Seychelles election update – Constitutional Court goes into vacation mode, elections to go ahead?
ELECTIONS ON COURSE AS COURT GOES ON VACATION Unlike after the first dissolution of parliament, when the Seychelles Constitutional Court almost immediately sat and passed judgment on the suit brought by the opposition SNP, ordering parliament to be restored as the resolution for dissolution had lacked in format, the same court no longer saw the […]
Tanzania news update – Power shortage bites, wipes out hotel profits
GIVE US TAX RELIEF FOR FUEL HOTELIERS DEMAND A high level meeting yesterday in Dar es Salaam by officials of the Hotel Association of Tanzania resulted in government being told to allow immediate tax and excise relief of at least 20 percent on fuel used to run generators or else risk condemning the sector to […]
Kenya aviation news – KAA is misleading public over vandalism claims
NOW KAA BLAMES VANDALISM The Kenya Airport Authority only managed to pour more fuel into the fire of discontent over their dismal performance of late, when their Managing Director yesterday blamed vandals for the power outages. ‘The man is not only incompetent, and his staff responsible are incompetent too, now they are also lying to […]
East Africa / Gulf aviation news – Kuala Lumpur next for Emirates A 380
EMIRATES ADDS KUALA LUMPUR AS 15TH A380 DESTINATION The Kampala office of Emirates has confirmed that come December the route to Kuala Lumpur will be served with the A 380 sky giant from Dubai. Many Ugandans, and in fact East Africans are studying in Malaysia in one of their many universities and lots of them […]
South Sudan news – EAC and Nile Basin membership quest supported by Rwanda
RWANDA BACKS SOUTH SUDAN FOR EAC AND NILE BASIN MEMBERSHIP Rwanda officially went on record yesterday when expressing their support to the new Republic of South Sudan in their bid to join the Nile Basin Commission and the East African Community, amongst other bodies the new country is set to apply to for membership. […]
Rwanda aviation news – Turkish announces April 2012 flights to Kigali
TURKISH ANNOUNCES APRIL 2012 FLIGHTS TO KIGALI Turkish Airlines has yesterday announced their intention to begin flights between Istanbul and Kigali by April next year. The information was given in Kigali by the THY Chief Executive Dr. Temel Kotil when he met with President Paul Kagame. It was also announced that cooperation between RwandAir and […]
East Africa news update – Power companies blamed for lack of foresight / planning
ELECTRICITY SHORTAGES EXPOSE WOEFUL STATE OF PLANNING As the East African region continues to suffer from unacceptable and entirely avoidable power cuts business and civil society leaders are ganging up against power companies and government oversight bodies and ministries, demanding answers why such outages should hit the region with a regularity, stemming from negligence and […]
Ethiopian aviation news – ET gets 5th B777-200LR
ETHIOPIAN TAKES DELIVERY OF 5TH NEW B777 A brand new B777-200LR has last weekend joined the Ethiopian fleet, the fifth such aircraft. The airline also kept the tradition to name these ‘birds’ after landmarks in Africa, the latest being christened ‘Sahara’. The sister ships already in operation were named Blue Nile, Rift Valley, Victoria Falls […]
Kenya aviation news – KQ launches ‘Change for Change’ project
CHANGE MAKES CHANGE Kenya Airways has began to accept voluntary contributions from passengers, happy to donate ‘excess’ coins but also notes for that matter, for funding of the airline’s charitable programmes across the network. Besides Kenya, where KQ’ corporate responsibility projects have made a big impact on society, and on the environment through their ‘plant […]
Rwanda aviation news – One Month and Counting
ONE MONTH AND COUNTING RwandAir’s first brand new B737-800, which is presently being assembled at the Boeing facility in the United States, is now just one month away from delivery in Kigali. Equipped with the latest ‘Sky Interior’, developed by Boeing to make the aircraft look more ‘sassy’ on the inside, the aircraft a few […]
Rwanda conservation news – A visit to the ‘enchanted’ Nyungwe Forest National Park
