Rivertrees Country Inn to close in April for annual ‘spring cleaning’

RIVERTREES TO CLOSE FOR ANNUAL SPRUCE UP One of this correspondent’s favourite places when staying in Arusha, the Rivertrees Inn located on the Usa River between the international airport and Arusha itself, will be taking its annual break as of the beginning of April and will reopen by mid May once again. During that period of […]

Breaking news story – Seychelles gets tasked to make Gabon’s tourism industry a reality

SEYCHELLES TOURIST BOARD TO CONSULT FOR GABON Impressed by the sterling performance of the Seychelles tourism industry and the concerted efforts of private and public sector to sell ‘Brand Seychelles’ around the world, the Gabon government recently invited the STB Chief Executive Alain St. Ange to Libreville to discuss closer cooperation between the two African […]

Breaking News – Kenya announces date for annual tourism awards

KENYA’S TOURISM AWARDS SET FOR JUNE 23RD Information was received overnight that Kenya’s tourism sector is planning to hold an award ceremony for leading tourism enterprises but also for the media covering tourism events and developments. The industry category will see as many as 7 awards being given while there will be three for journalists. […]

More squabbles over fallen tourism rankings

UGANDA’S FALLEN RANKINGS LEAD TO MORE SQUABBLES When news broke yesterday that Rwanda’s tourism sector’s competitiveness had risen to now top their standing within the East African Community, more squabbles were reported from within the sector in the New Vision of today. Predictably, as was the case with the previous CEO of the Uganda Tourist […]

Aviation news update – Kenya Airways going ‘greener’

KENYA AIRWAYS TURNS GREENER Passengers flying with the ‘Pride of Africa’ can now make individual contributions towards carbon emission offsets by using the IATA Carbon Offset Calculator to establish the ‘value’ of their ‘pollution’, KQ’s latest effort to go greener in their operations. The voluntary contributions made by passengers are then passed on from the […]

Aviation breaking news – RwandAir signs IFE Services for inflight entertainment

RWANDAIR’S NEW B737-800 TO FEATURE INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT Information was received this morning that RwandAir has signed up for the installation of inflight entertainment for their two new B737-800, which will be delivered in July and September this year. The system will permit travellers flying with the new Boeings to watch the latest Hollywood blockbuster films, classic […]

Kenya’s hospitality grading / classification now starts by end March

NEW GRADING OF HOSPITALITY BUSINESSES TO START BY END MARCH The Kenyan ministry of tourism has yesterday advertised in the main print media their intent to commence a major grading / classification exercise across the country, using the East African Community guidelines now in place to review the results of previous exercises done under local […]

Rwanda tops East Africa’s tourism rankings

RWANDA TOPS EAST AFRICAN TOURISM DESTINATIONS The latest Word Economic Forum Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report has just put Rwanda ahead of her neighbours in the East African Community, reaching the best marks. This is a glowing endorsement of the Rwandan government’s policies towards tourism and conservation with lip service being overtaken by action and […]

Uganda Museum saga – no in junction but early hearing

  NO INJUNCTION ON MUSEUM CASE BUT HEARING SET FOR THURSDAY The High Court in Kampala declined to grant an injunction which several building conservation and heritage societies had sought, to stop government from interfering with the integrity of the Uganda Museum. The judge however advised the petitioners that a hearing of the main case […]

Aviation breaking news – Another Congo air crash kills at least 14

ANOTHER ANTONOV CRASH IN CONGO KILLS 14 The series of air accidents in Congo simply does not seem to end, when yet another Soviet era Antonov crashed yesterday in Point Noire / Congo, reportedly killing a crew of four, five passengers and several people on the ground as the plane hit a residential area. Congo has one […]

Kenya’s Lake Naivasha Country Club set to ‘shine again’

LAKE NAIVASHA COUNTRY CLUB COMPLETING LONG OVERDUE UPGRADE The ‘Lake Naivasha Hotel’ as this correspondent remembers the lake side resort from his early days in Kenya, has a long history going back into the early first half of the last century, when the palatial homestead at the shores of Lake Naivasha originally opened as a ‘guest house’ […]

Elephant goes ‘window shopping’ in Katunguru

LONE ELEPHANT ‘SETTLES’ IN KATUNGURU Tourists and Ugandan travellers alike are reportedly now able to ‘greet’ a lone elephant who has made it a habit to come out of Queen Elizabeth National Park and take strolls through Katunguru, a village located at the Kazinga Channel bridge and the turn off into the park’s Mweya Safari […]

Uganda gets more hydro power

MORE HYDRO POWER COMES ON LINE A ‘mini hydro electric plant’, feeding some 6.6MW into the national grid, has been commissioned over the weekend, when the Sri Lankan owned Ishasha Eco-Power ended its test phase and started commercial power generation. Located near Kanungu, the main township in that part of the country and not far from the […]

