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 […]
Uganda aviation news update – CAA cleared of tender wrongdoings
NO FOUL PLAY IN CAA TENDER AWARD ‘That was pure malice from complainants and frankly incompetence from the PPDA for falling into that trap in the first place’ was the tenor of comments made off the record by sources close to the Civil Aviation Authority, when news broke yesterday that the tender award for the […]
Uganda news update – Parliament gets a does of their own medicine
PARLIAMENTS EGO TRIP ENDS IN DARKNESS TOO The Ugandan public wasted no time in jubilating when word spread yesterday that Parliament, the source of much of the country sitting in darkness at present night after night, was finally given a dose of their own medicine when ‘loadshedding’ reached the chambers of the house. MP’s reportedly […]
Kenya aviation breaking news – KQ to get B747-400F to start cargo operations in October
KENYA AIRWAYS GOES CARGO IN A BIG WAY A source within Kenya Airways has answered in the affirmative a short while ago to the question asked earlier in the afternoon: ‘yes we will be getting a B747-400F in September’. This ends months of speculation over the level of the airline’s entry into the cargo business, […]
Seychelles news update – Investment Forum in Jo’burg also serves to promote tourism
SEYCHELLES PROMOTES INVESTMENTS AND TOURISM IN SOUTH AFRICA A two day investment forum in Johannesburg, organized by the Seychelles Investment Board in conjunction with the High Commission in Pretoria is ending today, after successfully attracting scores of interested companies and potential investors for projects across the archipelago. Participants reportedly came from the wider South African […]
Kenya aviation news update – WHO will survive the hard times
KENYA’S AVIATION SECTOR – WHO NEXT TO FALL TO THE HARD TIMES Aviation in Kenya is a generally thriving industry with the number of aircraft registered and the daily flights recorded, at the main airports, at Wilson and across the entire country’s airfields and airstrips dwarfing the entire rest of the East African Community. No […]
Kenya aviation update – A380 for Jo’burg in October but NBO?
EMIRATES A380 FOR KENYA? ‘Kenya is our third biggest market in Africa after South Africa and Nigeria’ was the statement made earlier in the week, when Emirates’ Nairobi office launched the airline’s premium product upgrades now in place in all of the flying giant aircraft. The A380 will first come to Africa in October, when […]
Seychelles news update – Parliament accepts court ruling, dissolves itself again
PARLIAMENT DISSOLVES ITSELF AGAIN – WITH DUE NOTICE Following the ruling of the Constitutional Court, that they vote for the dissolution of parliament was not valid as the prescribed notice was not given in accordance within the law and the regulations governing such a vote, the Speaker of the Seychelles parliaments promptly accepted the ruling […]
East Africa news – It is officially a FAMINE now
IT IS OFFICIALLY A FAMINE NOW At least 11 million people in the Horn of Africa and wider Eastern African region are now said to be suffering from a famine, which has been described as the worst in decades, aggravated by the civil war in Somalia and the hostilities and tension between Eritrea and Ethiopia. […]
Mauritius tourism news – EU helps to finance new tourism strategic plan
EU CO-FINANCES TOURISM PLANNING FOR MAURITIUS Clearly stung deep by the success of fellow ‘vanilla island’ Seychelles, which has over the past two and a half years re-positioned itself as THE Indian Ocean island destination of choice and became the darling of the global media, Mauritius is now embarking on clawing her own position back […]
Kenya conservation news – BURN IVORY BURN
LET ACTION FOLLOW THE GOOD WORDS SPOKEN AT THE IVORY BURNING Burn Ivory Burn was the motto yesterday afternoon at the Kenya Wildlife Service’ Manyani Training Centre in Tsavo National Park, where the conservation who is who from Eastern Africa was joined by President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, a number of his ministers and senior […]
Seychelles news update – Constitutional Court overturns parliamentary dissolution vote
CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REVERSES PARLIAMENTARY DISSOLUTION The dissolution of parliament last week was quashed by the Seychelles constitutional court in an emergency hearing, granting a petition to restore parliament to life by the opposition, after it was found that the format of notice required to decide on such a matter was not legally met. This will […]
Kenya aviation news – Parliament now summons KAA management
KAA SUMMONED TO PARLIAMENT Although the Kenya Airport Authority belatedly issued apologies to the general public and the entire aviation fraternity at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, incidentally rejected by a number of airlines as ‘insufficient as long as no compensation is offered’, parliament was even swifter in summoning the KAA management to explain what […]
Uganda aviation news – Entebbe fuel stocks run low again
FUEL SHORTAGE AT ENTEBBE ADDS TO REGIONAL AVIATION WOES Following the repeated power outages at the region’s largest airport in Nairobi did news emerge that Entebbe has been suffering of a lack of aviation fuel again last week. While scheduled flights were able to get refueled before leaving for ‘home’, airlines flying on the route […]
Kenya conservation news – Poachers arrested with 40 tusks
ANTI POACHING MEASURES YIELD ARRESTS News emerged in Kenya late yesterday that police and other security operatives have arrested a gang of poachers transporting ivory from Isiolo to Nairobi. Over 40 elephant tusks were confiscated in the operation together with the truck, as it was used in carrying illicit contraband. Three suspects are due to […]
Weekly roundup of news from the Eastern African and Indian Ocean region, Third 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 Third edition July 2011 […]
Tanzania conservation news update – UNESCO World Heritage Committee ‘insignificant entity’ says Tanzania’s tourism minister
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE ‘AN INSIGNIFICANT ENTITY’ The utterances of politicians in East Africa are legendary and legion, but the Tanzanian Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Ezekiel Maige outdid himself when calling the UNESCO World Heritage Committee an ‘insignificant entity from which we (meaning the megalomaniac us as in I) cannot take orders’. Maige […]
Kenya aviation breaking news – Drama at JKIA continues with another major power outage
SACK THEM, ALL OF THEM, AND DO IT NOW A second major power failure hit Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport last night, again forcing airlines to divert flights to other airports in Kenya and the region, while awaiting power to be restored. Only two days earlier did the same happen in the early morning hours, […]
