Tourists from Africa account for a fifth of all tourists who visited the country during the first six months of the year after recording a growth of 18% in number.

Dr Ongong’a Achieng’, managing director Kenya Tourism Board, said the growth in visitor numbers from the continent was pushed by conference attendance following the rehabilitation of the key Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) at a cost of Sh200 million.

KICC managing director Phillip Kisia said the revamped facility has helped reclaim Kenya’s status as an international destination as well as a regional hub for conference tourism.

He revealed that in the last two years, the centre had recorded a 250 per cent growth, where the regional market accounted for 15 per cent, domestic market 40 per cent and international market the rest.

The managing director of Safari Park Hotel, Solomon Matiri, said, Kenyans led the hotel using conference facilities at 30.3 per cent, followed by South Africa and Nigeria.

Last month, Safari Park had 90 conferences with bookings required at one year in advance.

The revenue manager at the Sarova Stanley, Catherine Gachie, said there was a notable increase in tourists across the board, with more women tourists staying in the hotel.

Most of the African tourists staying at the hotel were from South Africa (16 per cent) followed by Tanzania (11 per cent) and Uganda (10 per cent).

The total number tourists to the Kenya by the third quarter of the year were 1.3 million with earnings at Sh49.2 billion, a third of it from domestic tourists.

Morris Dzoro, the tourism and wildlife minister, said branding national parks and other travel facilities has helped Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to increase its revenue, since they managed better. He added that wildlife management and the tourism policies were being crafted to create a friendly business environment.

Last year, KWS surpassed its Sh1.9 billion target for revenue, raking in Sh2.6 billion shillings after upgrading most of the facilities.

“The branding of our facilities is meant to provide a conducive environment to the staff in the fast changing and demanding global tourism industry,” said the minister during the branding of the Kakamega Forest National Reserve at Buyangu village, Ileho division, Kakamega south district.

It becomes the fourth facility to be branded in the region after Ruma, Saiwa Swamp and Mount Elgon. Infrastructure in Kakamega Forest National park has improved, and conservation measures are given priority. The attitude of the neibhouring community to wildlife have also improved tremendously since KWS has reached out to them and involved them in the project

Kenya Wildlife Services now plans to resolve the human-wildlife conflict in Kamnarok game reserve in Baringo Eastern district of the country by constructing electric fence, and moving the squatters living on trust land to another area.

The airline will provide daily flights linking Mombasa and Malindi to Maasai Mara.

The first landing of Fly540 was at 12 noon at David Livingstone airstrip. Among other airstrips to be served are Governor’s airstrips, Mara Serena, Grerende and Musiara airstrips.

The proprietor of David Livingstone safari resort, Mr Dilip Shah, who welcomed the group led by the Kenya Tourist Board Managing Director, Dr Achieng Ongong’a, said they spent up to $100,000 (Sh6.8 million) to improve the airfield. “We are delighted that Fly 540 has finally started their operations here. We always have a shortage of aircrafts coming here. The few airlines serving the route do not meet the high demand as the number of tourists coming to mara growing day by day,” he said.

Mombasa Air, Blue Sky Aviation and Safari Link, using between 12 to 19 seater aircrafts from Malindi and Mombasa, currently supply the route. However, their daily trips cannot serve the growing demand.

“When we heard that Fly540 is coming with a bigger aircraft compared to the ones who fly here, we decided to upgrade the airstrip for the airline to have a safe landing. This is the only aircraft with the biggest capacity to ever serve the route and we are very delighted,” he added.

While welcoming Fly540 to the Mara route, Mr Hecton Maganga, the Managing Director of African Discovery Tours and Safaris, admitted that his firm has had was facing difficulties getting clients to the Mara because of seat and aircraft availability for occasionally.

The 45 minutes journey from JKIA to Maasai Mara will be departing at 11.15am daily. The return ticket from Nairobi will be $199, while Malindi and Mombasa will cost $270, said the airline’s Operations Director, Mr Nixon Ooko.

Kenya Safaris 

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 

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 

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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 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

Mabamba wetland in Uganda, a home to shoebills was designated as a Ramsar site and listed as one of the nine wetlands of international importance in Uganda.

The persistent demolition of wetlands for homes and trade has caused a harsh blow to the ecosystem of the rare shoebill.

The executive director, Achilles Byaruhanga said; “In 1990, Wetlands International counted 600 shoebills in Uganda, but in 1998 when Nature Uganda did the recounting, they recorded only about 250 shoebills.”

