Rwanda’s private sector that is working with the ministry of tourism and hospitality are up against an increase in the prices of gorilla permits by 50% something that they say might put their businesses at great risk. This has come after  the  Rwanda Development Board (RDB) made it officially known to all tour operators that the gorilla permits were to increase by the mentioned percentage come 1^st June 2012 excluding those booked earlier.

With the changes in prices, the foreign non-residents will have to pay $750 from the $500 they are currently paying to watch the gorillas; the foreigners who are residents in Rwanda will pay$375 as opposed to the $250 while the Rwanda nationals will be paying $50 from $33 in that order. Nevertheless, the Rwanda private sector says that the instant implement of this resolution will definitely bring about serious and long-term consequences to the private sector as well as the image of the country at large.

The mountains gorillas earn Rwanda a percentage of almost 90% of the income collected from the parks and it therefore Rwanda’s top tourism income generating activity.  They claim that the decision to increase the prices was made without consulting them and therefore are not happy about the way they came to this decision in spite of our endeavor to discuss with them on this matter.

“There are already tough responses from some of our associates which make more scared that we ill have to face serious consequences in the long run” so says a representative of the private sector from a statement signed by the chairman of tourism chamber of Rwanda’s Private Sector Federation (PSF) released on January, 28th. In 2010, Rwanda received up to $200 million from tourism which was 14% more of that received in 2009 and then in 2011, the industry received $251million.

This improvement is attributed to an increase in the number of gorillas and the tourists’ increase in the demand for watching gorillas. John Gara who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of RDB while he was making the announcement, he said they are ready to maintain the conserved areas so that they are ale to the wildlife protect in our national parks. The number of mountain gorillas improved by 26.3 per cent with in the last seven years and by  3.7% every year that is according to the statistics of  April 2010.

GORILLA SAFARI NEWS

Tourism returns have been identified as one major step of reducing poverty levels in the remote areas.  To so may Uganda, the tourism is seen as a thing for the foreigners although tourism is one of the major sources of foreign exchange in the country and the increase in the number of tourism returns is as result of an increase in the number of tourists who enter the country to visit Uganda’s national parks and wildlife reserves lately.

The major aim of the wildlife conservation is to eradicate poverty in the remote areas but more so in communities situated around the protected areas and therefore in an effort to do so, Uganda Wildlife Authority put into practice the revenue sharing system through which the those close by communities are entitled to 20% of the park entrance fee every year.  Currently, there is shs4b which has been paid out to these communities through their local governments and this money is intended to bring social services closer to the people and also to use it to startup small income generating activities (IGAs) in their communities.

Not so long ago press produced a report that the local communities were not benefiting from tourism revenue which indicated that the local communities have not benefitted at all from tourism income something that is not true. These communities have had projects like classroom blocks, school latrines, health centres, teachers’ houses, irrigation schemes, construction of community halls, road construction and rehabilitation programs, trenches dug, tree planting schemes, gravity water schemes and goat rearing projects  to mention but a few and all these are a s a result of the sharing project.  This in the long run has helped the local people from walking long distances looking for social services.

It is therefore not true that the communities gave not gained from the tourism income and yet also, there are people who earn from the sale of tourism stock directly to tourists while others are hired for cultural performances thus improvement in the employment opportunities with tour companies, lodges and Uganda Wildlife Authority. For example those who are porter in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Kibale National Park or Mt. Rwenzori National Park get more dollars in a month than any typical civil servant earns annually.

GORILLA SAFARI NEWS

Ngamba Island is a Chimpanzee Sanctuary which was set up in October 1998 to be a home for the young chimpanzees that  are left one their own after the death of the parents after they have been collected by  Uganda Wildlife Authority from different area especially from national parks so that they can get proper care fro them to survive. There are so many of them which were saved from being poached and they were rehabilitated once they are in this new location.

