Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) Gets New Home
The Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), the Tourism promotion arm of the country, has got a new home.
Formerly located in the basement of Impala House on Kimathi Avenue, UTB has moved to its new offices located at Windsor Crescent, in Kampala's posh Kololo suburb.
Located in about an acre of land, the plush spacious office is being seen as a step ahead by UTB to take the staggering but potential sector that has kept lagging behind her East African Counterparts.
The Uganda Tourism Board's Executive Director, Mr Cuthbert Baguma, told East African Business Week last week that the spacious offices are ideal and convenient for Tourism.
Baguma, who is only just four months in office, said the former office at Kimathi Avenue was inadequate for marketing.
“Fundamentally, you can't talk about marketing and promotion without image, and one of the key ingredients of image is location in terms of accessibility, proximity and convenience,” Baguma said.
"The previous office space we were occupying at Impala was grossly inadequate for the creation of a prime marketing agency like UTB as the tourism marketing arm of Uganda."
Apart from its offices at Garden City, Baguma said UTB plans to open another office in a prime location in the central business district to ease accessibility and convenience for improved customer care and service delivery.
In 1907 Uganda was visited by Winston Churchill. His discriminating and perceptive analysis of what Uganda has to offer was recorded in "My African Journey", where he wrote "Uganda is truly the pearl of Africa".
Blessed with unique attractions, beauty, its well-earned reputation for hospitality, modesty and friendliness, Uganda seems to be slowly losing its tourism grounds. With the trials of independence and civil war now long past, Uganda has once again opened its doors to tourists.
Over the past three years, Uganda's Ministry of Tourism, through its associated agencies the Uganda Tourism Board and the Uganda Wildlife Authority are sowing the seeds of a brand new conservation-based form of sustainable tourism.
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Jackie
Black back attack kills an Infant
The absentee of the dominant silverback Isabukuru in a gorilla group, gave a chance to black back Kubaha to attack the group members in which a seven-month-old infant Agatako was killed, while his mother Bukima, who was carrying him. Kubaha was aggressive all morning towards all the females in his group.
“Most of the time, Kubaha displayed with chest beats and plant smashing and was tight-lipped and strut-standing towards group members. He was obviously nervous and uptight,” said Joel Glick, the Karisoke Research Center’s interim Gorilla Program coordinator, who was collecting data in Isabukuru’s group at the time.
It is unclear whether Kubaha, who is 11 years old and has not yet reached sexual maturity, was nervous about having to lead the females, or whether he was trying to attract their attention by showing off his strength, or both.
With tension mounting and females occasionally responding to his aggressions with gestures of appeasement or aggression, Kubaha launched a fierce attack against Bukima, who was behind a thick bush on the edge of the mountain. Her loud screams alerted the other females, who ran towards Kubaha. It was then, at noon, that Agatako, who was clinging to his mother, lost his life. However, the view was obscured for observers, so they could not establish beyond any doubt whether Kubaha directly targeted him, or whether he died in the interaction between the aggressor and his mother. Neither Bukima nor the other females sustained any injuries.
By the time Glick reached the group at the bottom of the mountain, just four minutes after Kubaha’s attack, Bukima was carrying her dead infant away from the other gorillas. His tiny body was covered in blood. When she finally laid him on the ground, every individual in the group approached him with curiosity. Bukima paced nervously, as though trying to decide whether to look for Isabukuru’s trail or watch over her dead infant.
This would not, however, be the end of the drama for the day. Kubaha next approached the dead body and started to display with it, as some of the females screamed.
“It was absolutely horrible,” said Glick, visibly shaken. “Kubaha flung the body in the air several times, let it drop to the ground, and then dragged it all over the place. He even chest-beat while holding the body in one hand. There was blood everywhere.”
This lasted for 15 minutes, after which Kubaha finally set down Agatako’s body. It was later recovered by the veterinarians, whose preliminary report indicated “deep puncture wounds,” most likely from canine teeth. This would indicate that Kubaha indeed bit Agatako.
A short while afterward, silverback Isabukuru returned to the gorilla group, unaware of what had happened in his absence. He had spent the morning some 600 meters away, trailing another gorilla group in the vicinity, according to the trackers who followed him. He stared in the direction he had come from and displayed three times, and then all was quiet, with no further aggressions.
Isabukuru himself was responsible for the only other case of presumed intra-group infanticide ever recorded when he was still a black back in Pablo’s group, in December 2006. Soon after he killed one Infant there, he left together with a few females and started the new group that is named after him.
