Akagera gets new visitor centre
NEW TENTED CAMP AND VISITOR CENTRE OPENS IN AKAGERA NATIONAL PARK African Parks has now formally opened a new visitor centre in the heart of the Akagera National Park, which they manage in a joint venture with the Rwanda Development Board’s Tourism and Conservation Department. Located along the 7 tent Rusizi Safari Lodge the new […]
Seychelles CAA hosts NAFISAT meeting
SEYCHELLES HOSTS AFRICAN AIR NAVIGATION MEETING The Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority co-hosted, for the first time ever, a meeting of NAFISAT, short for Northern Africa and Indian Ocean communications by Satellite grouping, which brings together a number of countries from Africa and the Middle East. Representatives from Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya, Libya, Saudi Arabia, […]
FastJet manager of UK origin in court over allegedly abusing Tanzanian employee
FASTJET SENIOR MANAGER IN COURT OVER ABUSIVE LANGUAGE Information received from a regular aviation source in Dar es Salaam speaks of more woes on the ground for FastJet when one of their managers was arrested and produced in court over the alleged use of abusive language against a Tanzanian employee. UK citizen Emma Donovan, Manager […]
Kenyans react with anger over latest US Embassy anti travel advisory
KENYANS RESPONSE TO NEW US ANTI TRAVEL ADVISORY CAME SWIFT AND BRUTAL The reaction to the latest anti travel advisory by the US mission in Nairobi, advising their nationals to exercise maximum care and caution ahead of the expected ruling of the Supreme Court about the election petition swiftly brought about reactions, and being known […]
Controversy over whale shark project at Kenya coast has Born Free Foundation wade into the fray
Periodically I re-post articles and contributions, relevant to past topics or making more facts available about present issues.The Born Free Foundation has asked for their statement on a proposed whale tourism project to be published, and it is in the interest of readers to make all available information available on this project, which has now […]
RwandAir expects their two new B737-700NG’s to arrive the week after Easter
RWANDAIR PREPARES FOR BOEING FLEET UPGRADE Usually well informed sources from Kigali have confirmed that the replacements for the two B737-500 aircraft on lease to RwandAir will start arriving in Rwanda within the space of the next two weeks already. The two ageing Boeings will be substituted by two relatively new B737-700NG, coming from European […]
Rwanda exploiting ‘green’ geothermal energy sources
RWANDA SET FOR GEOTHERMAL ENERGY Rwanda’s EnergyWater and Sanitation Authority has confirmed that drilling on the southern slope of the Karisimbi volcano near Musanze will start in mid April, setting the stage to begin exploiting sustainable energy sources through heat exchangers. Fast economic growth and a progressive rollout of access to electricity into the rural […]
New technology allows travel agency clients to book and still enjoy full service back up
TRAVELSHOPPE IN NAIROBI OFFERS CLIENTS NOVEL WAYS OF BOOKING FLIGHTS Travelshoppe in Nairobi reportedly is the first travel agent in Kenya, if not East Africa, to offer their clients online flight booking facilities with full agency support and back up. Through the new technology clients can compare flights and prices for their destination through the […]
Kagesheki insists that Loliondo will be split in the interest of conservation
KAGESHEKI FIRM ON SPLITTING THE LOLIONDO ‘CONTROLLED GAME AREA’ No nonsense Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Amb. Khamis Kagesheki was blunt in his response to objections over his plans to split the Loliondo game area into two major parts, when he dismissed threats by local politicians to resign as he retorted: ‘If the civic leaders […]
Ol Pejeta loses another black rhino / Graphic images involved!
Another Black Rhino Loses Its Life to Poaching (Nanyuki, Kenya). As the triennial Conference of Parties of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) drew to a close last week in Bangkok, and after conservationists all around the world sounded the alarm on rhino poaching, the Ol Pejeta […]
Corporate Social Responsibility programmes a la Sarova and Serena
HOTELS ENGAGE IN COMMUNITY PROJECTS Easter, like Christmas, is for many hotel groups in Kenya a suitable occasion to talk about the community projects they are engaged in across the year, and at times even splash out some hospitality for the beneficiaries, a date with the photographer included of course. Do good and talk about […]
Air Seychelles’ maiden flight to Hong Kong arrives to traditional water cannon shower
AIR SEYCHELLES MAKES MAIDEN LANDING IN HONG KONG Air Seychelles made history yesterday when their Airbus A330-200 ‘Aldabra’ arrived in Hong Kong, after a 13 hour flight from Mahe via Abu Dhabi. The flight is code-shared with partner airline Etihad for which it is also the first time to operate a commercial flight to Hong […]
KLM ditches Khartoum amid growing isolation of the regime
KLM PULLS OUT OF KHARTOUM Royal Dutch Airline KLM has announce that effective 31st March this year they will halt flights between Amsterdam and Khartoum, citing unsatisfactory performance of the route. There has been speculation if Khartoum’s harsh economic environment, which saw allocation of foreign exchange to repatriate ticket sales suspended – inspite of existing […]
Booze and bikini tourists told to stay away from Khartoum Sudan
DRINK CAMEL MILK INSTEAD OF ALCOHOL SAYS SUDAN (KHARTOUM) TOURISM MINISTER Khartoum Sudan’s Tourism Minister Mohamed Abdul-Karim Al Had all but told foreign tourists to get lost, when letting show his radical side last week to the fullest as he declared the country off limits for tourists expecting to be served alcohol or wanting to […]
Chinese President starts visit to Tanzania as flash floods rage through parts of Dar es Salaam
