My adventure in Queen Elizabeth National Park

Nanyunja Sharon Priscilla who completed her Primary Seven was part of an exciting 3day safari to Queen Elizabeth National Park and couldn't help but share her wonderful experience.

“When we were briefed before taking off for the Safari, the distance scared me because I expected to get exhausted and tired. I also was scared on hearing of the lions especially when we were told not to move beyond some boundaries at the hostels. But I did not even feel tired throughout the whole journey. We made stop overs to see some interesting places like we stopped at the equator where we had photographs taken. We had fun all the way up to the park. I enjoyed watching animals. I had never seen an elephant but this time I was able to see very many of them moreover from a close distance. I was surprised to see that the elephant eats thorny plants and can even run with all that size.  

The three days we were in the park, we were able to see different animals. We saw buffaloes, warthogs, bush bucks, the kob, antelopes, hippopotamuses, and the king of the jungle (lion). Mr. Denis asked the driver to stop at one point and showed us a very beautiful bird called the black red bishop. We saw other birds but this one interested me most because of its colours and name.

On this Safari I really enjoyed the boat ride  on Kazinga channel to Lake Edward. I think this is a home for hippopotamuses because we saw very many of them in the water. The  was very nice and funny.

But I did not like the environment where we slept because it was all surrounded by bushes. In the night we could  hear  animals making scaring noise and even hear some moving around the house. During the day warthogs would move all over the compound. I suggest that Wild Life Authority fences the hostels so that the animals do not get to the compound. This also will make the people feel safe.

I really got to see the beauty of my country. Thank you very much.”

We know you too can have these blissful memories after a tour with us whenever you choose to have it.

Students at the Equator near Queen Elizabeth National Park

The month of Nsenene!!!! (Grasshoppers)

The Baganda, a cultural group that dominates central Uganda named their months according to seasons, surrounding and events in history some of which include folk tales; for example the month of June is named "Ssebo Aseka". This was because of an interesting story of a man who ate maize and died but the position that he died in seemed as if he was laughing so people thought he had died laughing. This is a story that old people have told and it has been passed on from generation to generation. November is the month when there happen to be many grasshoppers. When i was a little girl i was told that the grasshoppers would hide and then wait for November to come out when they were in excess. Of course I later on grew up and realised it was because of the breeding patterns that this season was recognised as grasshopper season.

Right now as you pass many villages and towns, bright lights are shone onto iron sheets that reflect the light and attract the grasshoppers. These iron sheets are supported by disused oil drums and in areas where people do not have the drums they use sacks and grasshoppers just slide into the sacks and drums after being attracted by the bright lights and sliding off the iron sheets. In the morning you see sacks being transported to the centre of the city in markets, shops and these are really sold depending on the efforts that the people harvesting the grasshoppers used. This is a delicancy in Uganda and you will find many people enjoying them. The wings and legs are stripped off and then they are fried or boiled and sold.

If you are in Uganda in November or any time in March-April, you can try out these delicious insects that make everyone look forward to November. You may find that they will be the reason that you come back to Uganda in November next year.

                                          grasshoppers being fried.

50 years of Independence !!!!!!!!

The colours of the national flag Black, Yellow Red are seen everywhere in supermarkets, clock towers at the city round about, street lights and at trade shows as people host festivals, carnivals, jazz safaris, live performances and barbeques. It’s the excitement of the 50 years of independence in Uganda. This year is very exceptional and Uganda has quite a number of things to celebrate.

We gained a gold medal after 40 years of drought since 1972. Who knew that a small country in East Africa would not leave the 2012 Olympic Games in London empty handed! Most people were expecting all the medals to go to Kenya but we also had our chance.

 Finally we can also say the war in Gulu that lasted about 25 years finally came to an end and many people are settling back in their communities.  The people in Gulu still struggle with the scars but at least now they can try to rebuild their lives with the hope that Kony will be caught some day.

We can say that there is free Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education which has helped many children to get a chance to go to school. This has its many challenges but we can be certain that there is a move to see that every individual in this country can access education.