NYUNGWE FOREST, VIEWS FROM ABOVE AND FROM BELOW If ever I have entered an enchanted forest, where I expected to momentarily see elves and hobbits emerge from behind these huge moss covered trees, or where I would run into these legendary shepards of the trees, it would be Nyungwe. I have of course no idea […]
Weekly roundup of news from Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean region, Fourth edition July 2011
TOURISM, AVIATION AND CONSERVATION NEWS from the Eastern African and Indian Ocean region A weekly roundup of reports, travel stories and opinions by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang H. Thome Get daily breaking news updates instantly via Twitter by following @whthome or read the daily postings on my blog via: www.wolfganghthome.wordpress.com Fourth edition July 2011 East […]
Kenya aviation news update – Fly 540 signs up with M-Pesa
FLY 540 OFFERS M-PESA OPTION TO PAY FOR TICKETS Regional LCC Fly 540 has now started accepted M-Pesa for payment for airtickets, according to information provided by the airline’s Director of Operations Nixon Ooko. More and more Kenyans are now using the ‘electronic wallet’ M-Pesa provides, allowing all sorts of services and goods to be […]
Uganda news update – New lake ferry launched
NEW LAKE FERRY TO START OPERATIONS ON LAKE VICTORIA MV Amani was a few days ago introduced to the media at the Port Bell pier, with the start of operations now imminent it was learned. The 150 seater passenger ferry will according to the owners ‘Earth Wise Ventures’ offer connections from Port Bell / Kampala […]
African aviation news – AFRAA targets Gulf carriers in latest round of spats
AFRAA NOW TARGETS MIDDLE EAST CARRIERS Never shy of controversy, the last one having been sweeping allegations over the EU’s aviation black list targeting African airlines to protect their own – made days before another crash of a banned Congolese airline cost yet more lives – has AFRAA last week in Nairobi taken aim at […]
Rwanda / Congo conservation news – Low Land Gorillas ‘repatriated’
RWANDA ‘REPATRIATES’ LOW LAND GORILLAS TO CONGO Six ‘low land gorillas’ impounded some time ago from poachers and smugglers, ‘flew home’ over the weekend when they were returned to their original homeland. Held in Kinigi until Saturday, where they had been looked after by gorilla conservationists from the Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund, the six will […]
South Sudan news update – Jacaranda owners set to invest in new hotel in Juba
JACARANDA OWNERS TO INVEST IN A NEW HOTEL IN JUBA Information was obtained from Nairobi over the weekend, that the owners of the Jacaranda Hotel in Nairobi, who also own the Indian Ocean Beach Resort in Ukunda / South Coast of Mombasa, are planning to build a hotel in the capital of the new Republic […]
Kenya conservation breaking news – Last of the Samburu ‘matriarchs’ is killed
AS IVORY BURNS THE LAST OF THE SAMBURU MATRIARCH’S FELL More gruesome news emerged overnight that the last of the famous Samburu matriarch elephant, named Khadija, was shot and killed for her tusks, as President Kibaki prepared to light the fire under 5 tons of blood ivory at the Manyani KWS training camp last week. […]
Seychelles aviation news – ‘HM’ appoints new GSA in Finland
AIR SEYCHELLES APPOINTS GSA IN FINLAND As the Seychelles national airline continues to explore ways and means to bring more passengers to the archipelago it has in its latest move signed up a new general sales agent in Finland. Airtouch will now look after ‘HM’s’ interests and in particular promote travel to the islands via […]
Tanzania aviation news update – New board appointed for TAA
TANZANIA AIRPORT AUTHORITY GETS NEW BOARD A new board of directors has been appointed on Saturday in Dar es Salaam by the Minister for Transport for the Tanzania Airport Authority. The new board now faces a multitude of challenges as the government has committed itself to revamp the aviation infrastructure across the sprawling East African […]
Kenya aviation news – Next on KQ’s world map are Beirut and Jeddah
