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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Students in Rwanda who are undertaking a course in hospitality will have their training placement in Kenya in an effort to provide them with some of the most excellent practices that the industry has got in East Africa.

The Private Sector Foundation (PSF) together with Rwanda Tourism University College (RTUC) instigated the plan to enable these students to improve on their local skills in the industry. This very week, there will be a group of 29 student who will going to Kenya for their training and this will be the very first group to go and another of about 50 students will follow in about a month.

Faustin Mbundu the Chairperson PSF while addressing the New Times, he said it is very important for the industry to improve on the skills in the hospitality sector by advancing the  technical and generic skills and therefore asked all the student to go and provide the best customer care wherever they will be training from.

He also urged them to make good use of the opportunity provided to them and learn as much as possible and the program will go on every year if they do not disappoint them organizers at the end of it all and he also encouraged them to be behave them selves and be good ambassadors of Rwanda while in Kenya.

Callixte Kabera the Rector of RTUC said that they wish to accelerate this programme to regional and international level in order to have excellence and consistency. Meanwhile a beneficiary in this programe Daniel Komezusenge said that he was already so happy about training from Kenya and hopes to learn so much from the East African nation.

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The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has asked the financier of Katurum Lodge that is situated in Kidepo National Park in Karamoja Sub-region to stop the construction activities that has been going on until he uses the right channels that every one uses to get a government property.

Andrew Sseguya the UWA Executive Director mentioned of late that he had just ordered this tycoon Cornelius Lorika Kodet to stop refurbishing this  the lodge and first go through the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) to  get the property and then go ahead with the renovation. He added that UWA is just waiting to get report from PPDA and then let this investor continue with his work

However the investor, Mr. Kodet insisted that he will proceed with the renovation since he was permitted by the President and the Minister of Tourism before he started refurbishing and to manage the lodge at large. The investors says that he got the permission after they were trying to find money to have the lodge hit down and he decided to ask the president to let him renovate it and the later gain ownership of Katurum something that the president agreed on and it was accompanied with a letter from then Tourism Minister Kahinda Otaffire.  He also said that he too has got his investment plans, therefore will continue with the renovation.

Mr. Sseguya has now asked Mr Kodet to bring out that letters but still has to go through the PPDA procedure of disposing off government properties like any other person.  This Katurum Lodge was built  in  1970s and was destroyed at the time when  Amin’s government  was being overthrown and since that time, Mr Kodet hastaken care of the lodge, he putt a new roof  and started renewing it so that it could start operating again.  It is one of UWA properties that were not so long ago advertised via International Tender of Joint Ventures and Kodet is the owner of Aero beach in Entebbe, Mount Moroto Hotel in Moroto District and Apule Safari Lodge in Mbale District.

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The Ziwa rhino sanctuary has got another baby rhino just a week after Bella gave birth to its young one from the same sanctuary. This young one was born by Kori who is the third adult female in the sanctuary and just like Bella; the birth of its young was a total surprise since they expected it to delivery in few weeks from the day it gave birth. Of Within a week after reporting that Bella had a baby girl on the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, did news just break that Kori, the third adult female, has also given birth last night in a surprise development not expected so soon.

This wonderful news was confirmed by Angie Genade the Rhino Fund Uganda and of the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary Executive Director after she received the news from the game rangers who are responsible for looking after these rhinos during the night. Ziwa got this piece of land as a donation authorized to use by Capt. Joe Roy and was consolidated by the Rhino Fund Uganda, which later solicited for almost a million US Dollars so that they could set up an electric fence for the security of the animals and restore the previous ranch head quarters after the 2000 cattle that were owned by Capt. Roy were taken to his other ranch in the neighborhood.

There are  12 rhinos currently at Ziwa which include 3 adult males, 3 adult females, 3 adolescent males, 2 baby girls and the newly born whose sex is not yet determined but will be determined  soon enough.  This occurrence of having two rhino birth in just one month is a good sign that indicates a boom in the performance of the rhino something that was some time back seen as a crazy unachievable dream, but has now become a reality by YvonneVerkaik which is Uganda’s previous Rhino Lady prior to Angie Genade and Yvonne Verkaik became second phase.

There are about four of them that were bought from Solio Kenya while two of them were just offered to Uganda by the Disneys Animal Kingdom from Florida and they have give birth to 6young ones which is just enough proof that the RFUs breeding project is yielding good results and giving wonderful outcome which is why the primary numbers have now been doubled. We would therefore wish to appreciate the work of all the staff at this sanctuary and congratulations to Angie upon the birth.

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Air Uganda has currently added to the number of times that its flights fly to different places around the world in an effort to attract more tourists from around the world and this has increased the fight for traveler amongst the East African countries. And according to the report released last week on Thursday, it was clearly indicated that the airline will be using the Nairobi-Entebbe route 3 times in a day as well as over the weekdays so that they are able to meet the demands of the customers.  Flights between Juba and Entebbe have also been increased and come up with flights that go straight from Uganda to Zanzibar and Mombasa.

At the moment, Air Uganda goes to just five places in the whole of the East African region from Entebbe after the airline got a 17% increase in passenger traffic in October 2011 regardless of an increase in the price of the tickets and therefore became Ugandan very first carrier to stay in the market for more than two years after the down fall of Uganda Airlines and its collapse was as a result of negligence of the staff and the tight competition from other operators and Kenya Airways. Air Uganda plans to work hard to compete with all the airlines in business and hopes for the best by the end of the year and hopes to help develop the tour company.

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