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By Prof. Dr.
Wolfgang H. Thome Second edition
September 2008 More
Hot News from Prof.
Thome ON THE SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY
OF 9/11 OUR PRAYERS FOR THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES
AND FOR THOSE WHO LOST LOVED ONES - ALWAYS
REMEMBER, NEVER FORGET AND NEVER TIRE TO BRING
THOSE RESPONSIBLE TO JUSTICE PRESIDENT COMMISSIONS NEW
AIRFIELD During his current
nationwide poverty alleviation tour, President
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni last weekend formally opened
a new, privately owned airfield just outside the
Southern or 'Ishasha' sector of Queen Elizabeth
National Park at Kihihi. While visiting the Kanungu
district, part of which also includes the access
gateway of Buhoma to the Bwindi gorilla national
park, he took the time from his busy schedule to
see Mr. Garuga Musinguzi's resort hotel just
outside Queen Elizabeth National Park. The new all
weather airstrip will ease aerial access to the
park as the UWA owned park airfield at Ishasha is
not long enough to cater for larger twin engined
large aircraft, a situation now resolved by the new
field, just a few kilometres from the park gates.
At the same time the field will also offer relief
to the rather trickier landing strip at the Kayonza
tea factory, which was in the past used to fly
tourists to Bwindi. Mr. Musinguzi, for long the
main financier of the opposition FDC, was also
welcomed back by the President into the NRM fold,
when President Museveni announced his return to the
ruling party. The main transport
axis between Kampala and Eastern Uganda is to be
modernized in coming years into a proper highway to
facilitate for the growing traffic volumes forecast
for the next decades. Already the road from Jinja
to the Kenyan border is under full upgrading and
rehabilitation but the section between Jinja and
Kampala, which is crossing through the (in)famous
Mabira National Forest Reserve, is heavily used at
present and needs at least a doubling of capacity.
This will be achieved in coming years with the help
of development partners and in particular the
European Union, which is set to co-finance the
first sector of the upgrade between Kampala and
Mukono with over 20 million Euros. The long term
implications will be faster and safer travel
between the capital and the re-emerging town of
Jinja, where many of the country's adventure
tourism attractions are based along the upper Nile
valley. Visitors from abroad and from within Uganda
often travel to Jinja to see the Source of the Nile
or to partake in white water rafting, bungee
jumping, horse riding, quad biking or cross country
cycling, all of which is on offer along the River
Nile. Visit www.theeye.co.ug for regular updates on
the country's attractions, including all the
important contact details and new offers on the
market or else see the official tourist board site
at www.visituganda.com ENVIRONMENTALISTS TARGET
NEMA The national
environmental management authority has come under
sustained criticism by the environmental and
conservation lobby over their approval of EIA's
without carrying out proper research. The
accusation was made during a Nature Uganda public
talk at the Uganda Museum late last week, when in
particular the destruction of Cycad forests just
outside Queen Elizabeth National Park was
highlighted. Almost all of the ancient forest is
just outside the park area and was due for cutting
down to make way for a hydro electric power plant,
which location was highly criticised earlier in the
year by conservationists. It was said then as it
was reiterated now, that the developer had not done
sufficient research into alternative locations for
their power plant at the lower end of the Mpanga
River, which could and should be built with lesser
impact on the Cycad forest. NEMA in turn was blamed
for 'rubberstamping' the EIA submitted to them with
equally insufficient research into the submissions.