This sanctuary is about 100 acres which is like 40 hectares of land with a rainforest and it is located 23 km from Entebbe and very close to the Equator in Lake Victoria. With in the Island are a number of wild animals which also have it as its home and also it is a source of food for the chimpanzees and all the animals that live in their. This island is established as an eco-friendly project with compost toilets, rainwater collection systems, proper waste management practices and solar energy for electricity and hot water all with an aim of conserving nature.

However this Sanctuary is a non-profit organization under the management of the Chimpanzee Sanctuary & Wildlife Conservation Trust (CSWCT) in partnership with six other organizations interested in the well being and conservation of wildlife and they include Born Free Foundation, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Jane Good all Institute, Uganda Wildlife Education Centre, Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda (ECO-TRUST) and Uganda Wildlife Society.

The sanctuary is open throughout the year and therefore visitors are free to come and visit and every visitor pay an entrance fee to see one or both of the chimpanzee feedings. Those who come during the day and overnight are all welcome and they can stay in luxury tents which are available however they have to be booked through the booking agent which is Wild Frontiers Uganda.

GORILLA SAFARI  NEWS

Mr. Ezekiel Maige, the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism said that the rhinos have turned out to be more at risk of being poached than any other kind of animal in the parks and this is so because of the increasing demand for the rhino’s horns.   He added that there is a very high price for the rhino’s horn in the modern-day market and I every kilogram is sold at about USD 5000 and yet just one rhinoceros horn can weigh about 4 kilograms.

Mr. Maige was speaking just after the international roundtable discussion that was held in Dar es Salaam last Thursday aimed at paving ways of preventing illegal trade among the  endanger  groups.  He together with Dr Ewa Bjorling who is a visitor from Swedish Minister for Trade and he stated that in 1965, there were rhinos found in about 20 African countries but at the moment they can be found in just four countries and Tanzania is among them. He also said that the meeting brought together main players in the fight against illegal hunting and this is a strategy to manage to avoid illegal trade in endangered group.

The major aim for the meeting was to improve joint venture relationship and work out the national legislation and international treaties as well as endorse global, regional and local events in an effort to stop illegal trade of these animals. Maige noted that in the year 2011, South Africa which has got the largest number of rhinos in the whole of Africa had lost about 448rhinos to poaching. Therefore, Tanzania has got to tighten its security given the fact that South African can lose such number of rhinos and ye it is one of the countries in Africa with the best security system and hence a cause for alarm so he said.

Dr Bjorling said she was happy about the steps taken by the government to erase the vice and be able to protect all the endangered wild animals. People with the cancer illness believe that the rhino horns help in the curing of the disease which is why the demand keeps increasing every now and then and yet this not true at all.

GORILLA SAFARI NEWS

The government of Rwanda this Friday publicized the increment made in the prices for the gorilla permits to go track the rare mountain gorillas the country’s national parks which  are the major tourist attraction of Rwanda and come June 1, permit will be sold  $750 from $500.

According to the Rwanda Development Board, the increase in the price has comes at a time when there is considerable increase in the number of gorillas in the parks and at the same time an increase in the demand for gorilla tourism. And this therefore indicates that it is actually very important to carry on working hard enough towards conservation so as to be able to defend the environment and the exceptional species.

These permits are issued to the tourists permitting them to spend some time of about an hour watching the primates, predicted to be of about 790 worldwide in total. There are so many primates in the Virunga massif that is along the border between Rwanda, DR Congo and Uganda, they are also found in Uganda, in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

GORILLA SAFARI NEWS

The Kenyan travel industry has been urged by the German travel industry to immediately resolution this current issue of the Samburu people who were expelled from their land because failure to do so might affect its position in the tourism business. According to findings, a lot of money is spent by the Germans in countries abroad than any other country.

In the letter sent by the head of the German Travel Association commonly know as DRV to the President Mwai Kibaki, he expressed his immense concern about the situation in Kenya’s Laikipia district where so many Samburu have been forced to vacate their homeland Eland Downs as it is known because of constant aggressive evictions by Kenya’s police to an extent of burning down their houses, people are battered and farm animals are stolen in the process.

