Rwanda commemorates the 18th anniversary of the genocide
18 YEARS AND COUNTING Never again has too often been spoken in haste, lacked honest conviction or was a convenient utterance aimed to capture an audience or score cheap points. When Rwanda this Saturday commemorates the 18th anniversary of one of the swiftest and most cruel genocides in human history in 100 days between 800.000 […]
Uganda news – Protea Entebbe Hotel now open
PROTEA HOTEL ENTEBBE NOW OPEN NEAR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (Artists impression of new Protea Entebbe Hotel from the Protea website) The new Protea Entebbe Hotel has this week opened its doors to the public with 75 rooms and suites. Located right near the perimeter to the Entebbe International Airport the new property is the closest of […]
Rwanda backs ICT ambitions with added contracts for more capacity and higher speeds
RWANDA BACKS AMBITION WITH ACTION News was received overnight that Rwandas declared ambition to become a regional ITC superpower has now been backed up by government plans and commitments to inject additional fibre optic high speed high bandwidth capacity in the market through a contract with Tanzania Telecommunications. The 1.244 Gigabyte per second new connection […]
Brussels Airlines joins other European carriers to fight back against Gulf giants
BRUSSELS AIRLINES REACT TO COMPETITION BY ADDING FOURTH FLIGHT The arrival in Uganda of more recent competition in form of Qatar Airways, now also flying to Kigali / Rwanda, i.e. into two destinations where SN has been having a strong client base, has undoubtedly spurred a review of operations and commitment to these important markets […]
Australians get better deals from Air Austral to visit Mauritius and other Vanilla Islands
AUSTRALIANS GET NEW DEALS FROM AIR AUSTRAL TO VISIT THE VANILLA ISLANDS Air Austral of La Reunion, rather than the financially ailing Air Mauritius has now embarked to lift visitor numbers from Australia to Mauritius, the Seychelles and other Vanilla Island destinations, as the latest information from sources down under have confirmed overnight. The carrier […]
Emirates throws down the gauntlet to the global aviation industry with new campaign ‘Hello tomorrow’
EMIRATES BIDS GOOD BYE TO KEEP DISCOVERING RELOADS TO HELLO TOMORROW Whether the hugely successful Emirates advertising campaign Keep Discovering had truly run its course and intended lifespan of if competitive shakeups of markets and market shares prompted the powers that be in Dubai to get cracking on a new theme, is now rather immaterial […]
Sarova Hotels Kenya take top honours at KAM Energy Management Award Dinner
SAROVA HOTELS SCOOP KAMS ENERGY MANAGEMENT AWARDS 2012 Last Friday saw the Kenya Association of Manufacturers hold their 08th Energy Management Award dinner, a day ahead of the annual WWF sponsored Earth Hour event which took place globally on Saturday night and in which the entire Sarova Group participated by putting all but the essential […]
A different sort of truth about Tanzania’s government plans for Lake Natron and beyond
GOVERNMENT IS LYING TO US OVER PLANS FOR LAKE NATRON, SERENGETI Regular sources from Dar es Salaam and Arusha have insisted that the government is actively misleading the public over their true intent of constructing a soda ash plant at Lake Natron and the required road and rail links to the coast. President Kikwete last […]
ICAO Secretary General present at launch of African Aviation Training Organization in Nairobi
AFRICAN AVIATION TRAINING ORGANIZATION LAUNCHED IN NAIROBI Following a 5 days of meetings in Kampala last week did ICAO move on to Kenyas capital Nairobi, where another series of seminars, workshops and interaction with regulators and the private sector is underway. On Monday was one long awaited piece of the puzzle, how to improve aviation […]
Tanzania tourism news – Support Mwanza and Lake Victoria tourism, stakeholders ask government
MWANZA TOURISM STAKEHOLDERS DEMAND BETTER INFRASTRUCTURE According to a regular source from Arusha did tourism stakeholders meet over the last weekend in Mwanza, Tanzanias lakeside port town on Lake Victoria, to discuss the way forward of how to better promote travel into this part of the country and have a greater share of tourism receipts. […]
British troops in Kenya – Fight your enemies, not yourself
BRITISH TROOPS TAKE COMBAT TRAINING IN KENYA TO ANOTHER LEVEL They should fight their enemies and not each other, and not in public. They wrecked the Sportsmens Arms Hotel in Nanyuki over the weekend while drunk. The English were fighting the Scots were fighting the North Irish and it was free for all. They spend […]
Kenya tourism news – Safari briefs, news and updates