Watch this space. KAMPALA 'HILTON' SITE
DORMANT AGAIN As has been
observed for a while now, all construction
activities related to the controversial
construction of a new hotel on top of Nakasero Hill
in central Kampala has stopped again, inspite of
regular full mouthed statements by the owners, who
seem richer with words than with cash. According to
sources from the site no new materials have arrived
to advance construction for a while now, leaving
the clouds of doubt hanging over the ill fated
project. In a related
development, Kingdom Hotels have also so far shown
no signs of commencing construction after fencing
off their site some months ago. The prime 17 acre
site was given to them by government to construct a
hotel for CHOGM last year but after displacing a
leading city primary school with nearly 1.000
pupils and the adjoining teachers training college
and then dismantling the buildings, nothing at all
happened causing angry outcries from the public
over the hotel company's failure to do anything
with their 'gift' so far. RHINO FUND
UGANDA NEWS The Executive
Director of the Rhino Fund Uganda, Mrs. Heidi
Cragg, has given notice that she intends to return
to South Africa for family reasons by the end of
September. Heidi put the sanctuary at Ziwa back on
level keel after the clouded departure of her
predecessor, who had only served a few months
before becoming involved in an altercation with a
staff member and then leaving literally overnight,
deserting the sanctuary and work in progress. Heidi
has during her nearly two years at Ziwa made
substantial progress in relations with donors,
development partners and the tourism industry and
visitor numbers to the Rhino Sanctuary are now at
an all time high. RFU Chairman Dirk ten Brink
confirmed to this correspondent that a new
Executive Director will be appointed shortly after
an intensive search for a successor. Visit
www.rhinofund.org for more information on the
activities of RFU and how to support it, and watch
this space for the new appointment to be announced
in due course. AVIATION UPDATE FROM THE
AERO CLUB OF EAST AFRICA The following item
has been drawn from the monthly newsletter of the
Aero Club in Nairobi, courtesy of Harro
Trempenau: BUSINESS AS USUAL DESPITE
NEW KENYA CIVIL AVIATION
REGULATIONS
Reports from the
field indicate that, so far, KCAA inspectors have
not "swooped down" on aircraft operators in Kenya
to enforce the new contentious Kenya Civil Aviation
Regulations. (KCARS). Despite the fact that a few
dozen of the regulations are virtually impossible
to adhere to in an aviation environment like Kenya,
where 80% of flying is done into ill-equipped
"bush strips", KCAA has so far not harassed anybody
or even closed down operators who are every day
transgressing the new law. It would appear that,
either KCAA does not actually have the enforcement
capacity to implement its ill-conceived rules, or
it is now happy that at least on paper Kenya has
met the ICAO SARPS and procedures. It remains
to be seen if this "honeymoon" will last or whether
KCAA will eventually produce the army of inspectors
that is required if it is serious about
implementing its new rules. Some examples of
KCARs that are injurious to operators of aircraft
and airfields are: 1. All
airfields (even the most basic bush runway) must be
"fenced", have a "Security Plan", an "Airport
Manager", a "Security Committee", etc. All that of
course also applies not only to private airstrips,
but also to Government runways in the outback.
Most operators do not believe that the Government
(Kenya Wildlife Service, town councils, villages,
Kenya Police, etc.) will ever be able to adhere to
its own rules, leave alone the missions, camps,
farmers, etc. out there who have landing strips
that may be used once or twice a month. It is
also a question whether the KCAA actually knows
where most of these remote airstrips are located.
The private sector knows that there are at least
600 airstrips in Kenya, but the official AIP only
shows about 350. KCAA will have to do a lot of
flying and driving around to find the
rest. 2. Each airstrip,
according to the regulations, must undergo an
'annual inspection'. It is doubtful that KCAA has
the capacity (vehicles, inspectors, aircraft) to
actually do that. 3. Commercial
aircraft are required to fly only into airfields
that are adequately equipped, manned, have
'security' in place, are able to offer the latest
weather information, etc. It is doubtful that Kenya
can actually provide such facilities, but insurance
companies are likely to fall back on the latest law
in case of a claim. There are many
other requirements that will affect operators and
adherence will drive up the cost of operating
aircraft. Examples: Two Crew operations under some
conditions on even small Cessna Caravans, reduction
in the number of passengers that can be carried,
new expensive equipment requirements such as TCAS
and Ground Proximity Warning Systems, etc.,
etc. It does indeed
appear that Kenyan General Aviation has been
sacrificed on the altar of the FAA and ICAO.