In Uganda, the major habitat and breeding areas for the shoebills is Lake Kyoga sudds with the highest concentration of these birds. Other areas with this endangered bird species include; Nabugabo Swamp, Mabamba wetlands, Murchison Falls national park, Nabajjuzi wetland, Lutembe, Sango Bay, areas surrounding Lake George in Queen Elizabeth Wildlife Park and some of the Lake Victoria wetlands.

The recorded world population for the rare shoebill stalk is approximately 6,000 with Southern Sudan having the biggest percentage of population in the world due to the large expanses of wetland sudds in the region.

The breeding nature of the shoebill laying two eggs in five years leads to slow recovery of the lost numbers unless their breeding places are tightly protected by the concerned governments.

They live lives, breeds in deep secluded marshes and wetland sudds and feed on lungfish, tilapia and some vegetation.

Mabamba wetlands, one of the homes to shoebills, found in Kasanje sub-county, Wakiso district along the shores of Lake Victoria was designated as a Ramsar site and added to the list of nine wetlands of international importance in Uganda on World Wetlands Day -February 2.

“Mabamba wetlands are a great international site to tour. And there is much to be seen,” said Dr. Peter Bridgewater, the outgoing secretary general of Ramsar, adding: “It is the only swamp near Kampala where one can easily find the globally threatened shoebill.”

The last counting revealed that 14 shoebills inhabited Mabamba. The shoebill, usually called the legendary bird, lays its eggs on the floating wetland vegetation. Afte laying the eggs, the male and female take turns to look after the eggs.

Hannington Kasasa, the operations manager of Mabamba Bird Guides and Conservation Association explained that; “the first to sit on the eggs takes one month and the second takes three weeks.”

This wetland is a major bird watching destination with Over 190 species of birds. Mabamba’s system supports up to 75% of the population of migratory globally, vulnerable bird species like the blue swallows, kingfisher, African jacana and African fish eagle are also found here.

The marshes are also breeding grounds for fish except the Nile perch.
In addition, the system supports a high diversity of plant species and over 200 butterfly species have been recorded in Mabamba.

Bridgewater urged the people living around natural resources to use them wisely. “We have to conserve the wetlands. What I have seen is very inspiring,” he said. He further explained that wetlands have many advantages like filtering and storing water plus regulating climate and water flow. “Wetlands are really important for the ecosystem.”

He alleged, if the area is developed for safaris, they could make 10 tours on average between one to five tourists every week, in addition to the charge sh40, 000 per boat ride.

The major seasons for Uganda bird watching safaris and field trips are mainly July to August and January to February. February marks the date of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands in the Iranian City of Ramsar 36 years ago.

The aim of this convention was to call international attention to the rate at which wetlands were disappearing and provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands.

Currently, Uganda is holding the vice chair of the Ramsar Standing Committee and chair of the sub-group on the strategic plan 2003-2008. Uganda hosted the Conservation of Parties in November 2005 and is now part of arrangements for the next one to be held in Korea, 2008.

Uganda has made considerable progress in the area of wetlands management at an international scene, particularly as the first country in Africa to adopt a national wetlands policy, to institute the WID and integrating wetland issues into the poverty eradication strategies.

Uganda safaris

After carrying out reviews on the state of conservation of 830 heritage site, the committee, in New Zealand’s city of Christchurch, reached a final decision of including senegal’s safari park.

Niokolo-Koba National Park, located in Senegal’s eastern region is enormously threatened by the upcoming plan to construct a power dam on river Gambia, a few miles upstream from the park in addition to continuous poaching by the residents of the area. The uncontrolled regions bordering the 913,000 hectare park are affected by human activity leaving the park at risk.

This Park borders the Republic of Guinea to the southeast, is domicile to a diversity wildlife embracing the chimpanzees, elephants, antelopes, lions, species of monkeys, numerous reptiles that have been forced to migrate to adjoining Guinea to run away from drought in parts on this conservation area.

Lately, a few of the large savanna birds such as the Grand Abyssinia hornbill are the main safari attraction apart from a small number of spotted hyenas, hippos and wondering lions that are seen on a tour to this park.

UNESCO also included Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, on this list. The 19 islands located in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 1,000 km from the continent of South America, which form Galapagos Islands and the marine reserve neighborhood, comprise evolutions similar to a living museum and laboratory.
African Vacations and Holiday Tours 

Compiled by Grace