Seychelles Tourist Board appoints more ‘tourism ambassadors’

MORE TOURISM AMBASSADORS TO ‘SPREAD THE GOSPEL OF SEYCHELLES’ Last week did the Seychelles Tourist Board announce the appointment of 10 more tourism ambassadors in diverse countries, aimed to promote tourism to the archipelago and be the ‘link’ between the local travel trade and the home islands. This innovative and unique initiative now has first […]

Wetland Conservation – a chain of broken promises

WETLAND CONSERVATION – A CHAIN OF BROKEN COMMITMENTS One of Uganda’s Ramsar Wetland sites, Lutembe Bay, has been in the media once again, and once more for all the wrong reasons. Initially extending over nearly 100 hectares of forest patches, swamps and reed grass covered shallow water, the area has over the years shrunk, shrunk and then […]

Kenya News Update – ‘Not another drought please’

NOT ANOTHER DROUGHT PLEASE           When in late December 2009 a long and harsh drought finally broke in Kenya, the Masai’s traditional way of life had been shattered along with their herds of cattle and goats which were decimated to a small fraction of their pre-drought numbers. Pastures and feeding grounds […]

Sauti Za Busara announces 2012 festival dates

SAUTI ZA BUSARA 2012 DATES ANNOUNCED East Africa’s most popular and globally best known music and art festival, Sauti Za Busara, has just announced the dates for the 9th edition next year. Lovers of traditional African music and of African contemporary groups are invited back to Zanzibar between Wednesday 08th February 2012 and Sunday 12th February. Considering […]

Aviation news update – Air Arabia to go daily to Nairobi

AIR ARABIA TO GO DAILY FROM APRIL Information was received from Nairobi that the UAE’s main low cost carrier Air Arabia, presently flying four times a week between Sharjah / UAE and Nairobi, is all set to ‘go daily’ as of first week of April. The no frills airline has become hugely popular with both East […]

Kampala’s UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Kasubi Tombs’ to be rebuilt

KASUBI TOMB RECONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY Over a year after a fire destroyed Kampala’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site, the ancient Kasubi Tombs of the Buganda Kingdom, did reconstruction finally go underway earlier this week. Kasubi, where four of the former kings of Buganda have been laid to rest, was also featuring priceless artefacts and art collections which […]

Aviation breaking news – Air Tanzania, an airline stuck to the ground

AIR TANZANIA ‘ON THE GROUND’ AS LAST PLANE GOES FOR MAINTENANCE Sources in Dar es Salaam have confirmed that the erstwhile national airline’s last operational plane, a Bombardier Q300, was sent to for heavy maintenance to South Africa, leaving ATCL literally stranded. Having failed to plan forward and have a suitable aircraft leased for the duration – […]

Mombasa – South Coast highway project ‘hindered by politicians’

PRIVATE SECTOR BLAMES POLITICIANS ON SLOW PACE OF MOMBASA BYPASS Politicians were blamed squarely for the aborted meeting of stakeholders to discuss resettlement and compensation issues for the planned ‘by pass’, which is aimed to link the main highway from Nairobi to the coast and the Moi International Airport in Mombasa to the South coast, […]

Aviation News – Air Seychelles displays indigenous art on board their B767

AIR SEYCHELLES PROMOTES LOCAL ART ‘IN FLIGHT’ The archipelago’s national airline has started to feature local Seychellois art on board of their B767 fleet, using the bulkheads to display original art pieces, presently four from renowned artist George Camille. Portraying island life, and of course the trade mark ‘coco de mer’ George used both water colours and […]

African Safari Club halts flights to Kenya

AFRICAN SAFARI CLUB HALTS FLIGHTS TO KENYA News have just emerged that the African Safari Club, and integrated operation of selling safari and beach holidays to Kenya from European gateways, has apparently gone under. Once an untouchable giant, when in the 70’s and 80’s they managed hotels owned by former first lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta, […]

Kigali welcomes ‘Second Conference of Doing Business in Africa’

KIGALI CONFERENCE ON ‘DOING BUSINESS IN AFRICA’ OPENS The World Bank and Regional Centre for Excellence supported second ‘Doing Business in Africa’ Conference has yesterday opened in Rwanda’s capital city of Kigali with over 100 participants from across the continent, development partners, multilateral organisations and even the business community from overseas. The World Bank country […]

NEMA Kenya steps up protection of Lamu

LAMU CONSERVATION GETS BOOST FROM NEMA The recent public outcry over encroachment into protected areas in Lamu and attempts by the council to sell or lease off key adjacent public land has been re-enforced by an order from NEMA declaring that all waterside developments in Lamu as well as encroachment into wetland and riparian areas around the ancient […]