CRASH REPORT
OUT The light aircraft
crash earlier in the year in which all passengers,
including two government ministers, and the pilot
were killed while enroute to Western Kenya, was
blamed by the air accident investigators on the
lack of experience by the pilot and subsequent
mistakes by him which led to the crash. The Cessna
210 aircraft was reportedly in good condition and
all equipment functioning as prescribed. The pilot
was reportedly not well acquainted with the terrain
en route and the plane crashed due to judgement
errors during VFR operation. KENYA AIRWAYS TO DOUBLE
RWANDA FLIGHTS Reports have been
received that Kenya Airways has formally applied
for a second daily flight between Nairobi and
Kigali to add much needed extra capacity to the
route. The airline presently flies only once a day
between the two capital cities. It is expected that
KQ will use their new Embraer 170 aircraft to
operate the flights but this has not yet been
confirmed. Once the flights commence operations
Kenya Airways will become the number two airline
after Rwandair in terms of flights in and out of
Kigali. It was also learned that KQ was considering
the launch of flights to Congo Brazzaville after a
new bilateral air services agreement was signed
between the two governments earlier in the
week. Rwandair in the
meantime is seeking to employ a Chief Operating
Officer in an ongoing effort to restructure the
airline and expand its capacity and operations. In
another twist of events it was also learned that
Air Uganda's Commercial Director will be leaving
the airline after serving for less than a year as
the upstart was dogged with challenges since its
inception. Watch this space. 787 DREAMLINER DELIVERIES
IN FURTHER DOUBT Boeing's so called
'dreamliner' is getting deeper into the nightmare
territory, as furter delays are now envisaged for
the first flight, already repeatedly delayed over
the past 18 months. This has both technical reasons
over certification processes but is also due to the
now repeated strike action by Boeing factory floor
staff, having to fight for a fair deal with their
company in the face of further intended corporate
plans to 'slim down' their take home salary and
other pay package components. Kenya Airways and
Ethiopian Airlines both have the modern jetliner on
order so as to replace ageing B 767 aircraft and
improve on their flight economics. The B 787 is said
to offer substantial savings in fuel compared with
presently used wide bodied aircraft, as will
incidentally the rival Airbus A350, which is also
under development. Should the deliveries of the
ordered 787 aircraft be delayed even further than
presently expected, the two East African airlines
may be compelled to consider their fleet and route
developments in coming years and could be forced to
make alternative arrangements to meet their
targets, including opting for other models made by
Boeing. Both airlines are long time Boeing
partners, although Kenya Airways is now also
operating three Embraer 170 aircraft on domestic
and lesser density regional routes as Boeing has no
suitable aircraft below their 737
family. It was also learned
that new B787 customers, considering to order the
aircraft from Boeing, are now being told that
delivery may come as late as 10 to 12 years down
the line, a situation thought to benefit Airbus
Industries for their A350 series as the two
aviation giants are trying to attract new customers
and orders. Over 900 B787 models are said to have
been sold already by Boeing, with additional
options by airline customers running into hundreds
too, and the delivery time frame has slipped
further and further away from the initial
projections. Some customers may now try to obtain
B777's to cover for fleet and route expansion and
Boeing of course may also face more financial
claims for delayed deliveries, a potentially costly
situation as Airbus's delays with their A380 all
too well demonstrated. GRAND REGENCY TO BE VALUED
AGAIN The Justice Cockar
Commission of Enquiry has last weekend ruled that
in the face of emerging evidence the hotel, sold
some weeks ago under clouded circumstances, must be
valued afresh at the expense of the Kenyan
government and paid by the Central Bank of Kenya.
The sales price immediately raised the emotions
across Kenyan society and politics, as it was
described as a 'throw away' and even a 'gift' to
the Libyan purchasers. Allegations of backroom
deals and corrupt practises went hand in hand with
the public outrage. Parliament then constituted
their own committee to investigate claims made in
connection with the sale and government, under
pressure from parliament and the public, launched a
judicial commission of enquiry chaired by respected
Justice Cockar. The new 'owners'
were reportedly reluctant but eventually agreed to
give access to the valuers just as soon as a team
has been put into place. The hotel was sold at 2.9
billion Kenya Shillings but some opinions given in
private and public put the value as much a four
times higher. The Libyans last week also changed
the name of the hotel which was described by many
as a vain attempt to set themselves apart from and
put some distance between them and the raging
scandal. The name change however only seems to have
inflamed the situation some more and the Kenyan
public is eagerly awaiting the outcome and final
verdict of the two enquiries. The judicial
commission of enquiry has also asked for a second
extension of their term to interview yet more
witnesses and unravel this complex net of
allegations made over the 'sale'. Amongst the
witnesses who only recently testified after finally
receiving their subpoenas was reportedly also the