SAFARI BRIEFS Cheli & Peacocks owners Liz and Stefano have announced that they will pitch camp at Lewa for the forthcoming season and be at hand for guests, running Lewa Safari Camp directly and hands on between June and September this year. Visitors will be able to see the remarkable pair in action who have […]
Fire on the Mountain – by Naturezone / Thalzmaria
A NARRATIVE OF FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN BY: NATUREZONE As reported this morning, the fires on Mt. Kenya and in the Aberdare mountains are now finally out. It took an extraordinary effort by volunteers and those tasked to fight fires by the nature of their job to accomplish that. Here is the serialized narrative taken […]
KWS Chief Executive drops case against Eco-Tourism Kenya CEO
KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICES DROPS COMPLAINT AGAINST ECO-TOURISM CEO Just before leaving Kenya yesterday for Uganda did news reach that the criminal complaint filed by Dr. Julius Kipngetich against Eco-Tourisms Kahindi has been dropped, following an apparent change of heart but very likely also because of the massive protests and opposition the action generated in the […]
Kenya Airways announces engine choice, signs deal with GE Aviation
KENYA AIRWAYS ANNOUNCES ENGINE SELECTION FOR DREAMLINERS Kenya Airways announced overnight that they have selected GE as their engine supplier for the 9 B787 Dreamliners on firm order with a further 4 on option. The newly developed GEnx-1B engine will reach up to 70.000 pounds of thrust each and yet offer up to 17 percent […]
Weekly roundup of news from Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean islands, First edition April 2012
AVIATION, TOURISM AND CONSERVATION NEWS from Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean islands. A weekly roundup of breaking news, reports, travel stories and opinions by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang H. Thome Get daily breaking news updates instantly via Twitter by following @whthome, join me on Facebook where the articles also cross load or read the daily […]
New Mara entrance fee collection system doubles revenues for Narok County Council
JUMP IN MARA REVENUE COLLECTION EXPOSES LIKELY GRAND THEFT IN THE PAST Figures availed to this correspondent during a current visit to Kenya, of revenues collected at the Masai Mara entrance gates since the introduction of electronic payment methods, suggest that grand theft has taken place in the past, when only a fraction of the […]
10 years of eTN and growing stronger year by year
AFRICA TEN YEARS ON SINCE ETN DEBUT eTurboNews is this week looking back at a decade of success, having grown from strength to strength and established itself as a friend of those destinations which 10 years ago were not exactly in the constant spotlight of the media or if at all often being negatively reported […]
Stroking national egos with talk about national airlines
STROKING THE NATIONAL EGO WITH A NATIONAL AIRLINE As Kenya Airways launched their long awaited new share rights issue last Friday the offer is active on the financial markets between April 02 and 27 it became evident once more that The Pride of Africa has since its initial privatization in 1996 established itself as an […]
Seychelles Tourism Board issues another ‘Friends of Seychelles – Press’ bulletin
SEYCHELLES TOURISM BOARD PUBLISHES NEXT EDITION OF FRIENDS OF SEYCHELLES Just under a year ago, caught blissfully unaware of what Alain St. Ange and his merry maidens at the Seychelles Tourism Board had in store for me as I was busy taking pictures at the opening function of the Seychelles Regatta, he named me on […]
Etihad comes to Nairobi as the last of the Gulf’s ‘BIGGIES’
ETIHAD JOINS NAIROBI THRONG Ethihad, Abu Dhabis national airline, has today joined the Gulf aviation who is who when the airline commenced nonstop flights between the UAEs capital city and Kenyas capital Nairobi. Etihad will as of April 01st, and this is NOT an April Fools Day joke, operate daily services on an A320 aircraft […]
Mombasa blasts well away from tourist attractions and resorts
MOMBASA BLASTS WELL AWAY FROM TOURIST HOT SPOTS A regular source from the Kenyan coast, only met a few days ago at the e-Tourism Conference in Nairobi, was swift to make contact and get heard when he said: We had two separate but almost simultaneous explosions last evening in Mombasa. First we had an explosive […]
Mauritius President resigns, rejoins active politics as head of opposition coalition against government
MAURITIUS PRESIDENT RESIGNS, REJOIN ACTIVE POLITICS AS FIGUREHEAD In a surprise move, at least as far as the timing was concerned, has Sir Anerood Jugnauth, President of the Indian Ocean island state of Mauritius, tendered his resignation from office and declared his intention to re-join active politics as a figure head amalgamating and galvanizing the […]