Agatako was born on January 26. He was healthy, and Bukima was taking good care of him. He received his name - which means “ornament” in the local Kinyarwandan language - during the Kwita Izina ceremony last month. He was Bukima’s third offspring. Her previous infants all died as well.
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Jackie
IGG cancels gorilla permit contracts
Raphael Baku the Inspector General of Government, has directed the Uganda Wildlife Authority to cancel all the illegal and irregular contracts it made with the Nkuringo Conservation and Development Foundation and Uganda Safari Company in Kisoro district.
The contracts were monopolising Gorilla Tracking in Nkuringo on the Southern periphery of the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
The IGG saind that Monopoly of sale of Gorilla Tracking permits by Uganda Wildlife Authority to a private company, directed UWA to comply with all the laws and policies that govern it in executing its mandate without taking advantage of the ignorance of the communities it works with.
The IGG report stated that the illegal and irregular contracts, namely the agreement between Uganda Wildlife Authority and Nkuringo Conservation Development Foundation of 30/8/2004 and its addendums of 23/11/2006 and 29/11/2006 and the agreement between Nkuringo Conservation and Development Foundation and the Uganda Safari Company should be revoked..
Earier on Tourism stakeholders complained to the IGG of discrimination, irregularities and illegalities in the management and issuance of gorilla tracking permits by the Uganda Wildlife Authority to a few companies and this created unfair monopoly in the tourism business.
This raised concern to Uganda as a whole which had lost tourism business including all benefits accruing from the sector to only one Kisoro Hotel operator, Uganda Safari Company, who had been given exclusive rights to sell gorilla tracking permits and allegedly attract tourists to an eco-lodge.
The IGG in the report recommended that UWA should draw up a well- thought out framework for the development of tourism opportunities for the whole region where Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is located not for particular isolated areas.
“The sub-counties of Nyabwishenya and Kirundo where Rubuguri and Nteko parishes respectively fall, should, in consultation with the district takeover the Nkuringo tourism project and improve development for the benefit of their communities after other modalities have been addressed.
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Jackie
Community Museums in Uganda boost the Tourism Industry
In Uganda, about four regions have community museums. These museums are initiatives by individuals, families or groups who have collected artifacts, oral history, and other elements of the local culture.
The museums have made an effort to link the past and the future through their collections, which are accessible to schools, researchers, local residents and tourists.
Yesterday the 18th .may, the world celebrated the International Museums Day that was set aside by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) secretariat to make the public aware of the importance of museums in developing societies.
The theme for the Museum Day was “Museums for Social harmony”. The basis of harmony lies in dialogue, tolerance, co-existence and development based on creativity.
To commemorate that day, community museums in Uganda presented their artifacts in the first ever community museums exhibition at the National Theatre on May 18 to 19.
Community Museums play an important role in preserving the diversity of Uganda’s cultural heritage and provide spaces for appreciating different cultures.
They are also cultural repositories and some have well documented literature on culture and other socio-anthropology aspects.
For example, the Home of Edirisa Museum in Kabale has increased tourism in that area. It has also promoted traditional Kikiga homestead cultures among the Bakiga young generations.
Community museums complement the Uganda National Museum’s role in being a reference point for research and education. In addition, they provide entertainment and employment opportunities through tourism and related activities.
Tourism is a major contributor to our national gross domestic product and it should be promoted by the Government and local people.
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Jackie
Trade and Tourism Ministry to lead a group to Turkey
The minister of Tourism, Trade and industry, Major General Kahinda Otafire has confirmed his ministry is leading a delegation of Ugandan business people to theTurkish seven-day-second-global business conference starting on June 14.
The trade fair, running from June 14 – 20, is expected to enhance business and trade relations between Turkey’s leading manufacturers and import companies from over 150 countries.
Vice-President Prof Gilbert Bukenya led similar delegations for the last two years.
Reverend Father Simon Lokodo, the industry state minister, represented the trade ministry last year where 2,250 business people from 135 countries converged at Istanbul for a similar seven-day event of experience sharing and deals’ clinching with the 400 Turkish companies.
Reports indicate that 3,000 people turned up last year.
Unlike last year where applications where coordinated by the Turkish community here, this time all applications are on line at www.tuskonwtb.com. The deadline is May 1. Uganda’s imports from Turkey have been growing every year.
