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 […]
News Flash – Serengeti Day celebrated around the world tomorrow, Saturday 19th March
INTERNATIONAL SERENGETI DAY It was in May last year when investigations carried out by eTN led to the disclosure of advanced plans by the government of Tanzania to build a highway across the migration paths of the great herds of wildebeest and zebras in the UNESCO recognized Serengeti National Park . Initially disputed, but in […]
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 […]
Breaking News – Rwanda introduced new forestry legislation aimed to strengthen conservation
NEW FORESTRY BILL IN PARLIAMENT And amendment and major re-write to the outdated 1988 forestry bill was sent to parliament this week in Kigali, aimed at creating a modern legal framework on forest protection and conservation through sustainable use of the country’s timber resources. It also spells out measures of implementation of the updated law, […]
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 […]
Breaking News – Tanzania government’s plans for Stiegler’s Gorge / Selou are true after all
STIEGLER’S GORGE / SELOUS HYDRO PLANS TRUE AFTER ALL In a startling development were news, broken here some weeks ago, confirmed today in the Tanzanian media, that indeed the plans from the 1970’s to build a hydro electric dam and power plant at Stiegler’s Gorge in the Selous were to be dusted off and revived. The Selous […]
Breaking News – Tanzania gets Dar es Salaam based ‘medivac service’
TANZANIA GETS AIR AMBULANCE In a ground breaking development was Tanzania’s first ever fully equipped air ambulance service launched. A French built Dassault Falcon aircraft, converted into an airborne medical centre and ICU, was commissioned by the owners African Medical Investments from South Africa. The ‘medivac’ option will initially be extended to Tanzania’s international airports and […]
Uganda Shilling drops to new record lows
ECONOMIC WOES GROW The Uganda Shilling yesterday hit a record low when it broke through the psychologically important threshold of 2.400 versus one US Dollar, sending jitters through the local currency market and adding to fears that the country has to brace herself for more price rises in coming weeks, as fuel and all […]
Breaking News – Busoga Chiefs may abondon kingship altogether
KING OR CHIEFS – BUSOGA SAGA CONTINUES Since the passing of the last Busoga King in 2008 has the Busoga Kingdom in the East of Uganda been without a monarch, as every single attempt to have a new king elected by the kingdom’s chiefs so far has failed, overshadowed by wrangles, claims and counterclaims and courtcases upon courtcases. […]
Breaking News – Uganda Wildlife Authority yet to fork out a billion shillings to park neighbours
UWA TO FORK OUT A BILLION TO MURCHISONS FALLS ‘NEIGHBOURS’ As much as a billion Uganda Shillings has accumulated in accounts set aside to give communities neighbouring the Murchisons Falls National Park their 20 percent share from gate receipts, according to information becoming available to the Uganda public today. This unusually high bank balance, meant to be […]
Uganda’s fuel shortage blamed on Kenya’s red tape
FUEL SHORTAGES HIT UGANDA ONCE MORE ‘It is the bureaucratic red tape and interventions into the market mechanisms by constantly changing rules and goal posts for procurement and processing of crude oil and fuels by the Kenyan government’ was the explanation by a top executive of a leading petroleum company in Kampala, when asked […]
News update – Weekly Roundup of reports from the Eastern African and Indian Ocean region, Third edition March 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 via Twitter @whthome or on my blog: www.wolfganghthome.wordpress.com Third edition March 2011 Uganda News KAMPALA CITY GETS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR President Museveni […]
Kampala gets Chief Executive relegating newly elected Lord Mayor into ceremonial role
KAMPALA CITY GETS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR President Museveni has on the eve of the mayoral elections in Kampala appointed the city’s new chief executive but the name of the new appointee will not be released until after the election results are known. Government accorded the capital city a new status towards the end of last year, […]
South Sudan – New laws and regulations crucial to tourism investments
TOURISM AND WILDLIFE RELATED CONTRACTS ‘ON SHAKY GROUNDS’ When the peace agreement was signed in January 2005 between the Sudan People Liberation Movement and the regime in Khartoum, many investment opportunities were waiting for the quick witted, in particular in and around Juba, where tented camp accommodation sold at 180 US Dollars a person a night […]
News update – UWA saga continues with another chapter
AND THE VENDETTA CONTINUES UNABATED Uganda’s controversial tourism minister – there has been a rising chorus of voices calling for his ‘relocation’ when the new cabinet is formed – has instituted yet another probe committee into the affairs of the Uganda Wildlife Authority, after last week appointing a team charged with investigating the World Bank […]
Seychelles tourism success aided by NO VISA policy
NO VISA AT ALL POLICY PART OF SEYCHELLES TOURISM SUCCESS The Seychelles recent success in making big gains in tourism arrivals, often entirely credited to the privatisation of the tourist board two years ago, has many fathers though, the outstanding performance of Alain St. Ange’s tourism marketing team, globally acknowledged for that matter, notwithstanding. A […]
Seychelles Tourism Academy admit 19 students for hotel management programme
SEYCHELLES TOURISM ACADEMY EXPANDS HOTEL MANAGEMENT INTAKE Academy principal Flavien Joubert on Friday welcomed the fourth group of students for a hospitality degree programme, which STA offers jointly with the Shannon College of Hotel Management and has been validated by the National University of Ireland. The 19 students will study for 3 years at the […]
Aviation news update – IATA grants Rwanda’s RTUC exam status
IATA GRANTS RWANDA’s RTUC ‘EXAMINATION CENTRE’ STATUS The International Air Transport Association has granted the Rwanda Tourism University College the status of an examination centre for the regular IATA courses, lifting the status of RTUC to the next level. While teaching at the college of relevant topics and courses has been going on for some time […]
Lions in the suburbs
LIONS IN THE SUBURBS Residents of an outlying village area of Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam had a rude shock recently when the roars of at least one, possibly two lions were heard, driving the population into a state of panic. While there is a distinct possibility of a second lion hiding out somewhere […]
