Rwanda Government plans to build animal sanctuaries to boost Domestic Tourism

Rwanda had an animal sanctuary on the hill of Rebero in Kicukiro district but was destroyed during the 1994 genocide memorial and so, it has never been rebuilt. The government official from the Rwanda Development Board confirmed that the board plans to create an animal sanctuary which will be named the Wildlife Education Center. It will be used to educate children about the values and importance of wildlife. The ministry added that they are embarking on a major awareness of tourism on both local and at the international level. This will hamper the growth of local tourism as animal sanctuaries or orphanages have been proven to be major drivers of tourist numbers locally.

Uganda and Kenya have animal orphanages and sanctuaries located in major towns, which has seen their tourism revenue increase. Uganda has Uganda wildlife Education Center (UWEC) in Entebbe, Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and Ngamba Island ChimpanzeeSanctuary on Lake Victoria where as Kenya has the Nairobi National Park and Haller Park in Mombasa.

Now the Rwandan government has planned the establishment of wildlife sanctuaries where they will collect and protect animals that are found to be illegally detained in homes and those endangered in captivity. 

The sanctuaries will not only serve to protect animals, but will also be for educational purposes as stated by the Manager in charge of conservation at the Rwanda Development Board Mr. Télésphore Ngoga. In relation also to tourism promotion, the government of Rwanda has lined up several projects such as fencing Akagera National Park; defining a buffer zone for the VolcanoesNational Park, reinforcing protection of Nyungwe Park and diversifying its tourism products. The promotion of domestic tourism is vital to increasing tourism revenues especially from domestic tourists and also will be a great opportunity for locals who cannot afford Gorilla permits, transport and accommodation costs to visit the National Parks. this will reduce on the costs the locals incur on their Rwanda safaris.

Trip Advisor Recognizes Bwindi National Park

Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park found in South Western Uganda, has won the prestigious Certificate of Excellence from the TRIP ADVISOR which honours businesses that consistently earn top ratings from Trip Advisor travelers.

The Park received a rating of 5.0 which has made it one of the very best places. This award from Trip advisor is only given to the most exceptional performers on the Trip Advisor global business community. This is a significant achievement deserving of recognition from both travelers and staff of the Park.

Trip Advisor is well known as one of the world’s largest travel forum site which recognizes the power of travelers feedback. The president of the Trip Advisor business Mrs. Christine Petersen said “We are proud to recognize Bwindi Impenetrable Forest for earning exceptional traveler rating over the past year,” this is a great credit to the Park and is a testimony to the high standard of the Park. Gorilla trekking and Gorilla safaris are the major tourism activities carried out with in the Park.

The Gorilla Talks

Destination Jungle tours and safaris Ltd is happy to inform you all that it’s launching its new website for the “Gorilla Talks”. The website www.gorillatrekking.travel is the official site for all the information about gorillas in East Africa. This includes countries like Uganda, Rwanda for mountain gorillas and Democratic Republic of Congo for the low land gorillas. Information about mountain gorillas in Bwindi national park and Mgahinga national park in Uganda, Parc nationale des Volcans in Rwanda and Virunga national park in Congo. The site also describes the habitats of the gorillas in all parks including the lowland gorillas in Kahuzi Biega national park and all the gorilla families in all the three countries. All gorilla conservation, history, tourism are detailed on the website. Gorilla packages to all the 3 countries, gorilla rules and the trekking tips. Inquire for more details from one of our experienced travel consultants.

Uganda Government targets more Tourism revenue

The government of Uganda will be launching more promotion campaigns to increase in the Tourism revenue from the current $805m to $1b by the year 2014. This was revealed by the tourism minister Ms Maria Lubega Mutagamba who also added that the ministry wants to base this campaign on peace in the country and hospitable nature of its citizens (Ugandans).

Tourism is the second foreign exchange earning to the country from remittances from abroad. Therefore, we should take advantage of international accolades to extremely develop the country’s tourism products. Uganda was voted best tourism destination by Lonely planet for the year 2012, Mt Rwenzori was voted among top hiking places, Virunga was voted a must-see place and Bwindi National Park was voted as the Africa’s number one birding site ad this slogans can be used to boost the country’s tourism industry.

According to her, there is need to for concerted efforts to promote tourism with minimum negative impacts on the environment.   There are still challenges of limited tourism product, inadequate accommodation, low quality services, human wildlife conflict, limited general funding from the government and private sectors. Now Entebbe as a city with the international Airport, is taking huge strides and authorities are working hard to make it a major tourism town. The Uganda Wildlife Education centre (UWEC) in Entebbe is also recognized as a unique zoological garden in Africa that has enabled it host international that boosts tourism and concur with the catch phrase that ‘Uganda is the Pearl of Africa’.  Statistics from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics show the visitor growth has reached Shs1.5m per year that is still too small compared to small towns in Sweden like Kulmar that get three million visitors a year.