KENYA AIRWAYS SET TO ADD JEDDAH AND BEIRUT ‘The Pride of Africa’, while committed to connect Africa by 2013 like no other airline from their Nairobi hub, has not lost sight of other valuable destinations, where direct flights to and from Nairobi, and beyond for connecting passengers, will add value for passengers and a boost […]
Uganda news update – ‘Bureaucrats out to kill aviation’ claims airline source
TOURISM AND AVIATION – HOW CAN WE BUREAUCRATS KILL YOU Only recently was it reported here, that not only did the international airlines express their dissatisfaction with the service levels provided by the international airport in Entebbe, but then went ahead and dared to give open advice how to stimulate travel to Uganda by for […]
Rwanda conservation news update – Gishwati forest chimps population on the rise
GISHWATI FOREST CHIMPS ‘PROSPER AND MULTIPLY’ The isolated chimpanzee population in Gishwati Forest, already a protected forest area and tipped to become Rwanda’s next national park, was not too long ago barely a dozen strong and showed all the hallmarks of a declining population. Rwanda’s determined efforts to save her forests and the declared government […]
Uganda news update – ‘It wasn’t me’ claims former tourism minister
IT WASN’T ME CLAIMS OTAFIRE Hasty decisions, made in the heat of the moment with vengeance in mind, often come back to haunt as the former cabinet minister for tourism Kahinda Otafire came to realize yesterday. Having constituted a Commission of Enquiry into the UWA affairs of how the PAMSU project was managed, he too […]
Seychelles news update – Fibre optic project finance secured
FIBRE OPTIC CONNECTION FINANCES NOW SECURED The Government of Seychelles, in partnership with Cables and Wireless and Airtel, have now finalized the financing arrangements to commence work on the fibre optic cable link, which will connect the archipelago with Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, where it will tap into at least one of three major […]
Rwanda conservation news update – Nyungwe Forest buffer zone given to ‘New Forests Company’ for restoration
NYUNGWE FOREST BUFFER ZONE ALLOCATED TO ‘NEW FORESTS COMPANY’ Conservationists in Rwanda and the region were both pleased as well as surprised, when the Government of Rwanda through the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Rwanda Development Board earlier in the week signed a long term agreement with UK based ‘New Forests Company’, represented by […]
Tanzania hospitality news – With Kempinski gone, who will take over
SPECULATION GROWS OVER KEMPINSKI SUCCESSION When the owning company of the Kilimanjaro Hotel in Dar es Salaam and the Bilila Lodge in the Serengeti announced that they were parting company with Kempinski, only weeks after this global hospitality giant lost the management of their Zanzibar property, both sides played down the effects it would have […]
Kenya tourism news update – Tea sector dislodges tourism from top forex earner position
TEA MOVES AHEAD OF TOURISM IN KENYA’S FOREX EARNINGS Tourism stakeholders will wake up to a shock today when they read headlines announcing that their darling sector has been dislodged from the top of the foreign exchange earners list by the tea sector, which came just short of 100 billion Kenya Shillings last financial year […]
Kenya aviation breaking news – Kenya Airways orders two more B777-300ER
KENYA AIRWAYS ON EXPANSION PATH No sooner had news broken yesterday afternoon about the ambitions of Kenya Airways to break into the profitable cargo market by acquiring one B747-400F and two B737F, came more information out of their Embakasi headquarters that they have signed a deal with global aircraft leasing giant GECAS for the delivery […]
Uganda news update – UWA Commission of Enquiry Chairman calls former minister ‘incompetent’
KANYEIHAMBA COMMISSION CALLS FORMER MINISTER ‘INCOMPETENT’ ‘Your submission indicates that you were incompetent as a minister’ were the words used by controversial retired Supreme Court Justice George Kanyeihamba, after the immediate past Minister of State for Tourism Serapio Rukundo gave his testimony, having been summoned too by the Commission of Enquiry. Often called ‘Otafire’s kangaroo […]