PARTS OF DAR SUBMERGED IN FLASH FLOODS AGAIN AS CHINESE PRESIDENT VISITS Like on Christmas eve, the Easter week too has now seen raging floods sweeping through parts of Tanzania’s commercial capital of Dar es Salaam, as drainage was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of water which fell from the skies above. From reports it […]
Standard Digital reports Dengue Fever outbreak at Kenya Coast
DENGUE FEVER OUTBREAK REPORTED FROM KENYA COAST (Image courtesy of www.Wikipedia.Org) Health officials are quoted in a local daily newspaper in Kenya, confirming at least 15 cases of Dengue Fever at the Kenya coast, but were swift to point out that the disease was ‘imported’ by travelers carrying the infection before passing it on to […]
Weekly roundup of news from Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean islands, Fourth edition March 2013
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 You can get your daily breaking news updates instantly via Twitter by following @whthome, join me on www.facebook.com/WolfgangHThome where the articles also ‘cross load’ or […]
About those forests in Tanzania …
The mere mention of Tanzania in a recent article about Mabira Forest, titled ‘Mabira – The silent assault continue’ predictably brought the cyber sewer rats out in the open again, letting fly abuse and worse over how I am an enemy of Tanzania. I did say and stand by it, that illegal logging is as […]
Mabira Forest – the silent assault continues
THE SILENT ASSAULT ON MABIRA CONTINUES UNDER THE NOSES OF NFA (Picture by Bernard Werber Officiel – given the title ‘The Forest Fights Back’ by this correspondent) This week the world celebrated the International Forest Day and, I guess true to form, I felt the time was right to dedicate some thoughts to the forests […]
Laid off resort staff protest in Port Louis
RESORT STAFF STAGE DEMONSTRATION OVER BEING LAID OFF Laid off in February due to low business recorded at their resort, some 18 staff of the St. Geran resort on Mauritius took to the streets to demonstrate over the allegedly poor deal they got, hoping for intervention from the labour ministry to either be reinstated or […]
The ServiceMag Rwanda reveals the service award winners 2013
SERVICE MAGAZINE HAS READERS VOTE ON THEIR FAVOURITES Rwanda’s leading business magazine, The ServiceMag has just revealed the results of a customer satisfaction survey, where readers of the magazine had the opportunity to cast their own votes in a range of categories, expressing themselves and giving a fair insight into the level of service one […]
Resort owners on the Ssese Island angry over lack of safe and affordable ferry transport
SSESE ISLAND TOURISM BUSINESSES COMPLAIN ABOUT LACK OF FERRIES FROM KAMPALA Anger and disappointment are spreading among travelers to and from the Ssese Islands but also the business owners, in particular those offering accommodation services to visitors that the main government owned ferry MV Kalangala continues to be out of service after a brief period […]
Jetlink court woes put a spanner into FastJet courtship
FASTJET’S COURTSHIP FOR JETLINK THREATENED BY WINDING UP PETITION News are emerging from Nairobi that one of the aviation fuel supplies to grounded Jetlink has gone to court to file a winding up petition, in order to attempt recovery of outstanding money to the tune of over 160.000 US Dollars owed to them. A source […]
Malindi Culture Festival set to kick off next Friday
MALINDI FESTIVAL LAUNCHES MARCH 29TH The National Museums of Kenya have reiterated their intent to go ahead with the 4th Malindi Cultural Festival, starting on March 29th and set to run over the Easter Weekend, despite the present political uncertainty as an election petition is being heard in Nairobi at the Supreme Court. The news […]
Air Tanzania eyes Moroni / Comoros
AIR TANZANIA EYES COMOROS FLIGHTS Air Tanzania is reportedly eyeing Moroni / Comoros as their first international destination since relaunching operations last year, with March 25th reportedly the date for the inaugural flight, using their B737 for the route. A Dar es Salaam based source with insight into ATCL confirmed that the airline will launch […]
Turkish to go daily to Dar es Salaam
TURKISH TO GO DAILY TO DAR A regular aviation source in Dar es Salaam has confirmed that Turkish Airlines will be moving from 5 flights a week to daily flights starting end of May this year. The airline is using a B737-900ER for the destination, connecting Tanzania – Turkish is also flying to Kilimanjaro on […]
Ol Pejeta launches mobile proactive map for visitors
OL PEJETA DOES IT AGAIN Described by this correspondent as one of Kenya’s most complete safari experiences, all in one place, the Ol Pejeta Conservancy has been making its way back here with some frequency which left others to wonder what the deal is between us. Actually, the deal is in the innovations, the fresh […]
Skal Kampala elects Miss Monalisa Aman as new Club President
SKAL KAMPALA ELECTS NEW LEADERSHIP Skal Kampala Chapter 611 has last night held the mandatory annual general meeting and after serving twice as Club President, has Kainembabazi Sabiti, in her professional standing the General Manager for Amadeus in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan, stepped down, making way for Miss Monalisa Aman to lead the […]
Swissport Tanzania confident for 2013 after slight profit reduction in 2012
SWISSPORT (T) PROFITS SHRINK BY 5 PERCENT AS COMPANY STRUGGLES WITH COST Information was received from an aviation source in Dar es Salaam that Swissport, Tanzania’s leading ground handling agency at the main airports of the country, has seen a profit reduction of some 5 percent at the end of their last financial year. The […]
Kenya Airways ups Guangzhou flights from 4 to daily
KENYA AIRWAYS INCREASES GUANGZHOU FLIGHTS TO DAILY FROM APRIL 01 The upcoming new summer schedule by Kenya Airways, aka The Pride of Africa will see a significant upping of flights to China’s Guangzhou, from presently 4 a week to daily departures, reflecting strong demand by travelers in both directions. The new schedule also introduces three […]