The people are being chased away from their land after this land was bought by two conservation bodies which are the Nature Conservancy (TNC) together with the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) in an effort to support the 17,100 hectares so that the Kenya government can create a new national park and be able to fuel tourism.

DRV ‘s president Jürgen Büchy mentioned  that  his people have been considering Kenya  as a very significant destination but tourism development can not be achieved at the cost of human rights as well as the local communities and this can not be supported by the German travel industry. He stands for 80% of Germany tour operators and travel agents and In 2010 Germans used up more than 60 billion Euros on overseas tours which was much more than any other country spent.

Büchy asked the Kenya’s government to make sure that the Samburu regain their land in the Eland Downs and also offer them a part of the land in the preservation of the wildlife in Laikipia. However the government has not acted in response to The German Travel Association request.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said that it is quite impressive to see that the German travel industry is looking at the issue of human rights sincerely. This is severe caution to the Kenyan government that the international community will not stomach human rights violation no matter the cause. All the Samburu should get back their land and if the government needs to use their land for any sort of development, they have got to get approval from the Samburu.

GORILLA SAFARI NEWS

A tourist from Canada has urged the Tanzanians to try and climb Mount Kilimanjaro so that they can clearly see, enjoy and value the magnificence this mountain with Africa’s highest peak granted to the country by. Raymond Walker  a 79 year old tourists said so just not so long ago after he managed to climb the mountain up to its highest Uhuru peak and has therefore become the very  first aged  person to  reach at that point on the mountain’s uppermost peak.

He added that he so happy and so proud of himself being the very first elderly climber to reach this point which is considered as one of the international treasures. He said the worked so had to get there because he wanted to see how it looked like up there. He also appreciated the local tour operators for all their help and for believing in him from the very day he begun his journey.

He was quoted to have said “I recommend Tanzanians to go ahead and climb that mountain while they are still young and energetic because it will give them a lot of pleasure just like it gave him especially since he is already an old man.

Faheem Aloo a local tour coordinator whose company organized Walker’s trip up to mountain mentioned that Tusker Trail his company offered the guides as well as all the necessary requirements including medication if needed. He said that Walker has become the very first tourists of his age to get to the top of the mountain.

GORILLA SAFARI NEWS

According to the information from the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage indicate that There is a lot of money that is earned from ape tourism and the entire tourism business but it is very unfortunate that the community is given only 20 per cent of gate fees collected while the rest of the money is given to the national treasury.  This is the case although the apes and gorillas specifically have transformed from being simple animals and have become the top three tourism attractions in Uganda in the past 30 years  and therefore collected  $662 million which is about Shs1.65b in 2010 only and  contributed 1 billion which is 9.2% to the GDP of the country.

Despite the fact that there is no direct poverty line drawn between the areas along reserves and those in the far places, a report from a Wildlife Case Study done in 2010 in Queen Elizabeth National Park about the impacts of Crop Raiding on Household Food Security in the Albertine Rift indicates that areas around the conserved location faced a problem of food shortage by at an average of 14% every year compared to locations far away from protected areas. This problem is attributed to regular crop invasion and livestock havoc by the wild animals from the protected area. It also true that places around these parks have very low social capital although this is not as a result of the existence of the park.

Many people who stay around the park live in absolute poverty because after enclosing off the land for conservation and yet they do not have an alternative source of income, this is why many times they decide to intrude a little bit so they can grow food for home consumption only which destroys the home for the wildlife and also means the spread of diseases easy.

Mr. Augustine Basabose who is the species conservation coordinator and DR Congo country representative to the African Wildlife Foundation said that so many people around national park depend on natural resource for instance people around Virunga National Park face a problem of water scarcity and they have got to enter into the forest to get water and because people come close to these animals, they do get diseases fro m animals.  Animals can acquire deadly diseases when people come near them.

