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Guest post by Danielle McAnn of WildAfrica in Australia

Great things to do on a Safari Africa is one of the most diverse continents in the world with dramatic landscapes, fascinating cultures and a myriad of people. In the late 19th Century, the word ‘safari’ was adopted from Swahili as a way of describing a long journey, For travellers today, going on Safari is […]

Cave visits next visitor attractions in Musanze

RDB PREPARING MUSANZE CAVE FOR TOURIST VISITS The Rwanda Development Board’s Tourism and Conservation Department will within the space of the next few weeks official launch a new tourism site, a cave in Musanze District which is being readied for visitors by installing walkways, stairs and safety measures, according to information received from a source […]

Juba becomes Fly Dubai’s 6th African destination

FLY DUBAI ADD SIXTH AFRICAN DESTINATION BUT EYES MORE The inaugural flight by Fly Dubai to Juba, South Sudan’s capital city, took place yesterday, bringing the airline’s destinations on the African continent to six and fifty six overall, covering Africa, the Gulf and wider Middle East, Pakistan and India and to a growing extent countries […]

CASSOA reduces levy demands in hope to get approvals from EAC members

CASSOA REDUCES FINANCIAL DEMANDS AFTER OPPOSITION FROM EAC MEMBER STATES First reported here in late November 2009, the demands of CASSOA for a70 US cents per ticket coupon levy to finance operations did not go down well with airlines, passengers and member states. Opposed by Kenya and Tanzania, the East African Civil Aviation Safety and […]

ATCL – The never ending story

AIR TANZANIA FORMER OFFICIALS FRAUD CASE LIKELY TO REVIVE WITH FRESH EVIDENCE As reported here on previous occasions did the Tanzanian Auditor General in subsequent annual reports unearth a number of irregularities over the lease in 2007 of an Airbus A320, which as a result of government guarantees ended up costing the taxpayers over 40 […]

Uganda signs PPA for new geothermal power plant

UGANDA SIGNS UP FOR FIRST GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANT Uganda’s Ministry of Energy has signed a power purchase agreement with American company AAE Systems, pre-requisite to entering the construction phase. PPA’s were one of the lender’s key requirements to avail finance for the new 150 MW geothermal power plant, which according to local media reports is […]

TCAA signs contract for Terminal Three construction at JNIA in Dar

JULIUS NYERERE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO GET NEW TERMINAL The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority yesterday put pen to paper to sign a contract with the Royal BAM Group of Holland’s BAM International, to commence construction of Terminal Three at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam. The airport’s original capacity was tailored to handle […]

TATA’s Taj Hotels seek opportunities in Kenya

TATA’S TAJ HOTELS SEEK OPPORTUNITIES IN KENYA Many in East Africa will associated TATA with trucks, or the conservation fraternity with the company’s past association with the hugely controversial soda ash extraction plant at Lake Natron. In Kenya TATA is represented through several ventures, including a consultancy firm, but was most recently in the press […]

African Development Bank clears loan for Voi – Arusha Highway

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK APPROVES LOAN FOR VOI – ARUSHA HIGHWAY A loan package worth over 232 million US Dollars has been approved by the African Development Bank to help finance the much awaited construction of a new highway, connecting the Kenyan town of Voi – located 100 miles along the Mombasa to Nairobi highway – […]

Kenya’s SafariCom breaks new ground with M-Pesa deal for restaurants

MOBILE MONEY SET TO RIVAL BANK CARDS IN KENYA Kenya’s leading mobile telecommunications company SafariCom has earlier this week thrown the gauntlet to the traditional plastic money companies when it launched a new initiative, which will allow the use of M-Pesa, aka mobile money, to pay for restaurant bills. A source in Nairobi sent the […]

Aride Island goes solar to enhance the ‘green philosophy’

ARIDE ISLAND GOES EXCLUSIVELY SOLAR The Seychelles northernmost granite island, Aride, a nature reserve owned and managed by the Island Conservation Society and dedicated to protect the island’s unique flora and fauna, has earlier this week switched of its diesel powered generator as a new solar system took over. The Seychelles have a policy of […]

Mauritius finally drops the Carnival plus Shopping Fiesta

MAURITIUS TOURISM MINISTER CONFIRMS THE END OF THE CARNIVAL SHOPPING FIESTA The Mauritius Minister for Tourism Michael Sik Yuen confirmed before parliament in Port Louis yesterday what has been rumoured from the grapevine for weeks now, that there will be no repeat of the ill conceived erstwhile rival Carnival then turned into the Shopping Fiesta […]

Serena Hotels in ground breaking training initiative with DEG of Germany

KAMPALA SERENA TO HOST KEY TRAINING INITIATIVE The Kampala Serena Hotel will be East Africa’s leading hospitality group’s second property to host a new training initiative, first rolled out at the Polana Serena in Mozambique, where it was termed a huge success. Serena Hotels and DEG, a German government owned investment development agency, have partnered […]

FastJet forced to drop Zanzibar and Mwanza as flights fail to generate viable loads

FASTJET SUSPENDS ROUTES AS REALITY HITS HOME The question is making the round in Tanzania’s aviation circles if FastJet has bitten off more than it can chew, when news broke that the airline has suspended flights from Kilimanjaro to Mwanza and from Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar. The Zanzibar flights were only launched recently, with full mouthed […]