I could go on about the many things that have changed but specifically in Tourism, a lot has happened. Tourism started off well after Uganda got its independence in 1962. 1971 was the peak year and Uganda received over 85000 tourists coming into the country and tourism became the third highest foreign exchange earner after coffee and cotton. Later on the tourism sector started going down and we had less people coming in the country especially during the late 1970s and early 1980s because of political instability and also because of the rule of Idi Amin. After 1986 when President Museveni took over power, the economy started to stabilize again although there were still challenges with various rebel groups like the LRA who made it impossible to put up sustainable infrastructure like hotels and roads because they kept on looting villages and towns and terrorizing people. 

The tourists started coming in slowly by slowly but very few went to places like Kidepo National Park and Murchison Falls (formerly known as Kabalega National Park) because they feared the rebels.  When the government realized the role of the tourism sector in economic development and how much important it was then the government assigned high priority to restoring the tourism sector. In February 1988, ministry officials announced a plan to build four new hotels worth US$120 million as part of a barter trade agreement with Italy. The Italian company Viginter agreed to construct the 200-room hotels at Masaka, Fort Portal, Jinja, and Mbale. International tourist arrivals gradually increased, from about 32,000 in 1986 to more than 40,000 in each of the next two years. Tourism earned roughly US$4.2 million in 1988.

Today we can say that tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in the country, at 50 years of Independence, we are excited to have been announced the best destination in 2012 by lonely planet. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/uganda/travel-tips-and-articles/76856  We are proud that we  have Bwindi as one of the National parks of the world with the only existing Mountain Gorillas, Ishasha with the tree climbing Lions, Queen Elizabeth with the many elephants and crater lakes, Kibale with its many cunning species of primates, Rwenzori Mountain with its snow capped peak Margherita, Murchison Falls with its captivating falls, enchanting giraffes and entertaining crocodiles not forgetting Lake Mburo and its graceful zebras and antelopes, the list is endless and that is just a sneak peak of what Uganda has to offer.  So let us celebrate 50 years of a country that has come so far. We may still have a flaws but it does not stop us from being excited about how far we have come. You can always celebrate with us as we mark 50 years of Independence.

World Tourism Day 2012

The 27^th of September was World Tourism Day. This event was celebrated in Entebbe at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre formerly and commonly known as the zoo. There were a couple of activities that were done to celebrate the day which included horse riding, boat and bicycle racing with various performances from children. The theme of the World Tourism Day this year is Tourism and Sustainable Energy. These at the moment are very two important issues in our country and as we celebrate this day along side Uganda marking 50 years of independence, as a sector we need to see we can contribute more to the development of local communities as we build our nation day by day.

Particularly we could look at the fact that sustainable energy can be a threat to tourism but at the same time we cannot do without it because we need energy to run our daily lives domestically and industrially. So this year we are looking at how we can make these two important aspects co-exist without having one override the other. Uganda's access to electricity still stands at about 10 % of the population and this is quite dangerous because that means that we still have quite a number of people cutting down trees to burn charcoal because they cannot afford to access electricity or rather find it too expensive. This is also a threat to animals that have the trees and thick vegetation as their natural habitat like the birds, primates and mountain gorillas. At the same time as we also think of putting up dams like the Bujagali we have to remember that these are also tourist sites that bring in foreign exchange every year. 

Another point of concern would be the fossil fuel in the western arm of the rift valley also known as the Albertine rift valley. The Nile delta where River Nile enters Lake Albert is one of the richest areas of Murchison Falls National Park, yet it is also suspected to be sitting in the largest reservoirs of oil.The extraction of this fossil fuel is a threat to tourism and yet at the same time we all wish to see our country move from a developing country to a middle income economy. Uganda as a country needs to find ways to extract this fuel but also minimize any environmental hazards.

In other areas we can also be proud to celebrate the fact that tourism right now is bringing in more foreign exchange compared to coffee and Speaking at the review workshop in Kampala on 26th September 2012, the Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Ms Maria Mutagamba, said the tourism sector had overtaken coffee and cotton in foreign exchange earnings for Uganda.

