By
Wolfgang H.Thome May 2013
UGANDA WILDLIFE AUTHORITY LAUNCHES ANTI POACHING
UNIT ON THE NILE
The Uganda Wildlife Authority has recently
launched the Semanya Marine Ranger Station on
the banks of the River Nile, from where regular
anti poaching patrols are now operating to
monitor in particular the open access across
Lake Albert into the Murchisons Falls National
Park.
The
station was built and equipped through financial
contributions from a number of conservation
supporters but in particular it was the effort
of the Uganda Conservation Foundation (www.ugandacf.org)
which has been working hand in hand with UWA to
fight the poaching menace.
Leading Ugandan corporates, like the Sheraton
Kampala Hotel, Nile Breweries and Sadolin
Paints, among others, equally gave donations as
did the Murchisons Falls International Fishing
Tournament, an annual event with proceeds going
to conservation causes.
Nearly two dozen rangers are now based at the
station and currently operate with one boat,
though additional equipment is reportedly being
procured to make the outstation even more
effective.
Already on day one of operations were several
poachers caught, reportedly posing as innocent
fishermen but found with snares and other
poachers tools, leading to their immediate
arrest and now awaiting prosecution.
The
Nile delta, where the Victoria Nile enters Lake
Albert, is a maze of little islands and swamps,
rich in game and as such a tempting site for
poachers, who can access the national park side
of the lake across the open waters with little
opposition from rangers, until now that is.
Poaching has moved from subsistence level to
take a more commercial outlook in recent years,
as in particular elephant have been targeted in
Uganda, though plains game is much sought after
too to fuel a growing bush meat trade. However,
as UWA emerged from the turmoil inflicted on the
organization by the rash actions of the self-
styled Minister of Crocodiles and his choice
chairman of the board, both of them thankfully
no longer in office, has the focus on
antipoaching gained momentum once again. Thanks
to the Uganda Conservation Foundation and all
the
donors to this immensely valuable and important
addition to the Murchisons Falls NP
infrastructure.
AIR UGANDA GETS THIRD BOMBARDIER CRJ 200
Air
Uganda yesterday received their third Bombardier
CRJ 200 aircraft, leased from American aircraft
leasing company GECAS. This brings the total
fleet of Air Uganda to presently four, including
one remaining MD 87 aircraft, the only one on
the fleet with a two class Business and Economy
layout.
The
leased aircraft is, like the two others, a 50
seater all economy configured aircraft and will
allow the airline to back up their recently
announced third daily frequency to Juba and the
newly introduced flights from Entebbe via
Kilimanjaro to Mombasa.
Air
Uganda, which started up in 2007, is now flying
from Entebbe, as quasi national airline of
Uganda, to Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro,
Mombasa, Kigali, Bujumbura and Juba.
The
next destination for Air Uganda will be
Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, where Uganda
has a large contingent of troops and where
business opportunities are now opening up for
Ugandan entrepreneurs and traders, requiring
scheduled flights from Entebbe without having to
travel via
Nairobi or other airports in the wider region.
Cornwall Muleya, who started to work at Air
Uganda as CEO on April 01st,
was quoted in a media release sent to this
correspondent earlier today as having said: ‘The
new aircraft is going to facilitate our
operations to the newly planned
routes but also enable seamless service on our
current network. We are therefore very excited
about this acquisition and believe this to be
part of the tremendous growth Air Uganda will
experience this year’.
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