STA progress impresses financiers

SEYCHELLES TOURISM ACADEMY CONSTRUCTION IMPRESSES FINANCIER DELEGATION A delegation from the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, in short BADEA, recently visited the Seychelles to discuss further cooperation and support for investments on the archipelago. Notably, the development bank is financing 80 percent of the projected cost of the modernization and expansion of the […]

Rwanda’s WDA set to partner with Les Roches to establish hospitality training campus

RWANDA’S WDA PLANS JOINT VENTURE WITH SWISS BASED LES ROCHES ISHM A regular source from Kigali has sent information that Rwanda’s Workplace Development Authority has apparently entered into an agreement with Swiss based Les Roches International School of Hotel Management, one of the world’s best reputed hospitality training institutions, to create a training facility, and […]

Ethiopian adds Manila from 18th June

ETHIOPIAN TO ADD MANILA VIA HONG KONG Ethiopian Airlines will from the 18th of June commence flights to Manila, the capital of the Philippines, using, according to information available right now, a B767-300ER aircraft. The destination is due to be served three times a week and flights will route via Hong Kong, which the airline […]

REMA’s CEO bags ‘Forest Hero’ Award from UN

REMA GETS UN RECOGNITION FOR FOREST PROTECTION (REMA file picture) The Director General of the Rwanda Environmental Management Authority, Dr. Rose Mukankomeje, was over the weekend honoured by the United Nations Forum on Forests, which was held in the Turkish commercial capital of Istanbul. Dr. Rose captured the key ‘Forest Heroes’ Award for Africa, in […]

FZS boosts SENAPA anti poaching measures

FRANKFURT ZOO TO BOOST SECURITY IN SERENGETI Information was received from a regular conservation source in Arusha that the Frankfurt Zoological Society, one of Tanzania National Park’s staunchest supporters over the past decades, has set aside fresh funding to boost in particular anti poaching capabilities in the Serengeti National Park. It was this park which […]

Rwanda awards Bugesera airport construction to Chinese state construction firm

CHINESE COMPANY WINS TENDER FOR NEW BUGESERA AIRPORT IN RWANDA News broke a few days ago that Rwanda had finally awarded the contract for the new international airport at Bugesera to the winning bidder, the China State Construction Engineering Corporation. The move was overdue and anxiously awaited by Rwanda’s aviation fraternity, in particular RwandAir, which […]

Nairobi to Nakuru rail link disrupted following flooding in Naivasha area

TORRENTIAL RAINS LEAD TO RAIL SUSPENSION Kenya Railways has yesterday, for the time being at least, suspended train operations between Nairobi and Nakuru after extensive flooding was reported from the Naivasha area in the Rift Valley. Motorists too were warned to be extra careful after the river Malewa burst its banks, threatening to submerge sections […]

RDB’s Rwigamba takes over chair of GVTC

RICA RWIGAMBA TAKES OVER CHAIR OF GVTC RDB’s Head of Tourism and Conservation Rica Rwigamba has yesterday taken over as Chairperson of the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration, which brings together Rwanda, Uganda and the Congo DR for the purpose of conservation and management of the mountain gorilla populations and their habitat. Rica is starting her […]

Serena continues to invest in the face of lower profits

SERENA CONTINUE TO INVEST INSPITE OF LOWERED PROFITS Serena Hotels, East Africa’s predominant market leader in the hospitality industry, has once again bucked the trend, when continuing to invest significant funds in the upgrading of selected properties. Reports from Nairobi tell the story that the company’s 2012 year on year profits have reduced by some […]

Air Seychelles signs codeshare deal to Dublin

AIR SEYCHELLES ADDS DUBLIN TO CODE SHARE DESTINATIONS Information just received from the Seychelles confirms the latest grapevine talk, that Air Seychelles has signed up to another codeshare agreement with Etihad, partner of the Seychellois national airline and a 40 percent shareholder in it, to offer seamless connections to the Irish capital city of Dublin. […]

Bukoba Airport set for finishing touches of modernization programme

BUKOBA AIRPORT MODERNIZATION ON COURSE FOR MAY OPENING A regular aviation source in Dar es Salaam has confirmed that the airport of Tanzania’s Lake Victoria township of Bukoba, located on the western shores of the lake, and administrative capital of the Kagera region of the country, will see the new facilities officially launched by the […]

New bat species found in South Sudan

NEW BAT SPECIES FOUND IN SOUTH SUDAN EXCITES CONSERVATION FRATERNITY   Information was received from a source in Juba, the capital of South Sudan that a new bat species was discovered recently in the country and was subsequently named ‘Niumbaha Superba’. Similar to a bat discovered in 1939 in the then Belgian Congo, now the […]

Kenya Airways introduces first owned B737-300C aircraft to the public

KENYA AIRWAYS INTRODUCES FIRST OWNED FREIGHTER TO THE PUBLIC Kenya Airways yesterday introduced the media, cargo partners and the general public to their first fully owned B737-300 freighter aircraft, which was converted over the past few months from a passenger version to a cargo plane, the first of four such planned conversions. Registered as 5Y-KQC […]

ATCNews: 

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang H. Thome is the founder and publisher of ATCNews, Eastern Africa’s leading aviation, tourism and conservation news blog of its kind. Wolfgang has nearly 50 years of experience in the tourism, aviation and conservation fields in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, covering all aspects of safari-, hotel- and air-operations. 

The Managing Editor of ATCNews is Mrs. Esther C. Goossens.

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