According to the report, foreign exchange from tourism increased from $662 million in 2010 to $805 million in 2012, representing a 21 per cent growth while tourism contribution to GDP grew from 7.6 per cent in 2010 to 7.6 per cent in 2011.

So as we celebrate World Tourism Day we should be thankful for how far the tourism sector has improved and grown but also ponder on the way we can have Tourism and Sustainable Energy work.  We should also remember the local communities and see that they also benefit from the earnings that the country is receiving from tourism because the business world tends to care more about their profits and concentrates less on the communities that surround these tourist attractions.

World Rhino Day

‘The Rhinos here to celebrate our Golden Jubilee’

Uganda was once the home to thousands of rhinos, however by the 1960s, the numbers were down to only 400 Eastern Black Rhinos mostly in Kidepo Valley National Park and Murchison falls National Park as well as 300 Northern white Rhinos mainly in the Murchison falls National Park. During years of civil unrest in 1970s and early 1980s, the remaining rhinos were poached to extinction with the Northern White Rhino last seen in 1982 in Murchison Falls NP, while the last black rhino was last seen in Kidepo NP in 1983.

Today only 8 Northern White Rhinos exist in the entire World with non existing in the wild. (The last were last seen in 2006 in Garamba National Park, plans to move them to Kenya were never realized).

(4 previously in held in a Czech Zoo are now back in Africa calling the Ol Pejeta Sanctuary in Kenya home, 1 remains in the Czech Zoo, 2 are in the U.S.A)

Rhinos are popular for their horns so believed to contain (scientifically unproven) medicinal healing properties of curing impotence in manhood mostly in the Asian world.

In South Africa alone, 448 rhinos were poached in 2011, Early this year Rhinos were poached at a rate of 2 Rhinos a day!!

It is such a pity that man is the cause of the demise of the rhino and is known as the only predator of the adult rhino. In the wild, the adult black or white rhino has no true natural predators and, despite its size and antagonistic reputation, it is extremely easy for man to kill. The dramatic decline in rhino is unfortunate in an era of increasing conservation however in Uganda great efforts have been made to save this threatened specie.

Formed in 1997 the aim of Rhino Fund Uganda, was broadly described as “to create a sanctuary where rhinos can breed, with the aim of releasing them back into the wild”. Albeit true, a more effective conservation approach has been taken, describing their aim as follows:

Creating a secure environment, where rhinos can breed, forming a nucleus-breeding herd, from which groups of rhinos can be translocated into the Ugandan national parks.

The first six rhinos were introduced to this habitat during 2004/5, a period of four years elapsed before the first calf was born in June 2009. Subsequent to the first rhino’s birth, five more were born in regular intervals, with the last one on the 10^th of January 2012. Of the six calves, three are male and three are female, making up a total of six males and six females on the sanctuary, (of which the first calf was named ‘Obama’; as his father is from the Solio ranch in Kenya and the mother from Disney Animal Kingdom in Florida, USA.)

Today the 70sq. km Zziwa Rhino Sanctuary project is passionately led by Angie and Johan Genade boasting of a luxury Safari lodge as well as budget accommodation.

The sanctuary still faces Poaching threats but with increased staffing of well trained UPDF- UWA facilitated personnel, the team keeps abreast of the ever-chaining threats and modus operandi of criminal activities.

The Rhino, being one of Africa’s Big Five has enriched Uganda’s tourism safari packages. Most tour operators have added this exiting walk as a must stop, en-route to Murchison Falls National Park. The Sanctuary is 2 hours drive from Kampala on the Gulu highway and the dirt road (on the left at Nakitoma trading centre, after Migera Town) to the sanctuary is very noticeable (marked by 2 Rhino sculptures) leads you straight to the Sanctuary gate. From there the sign posts are clear.

From 441 visitors recorded in 2006, to last year’s 9479 the numbers should reach a record 10,000 visitors this year.

As the world marks World Rhino day, we in Uganda have more reason to visit the Ziwa Rhino sanctuary or at least the Uganda Wildlife Educational Centre in Entebbe this weekend to support this noble cause. More funding will as well go along way in taking the Rhino back to the Wild.

Together we can conserve the Rhino for generations to come.