Uganda Tours, Uganda Safaris, Gorilla Safari News , Uganda Travel & safari

An appraisal by the World Bank has recommended that the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC), formerly Entebbe Zoo, reduce its staff from about 50 to 30 to cut expenses.

Sources said the study was agreed upon at the end of last year and recommended massive changes in the wildlife sector.

The World Bank findings said the activities under its funding at the centre would not be sustained up to the end of next year as earlier planned.

The funding could only be sustained by restructuring the centre and reducing the workers.

Andrew Seguya, who heads the centre, said it was being restructured.

However, sources said over 10 security guards had been replaced by a private firm and that reforms were expected in the education, horticulture, marketing and animal keepers departments.

Uganda safari News

A game ranger at the Mt. Elgon National Park was in detention for allegedly persecuting civilians and extorting money from suspected encroachers.

Patrick Gaboi attached to Wanale ranger post was arrested during a meeting convened by the inspector general of police, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura.

Mbale district police commander Alfred Bitwire said Gaboi was identified as the ranger who agonized and obtained by threat sh20,000 from a man suspected to have set a disputed section of the park on fire.
Bitwire said the meeting, held at Bufumbo sub-county headquarters, received complaints from civilians who were tortured.
He said people’s crops and homes had been destroyed by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) law enforcers as they attempted to secure the disputed section of the national park.
The chief warden of the national park, Moses Serugo, denied claims that his staff had dispossessed people from the doubtful section of the park.

UWA chief Moses Mapesa, however, said the community bordering the park was to blame for the dispute over the boundary. He added that surveyors traced and planted boundary marks but the community would transfer the marks to create their own boundaries .

He said that they were not going to stand in the way of the law and the truth will be documented and at the end of the day the law will prevail.

UGANDA SAFARI NEWS

A huge python has caused a rouse in Lubigi swamp on Masaka road when residents who have been worshipping it resisted a Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) team to relocate it. After saving the reptile ,Vernice Mirembe of UWA has said that the resident who have been pitching a camp at the edge of the Swamp tossed arms at UWA’s team.
Edward Kabagyo of the Uganda Wildlife Education centre at Entebbe, where the reptile was relocated, said they had rescued three pythons from the same area in the last four months.

She also said that some of them have been paying honor to a spirit called Mayanja that is believed to rejuvenate in pythons. They have been bringing eggs, berries, coffee beer, barkcloth and fetishes as sacrifice.

Mirembe has also said that the reptile had been exposed to stress because of the noisy crowd and the food they had brought would have poisoned it.
She also commented that the python was not a spirit but one of the many reptiles living in the swamp and added that their habitat was shrinking due to encroachment, forcing them to the edges of the wetland.

Curious crowd thronged the swamp from Natete, Kyengera and Bulenga and disrupted traffic as they searched for the snake that had retreated into the swamp.

Some onlookers claimed the python was a blessing from a spirit in the Lubigi swamp that runs across Mityana ,Wakiso and Luweero districts.

Residents said the python was seen on Sunday but disappeared when a crowd gathered. It reappeared the following day to bask in the sun.

UGANDA SAFARI NEWS

Uganda Tourist Board (UTB) is leading major players in the tourism sector to an international exhibition, Borsa Internazionale del Turismo, scheduled for February 18th to 21st in Milan, Italy.

The exhibition is one of the top annual events in Europe, which links suppliers and buyers in tourism under one roof and also showcases innovations. The exhibition will be in line with June 2006 celebrations to mark a centenary since the Italian Duke, Luigi da Savoia of Abruzzi, scaled the 5,109 metre Mountain Rwenzori in 1906.

The exhibition will feature packages for Uganda’s niche market, and will include packages for the Rwenzori Centenary “In the footsteps of the Duke,” and visual presentations on “Tourism Investment Opportunities in Uganda” which will be hosted by the Uganda delegation in conjunction with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

Uganda tourism news

Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania will cooperatively advocate East Africa as a tourist destination.

East Africa is to be marketed as one tourist attraction because all the three countries have common tourism potential.

The general manager of Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) James Bahinguza said the tourist boards of the three countries are meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, this week to work out strategies that would enable tourists visit the region easily.

Bahinguza said some of the issues to be discussed are issuing of one visa to tourists to East Africa to allow them move in the three countries without being disturbed at border posts. There was a need to open borders and recruit employees at the borders and airports should be made friendly.

Uganda Tourism news

Africa has registered the largest number of tourists to Uganda. 79% of tourists who came to Uganda in 2004 were from Africa. According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics Report on Migration and Tourism, the biggest number of tourists was from Kenya.

The 2004 report said that arrivals from mainland Africa were 407,000 in 2004 compared to 235,000 in 2003. The annual arrivals of 738,000 people, 512,000 were visitors, representing a growth of 68%. The majority of the arrivals were by males, while females were about 30%.

The month of May had the highest number of visitors at 49,857. In 2004, Uganda received 512,378 visitors of whom 381,000 arrived by road.

Kenya contributed 42.9%, Tanzania 13.2%, Rwanda 12.7% and others 10.4%. Europe contributed 10%, America and Asia 4% each and others 3%.

Uganda tourism news

Paraa Safari Lodge, owned by the Madhvani Group, is to upgrade to a Five-Star Hotel, a top official said on Tuesday.

The lodge is located in Murchison Falls National Game Park.

S.K. Iyengar, the group’s company secretary, said that given the prevailing improvement in security in the Paraa lodge area, the company has decided to improve on it’s facilities and therefore an improvement in its star rating. She said that it is to become a five star after these improvements.

Kenneth Mugira, the Paraa manager, said work was in progress. He said the transport section had been upgraded with new land cruisers.Iyengar also said during the past festive season, they hosted several guests from all over the world.
Top on the guest list was Bollywood film star, Fardeen Khani and his mother, Sundari Khan.

The duo was accompanied by Natasha Madhvani, the first daughter of the Madhavani Group’s joint managing director, Mayur Madhvani. Fardeen has featured in several Bollywood blockbuster movies including his latest “No Entry” and Ek Hasima Khiladi.

The frequent visiting of Murchsion falls national Park made by different tourists has made assurance that the park is so safe for every body .

UGANDA SAFARI NEWS