Africa Safari News and Travel

Akright’s Kakungulu Housing Estate has become the latest eco-tourism centre in Uganda.

situated 18km alongside the Kampala-Entebbe road, divide into 2,500 plots covering two-and-half square km, the estate consists of a man-made lake, natural forest, amusement park and golf course.

Eco-tourism is a kind of tourism which entails to the ecological and social factors. It focuses on local culture, wildlife adventures, personal growth, volunteering and learning new ways of living; including travel to destinations where flora, fauna, and cultural heritage are the principal attractions.

Officials from Nature Uganda have so far identified 74 bird species within the estate.

The new ecotourism centre was launched by Serapio Rukundo the state minister for Tourism.

Anatoli Kamugisha, the Akright Projects managing director, said under the company’s eco-tourism initiative, they have advised every property-owner in the estates to set aside a room for a visiting tourist.

“These are part of the rooms we will provide to visitors who will come for the Commonwealth meeting. Over 30 of these are ready and waiting for occupants,” he said.

Rukundo said, “the Government is targeting attracting over one million tourists by 2010.”

“Once the queen visits this country, the image of Idi Amin’s Uganda, which many foreigners still hold in their minds, will totally fade away. We will then get a once-in-a-lifetime chance to revamp the tourism industry,” he added.

He said the ministry in progress with a tourism cluster initiative whereby a maximum of five hotel-owners pool resources, host and share visitors depending on their comparative advantage.

Uganda Safaris and Tours 

South Africa is promoting itself to Ugandan tourists as an Africa holiday destination under a new advertising campaign where holidaymakers from Uganda will enjoy subsided rates on a safari to South Africa.

The tourism marketing body, known as South Africa Trade, held an exhibition at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel this week.

Hulisoni Thabela, the trade relations manager, explained that East Africa was a big market for them. The region, he said, would gain from the initiative.

“Many Ugandans travel to South Africa for business-related activities, although the more popular activities remain shopping and leisure. It is a land of exploration and adventure.”

“We want tour and travel agents to know about South Africa’s surplus tourism experience through provision of relevant information to the trade that will help them to sell the destination more effectively to their clients,” she said.

Thabela disclosed that last year alone, more than 10,000 Ugandans visited South Africa for business and holiday.

“There is an opportunity to discover South Africa’s breathtaking beauty and world-class hotels,” she added.

The South African High Commission to Kampala, Michael Schoeman, said the number of visas issued to Ugandans was increasing. It was over 7,000 for 2006 alone.

Uganda Safaris 

Grace

Kiliminjaro International Airport (KIA) located in Arusha, the main town of Tanzania’s Northern tourism circuit, setting up the CUTE system.

KIA is going to be the first air terminal in Tanzania to be installed with SITA’s (Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques) state-of-the-art Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE). The CUTE system maximizes airport space by reducing the need for dedicated check-in areas and providing state-of-the-art facilities for passengers using existing KIA airport buildings.

Captain Phillemon Kisamo who is the Managing Director Kilimanjaro Airport Development Company (KADCO), says the new technology will increase the competitiveness of KIA in the rather delicate aviation industry. KIA will become the fifth African airport using SITA’s CUTE system after, Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, South Africa’s Oliver Tambo International Airport, Egypt’s Cairo Airport and Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa International Airport. “Once fully installed, Kilimanjaro Airport will reduce costs, increase flexibility, optimize resources and facilitate the flow of passengers through the airport,” SITA’s Airport and Desktop Business Development manager for Africa, Marc Lumley says.

The plans to create the world’s largest game park in Africa are at last finalised at a meeting in Botswana in southern Africa.

The designed conservation area will overlap the borders of Botswana, Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zambia.

The newly created park will fetch in tourists from all parts of the world to such attractions as Okavango swamps, the Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park and Caprivi Strip. The officials taking part in this tourism venture believe that it will help to develop regional tourism ahead of the 2010 World Cup to take place in South Africa.

The prosposed Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Park will cost an estimated $100m to set up and is expected to contribute significantly to job creation in the five countries named above.

At the moment Africa’s largest game park is the 35,000-square-kilometre Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park on the borders of Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

While the southern African region has full-size potential as an Africa safari destination, those assembled in Gaborone, Botswana’s capital, said that a lot needs to be done to bring in more tours to the region.

“The major issue is about sustainable tourism,” Botswana’s Tourism Minister Kitso Mokaila said. “Tourism is a revenue generator and therefore if we can get the conservation issue right then I think we can start talking more positively and more confidently about sustainable tourism.”

This conference yielded the future of Southern Africa tourism and Africa as a whole. This will raise the diversity of safari together with the frequency of tours made attractions in Africa.

Rwanda National Parks