Mr. Akankwasah Barirega acting Principal Wildlife Officer at the Tourism ministry mentioned that they about to find means through which people around the parks can gain from the money got from the parks. They are thinking of improving on their marketing skills so the number of tourists increase from 87,000 to one million and in the long run they will be able to raise enough money to cater for the demands of these people, he added. Apes through seed dispersal, they help to keep the forest in existence.

Mr. Ian Redmond of the UN Environment Programme Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals asked to have ape protection added as an important project of Reduction of Emissions by UN through the Forest Deforestation and Degradation scheme. The  apes will assist protect forests through dispersing off the seeds in their wastes and people can also get involved in different activities  like bee keeping to fight poverty.

GORILLA SAFARI NEWS

Tanzania ‘s tourism industry has been raised to international recognition after one of the historical places and famous tourist camp at Olduvai Gorge located in the  Ngorongoro conservation area  was identified as the most excellent lodge world wide. This camp was identified by the most influential magazine, Hotel & Lodge for its awards ceremony held ever year in Paris the capital of France and this time was at the Park Hyatt-Vendôme on January 11.

The magazine’s annual award festival is held to recognize, remunerate and rejoice about the good performance of hotels and lodges around the world more in the new markets that have just come in to the system. There were more than 450 operators from different countries who took part in the voting process and Mount Kilimanjaro Safari Club operated by Olduvai Camp turned out to be the best of all.

According to the report published by the magazine it indicates that at first there were 60 lodges nominated for the competition and the listing was done by, with the final listing conducted by a self-regulating jury of journalists, photographers and designers and finally three assets made the last cut.

There was stiff Competition, Olduvai Camp of Tanzania merged as number one, followed by Molori Safari Lodge in South Africa and in the 3^rd position was USA‘s  The Ranch at Rock Creek. These three out compete 57 other beautiful lodges and hotel around the world.  However, Mrs. Anne Marie Catellin le Du the Chief Editor mentioned that Olduvai Camp managed to compete favorably because of the new appearance it as currently although it also true that this place has got has got wonderful whether conditions.

Mrs. Anne-Marie appreciated the work done by the Mount Kilimanjaro Safari Club who is the owners of the Olduvai lodge, for the dedication towards maintenance of the lodge.  Denis Lebouteux the MKSC Director while getting their award, he said they were so happy about the fact that they had been selected for the high-status award, he appreciated the correspondents and the photographers who worked well enough to see the lodge in this position. He also appreciated the Ngorongoro Conservation Area for giving them the beautiful site and all of MKSC staff, camp team and every one who worked tirelessly to see that the lodge gets to the position where it is.

GORILLA SAFARI NEWS

The Uganda Wild life Authority has been given a collection of machines are going to be used in its fight against Poaching which has become a very big problem in the country and therefore affecting the performance of the tourism industry, with the devices acquired like the computers, ivory detectors and security torches for the workers like the rangers, it is more likely that poaching will be wiped out at last.

These devices cost about Shs7.5 million and they were offered by the Bush Meat Eastern Africa to assist the wildlife authority staff  locate animals through the Global Positioning System and also be able to  detect ivory  no matter form it  may be being smuggled in.

Mr. Tumwesigye mentioned yesterday that illegal hunting of animals has been completely managed in the past years which is why it is still a problem in so many parts on the country because they lacked sufficient apparatus to erase the habit. But now that they have got additional machines, they will be able to will cover a minimum of the anti- poaching gadgets required.

Unfortunately according to the reports from Uganda Wildlife Authority, there is an increase in poaching and yet it had reduced about five years ago after lifting of the ivory poaching ban in the region. there were about 15 elephants were poached for tusks in Murchison Falls National Park only last years said Mr. Tumwesigye.

There are other productive poaching activities in the game parks like the Bush meat, and the coordinator of the Bush Meat Eastern Africa, Ms Michelle Wieland, said this is the beginning of important teamwork to strengthen anti-poaching laws in Uganda.

GORILLA SAFARI NEWS