Mr Muzahura told Saturday Monitor, the situation is under control and that is why the government has not issued any travel advisories. Mr Baluku adds, the coming months are high season for safaris and if the government serves advisory notices, it would heavily impact on the tourism industry.
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Tourists at Lubiri get excited by a Lioness
Ugandans have been urged to conserve the environment and protect wild life because they are a source of income through tourism.
In his speech, Dr.Seguya Andrew, the executive director of Uganda Wildlife Education Centre said Uganda has a comparative advantage over the rest of the world. Uganda has more animals and plants species compared to Europe and Asia.
Dr Seguya who was speaking at the ongoing cultural exhibition at Lubiri in Mengo said Uganda has a big tourism potential. “This is why we should keep this sector jealously to stop people from killing wild animals and encroaching on wetlands and forests,” he added.
The major attraction of the center’s stall at Lubiri was a lioness. Other animals that were exhibited include pythons, an ostrich, the red-tailed monkey and the African fish eagle, among others.
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Tanzania Tourist Board gets new Managing Director
Dr. Aloyce K. Nzuki has been appointed as the new Managing Director of the Tanzania Tourist Board
Dr. Nzuki brings years of experience in the tourism industry to the position. He previously worked with Tanzania’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism as an Assistant Director in Tourism Development and Tourism Research, Training and Statistics.
He was appointed by H.E. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania
Under Dr. Nzuki’s direction, the Tanzania Tourist Board will continue to promote sustainable tourism domestically and internationally.
“As Tanzania’s tourism industry, which accounts for 17.2 percent of the country’s GNP, keeps growing, we will remain focused on high quality, low impact tourism to ensure the sustainability of the tourism product. We look forward to continuing the momentum started in the United States, which remains our number-one market,” said Dr. Nzuki.
Dr. Nzuki studied Statistics at Makerere University in Uganda and completed a master’s degree in Tourism Marketing at University of Surrey in England. He holds a doctorate
Degree in Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management from Clemson University of South Carolina.
Until last month, Dr. Nzuki was an Assistant Professor of International Business Administration at the College of Applied Sciences in Salalah, Oman. He has also worked as a member of the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s World Committee on Tourism Ethics, the body responsible for interpreting, applying and evaluating the provisions of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.
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Buganda kingdom to set up zoo
Buganda Kingdom to set up a zoo at Lubiri, the palatial home of the Kabaka, Ronald Muwenda Mutebi.
The Buganda tourism minister, Florence Kiyingi said that the kingdom had been granted permission by the Uganda Wildlife Authority to keep the wild animals.
“The zoo will have all the young animals that symbolise our totems. We are taking advantage of our proximity to wildlife authorities to promote our cultural heritage.”
Florence said clan members would have the opportunity to see some of the wild animals during the event and the zoology department will provide specimen of the animals that will not have been obtained.
There are over 50 clans in Buganda and each of them has a totem, except the royal clan, Abalangira.
Kiyingi made the disclosure while addressing journalists at the launch of the Buganda Tourism Expo 2010 at Hotel Africana on Wednesday.
The event will take place between June 28 and July 14. It aims at promoting cultural tourism in Buganda and Uganda as a whole.
Ugandans should visit heritage sites to learn more about their culture.
Some of the planned activities include opening of the royal gardens for public viewing, a food expo, an exhibition of herbal medicine, traditional music, performances from schools and a cultural show by tribes from all over the world.
The kingdom has also set up a website to promote the event in the diaspora.
The occasion will also focus on reconstruction of Kasubi tombs, a world heritage site that was destroyed by fire two months ago.
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Marsha Conn to give an helping hand to Batwa pygmies
The Batwa of Uganda, a group of short people normally referred to Pygmies, live in western part of the county and their resource base has either been destroyed or denied to them, through deforestation, through the control exerted over them by neighboring farmers, or more recently through conservation projects restricting or denying their access to the forest.
These people of south west Uganda have been reduced to virtual serfdom and poverty. Both the infrastructure for logging concessions and other agents of deforestation in the western part of the Congo Basin, and the financial backing for conservation projects throughout the Congo Basin, have often been funded or supported by the World Bank (for example through the Global Environment Facility) and other international agencies.
The good news, Marsha Conn plans to help Batwa pygmies make art for profit.
“The Batwa need the income because their old ways of making a living have been denied them. Worse, they have to reshape their culture to fit a new existence.” Said Conn a retired Teacher from Seattle.
In the early 1990s they were moved out of their homes so that gorillas could have the mountain forests they once shared.
A few Batwa people are still staying in Mt. Muhavura in Mgahinga National Park and these pygmies are other Toursist attractions in that park.
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Bwindi National Park loses a male twin Gorilla
One of the Male gorilla twins living among the Nkuringo group of gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park has died.
Katungi was only one and a half years old and his death coincided with the second anniversary of the death of his grandfather Nkuringo, who died on April 2008.
According to a report on the ‘Friend a Gorilla’ website, Katungi had been reported ill by the gorilla trackers and was under observation until Monday when the team retreated for the evening.
The following day rangers caught up with the Nkuringo family and Katungi was missing.
After a thorough check through, Katungi was discovered lying about 50 meters away from his family motionless.
According to the report, doctors from the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project and a team of trackers attempted to revive the unconscious gorilla without success.
Katungi just responded by jerking once and breathed his last.
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