According to Ejder Kilic, the chairman of the Turkish community in Uganda and Hakki Aydin, the headmaster of Turkish Light Academy, the previous visits by Professor Bukenya has attracted 19 Turkish companies to Uganda.
These include Istanbul Ltd (general merchandise), Turkish Sule Cable (cable manufacturing), Milad Uganda (textile)and Insicam (construction).
Ejder said the opening up of the Turkish embassy here and the decision to extend Turkish Airlines flights to Uganda starting June will enhance the partnership potential for Turkish companies most especially those in construction, mining, energy, tourism and agriculture.
Eng. Nelson Gagawala, the trade state minister said Uganda’s trade with Turkey has been growing. Records show that in 2009, Turkey’s export volume to Africa was $10.1b and its import volume was $5.6b. Africa’s share of Turkey’s export volume was only 4% before 2009, a figure that increased by 10% last year.
With its liberal and trade-oriented policies, Turkey’s population of 70 million, is mainly of young people aged below 34 years. On average, the country attained 7% growth in the last six years.
Being the 15th largest economy, according to IMF, the Turkish economy is much diversified. Records show that Turkey’s gross domestic product (GDP) stood at $663b in 2007 and its per capita GDP reached $9.629 in the same year. It is ranked 9th in world in tourism earnings with over 23.3 million tourists visiting every year.
Its location at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa gives it the advantage of becoming the hub for multinational corporations.
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Mountain Gorillas suffer as Eco-tourists get closer to them
The Mountain Gorillas are being dangerously stressed by tourists whose attentions are disrupting the animals' feeding routines and making them aggressive.
Researchers who have just completed a year-long study of the great apes at Bai Hokou in the Central African Republic have discovered the important implications for the tourism industry.
Uganda’s Eco-tourism has become extremely popular, providing travelers with opportunities to get close to rare species, including chimpanzees and gorillas. Money raised in this way has helped to preserve endangered animals and bring employment to the local people in the countries.
In Uganda, gorilla tourism brings in an estimated £345,000 a month from the sale of permit fees alone.
But now scientists warn that greater care will be needed. Not only do tourists disturb the animals, but so do research teams studying the animals' behaviors and their interaction with tourists. It is recommended that the minimum distance between humans and gorillas be increased from seven to 18 meters.
"We got a lot of warning barks from the male silverback in a band of gorillas if we went too close," said Michelle Klailova of Stirling University. "And you ignore a male gorilla's barking at your peril, for there is a real danger that it will turn into something much worse, like a full-blown charge. They can kill very easily. They know exactly where to bite a person."
Great apes are known to be vulnerable to human diseases. A common cold has the potential to kill an entire family group. Research at the Tai chimpanzee project in Ivory Coast found that 15 young chimpanzees who died in three disease outbreaks there had been infected with viral strains that were very similar to those found in humans.
As numbers in a group increased, the gorillas spent less time feeding and instead behaved in a disturbed, unfocused manner. Klailova found that Makumba was more likely to stop feeding and start watching humans as observers moved closer.
Making a male gorilla angrier could lead to him attacking humans or female gorillas in his own band. Either way, the reaction reveals that animals that are now hovering at the edge of extinction are being further stressed.
Klailova admitted that a recommended gap of 18 meters "is not a realistic goal in dense forests, particularly for tourists who have spent valuable time and effort to see the gorillas". But in clearings and in open land, where there are good sight lines, it should definitely be adhered to.
The suggestion will find support from other scientists who have called for increased protection for great apes. Other proposals have included suggestions that all tourists be required to wear face masks to block any transmission of human diseases.
However, the prospect of wearing masks all the time while only being allowed distant glimpses of animals could have a detrimental impact on gorilla-watching holidays.
Eco-tourism has become an important source of income for remote African communities. Foreign visitors who come to enjoy the sights and sounds of natural parks have become a strong motivation for governments to invest in conservation, while the presence of researchers, tourists and tourism infrastructure can work as a strong deterrent to poachers.
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Jackie
Karuma electric plant to preserve Tourists activities
Uganda to get another hydro-electric plant, at Karuma Falls of the Nile River in the western part of the country.
According to sources in the ministry of energy, set for construction start by July of this year, the electric plant will be constructed just before the river enters Murchison Falls National Park near Karuma wild reserve.
The good news is that a tunnel version is being used in this hydro-electric plant, the environmental and social impact is considered much lower compared to a power plant using a dam, as recently described for the Bujagali venture. There fore much of the spectacular rapids will be visible for tourists.
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Jackie