Minister for Lands, whose testimony was considered
crucially important for the outcome of the case,
when he denied the sale was between government and
government in the absence of cabinet resolutions,
casting yet more doubts on the whole affair. If
accepted by the Commission of Enquiry the testimony
would lend credence to claims that the sale was
done secretly and without following proper
procedure. The Minister further went on record to
have instructed the lands registry not to transact
any business in connection with the hotel sale
while he was away at the time from Nairobi but
found his order ignored when he returned to the
city. A new valuation is
expected to be presented to the Commission of
Enquiry any time from now and will be reported in
the next column edition. Watch this
space. MICROSOFT CO-FOUNDER VISITS
KENYA Paul Allen, who
founded Microsoft together with the better known
Bill Gates, has been paying a visit to the Kenyan
coast with his private luxury yacht during the
week. While the cruise liner was anchored off the
'old Mombasa' waterfront it attracted large crowds
on shore trying to get a glimpse of the ship and
its owner. Paul Allen and his entourage meanwhile
visited the sight and reportedly took regular trips
with the ship based helicopter to the nearby
national parks. The visit was undoubtedly a boost
for Kenya's efforts to revive its tourism industry
as it gives a clear signal to would be visitors
that the country is safe and sound once
more. WAIVE VISA FEES FOR
CHILDREN SAYS KENYA TOURISM MINISTER In a further effort
to make Kenya more attractive as a tourism
destination, Minister Balala recently called for a
waiver of Visa fees for children accompanying their
parents on a holiday to Kenya. The cost of Visa,
often criticised in this column as making visits to
the region too expensive, can run easily into the
200 US Dollar region, when visiting just one
country as a family of four, while visiting the
entire region can set a family of four back by a
multiple of that amount. Kenya has already made
re-entries easier for tourists, who also visit a
neighbouring country within the East African
Community, by granting free re-entry, but overall
the problem requires a joint solution within the
EAC to more fully exploit the tourism potential of
the East African countries. AIR TANZANIA STRUCK BY
MISFORTUNE Tanzania's national
airline, presently undergoing a fleet renewal
programme and on the way to revive it's fortunes,
has been struck by some misfortune during the week.
Their B 737 suffered from engine damage when taking
off from the lakeside airport of Mwanza, reportedly
after sucking in an object from the runway while
trying to take off. The resulting engine change has
to be carried out by the lessor of the plane but
the aircraft remains grounded until the new engine
has arrived and been installed and the plane then
re-certified for flight operations. At the same
time both of the airline's new Bombardier Q 300's
were also grounded, when one of the two aircraft
encountered nozzle problems while the other had a
cockpit window pane crack. Both of the aircraft are
awaiting the spares which should get the 'birds'
back in the air later in the week. Meanwhile,
operations with ATC's Airbus A320 continue
uninterrupted although the domestic schedule has
been thrown into some disarray as a result of the
three aircraft being temporarily unserviceable. Air
Tanzania is expected to resume their full schedule
later in the week. TCT COOPERATES WITH
ILO The Tourism
Confederation of Tanzania has recently entered into
an agreement with the International Labour
Organization, aimed at improving training for hotel
staff to increase and refine the quality of service
delivery in the hospitality industry across the
country. It was pointed out that this was not to
rival existing training institutions and programmes
but to supplement industrial training and intensify
training in the workplace. The 'Pilot Apprentice
Programme' was also endorsed by government, when
the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour
opened the first of three workshops in Dar es
Salaam last week. Additional stakeholder meetings
are planned for Zanzibar and Arusha, to
comprehensively consult with the private sector at
all the key tourism centres. INCIDENT REPORTED FROM
KIGALI AIRPORT Dozens of
passengers were reported stranded in Kigali
yesterday following a yet unspecified incident with
a Kenya Airways plane on landing. There are
unconfirmed reports that the plane collided with an
electricity pole and that subsequently the plane
did not proceed with its journey to Nairobi to
allow engineers evaluate any damage to the
aircraft. The plane was reportedly coming from
Bujumbura and was to pick up passengers in Kigali
enroute to Kenya. No injuries were
reported to any passengers or crew on the plane by
the time of going to press and no damage report was
available either. BURUNDI TO REVIVE
TOURISM Having seen the
success story of Rwanda's tourism revival over the
past decade, Burundi too has now set its sights on
making tourism a major part of the national economy
in coming years. President Pierre Nkurunziza last
week launched a coordinated campaign towards this
end in Bujumbura's Hotel 'Club du Lac Tanganyika'.
The President spoke of the positive impact tourism
can have on environmental protection and in
particular praised the values of ecotourism.
Although geographically a small and densely
populated country, Burundi nevertheless has three
national parks as well as some nature reserves and
monuments and most notably a Ramsar site where the
Rusizi River enters Lake Tanganyika. CONGO ARMY IN LEAGUE WITH
REBELS, BBC ALLEGES In yet another hard
hitting story, unearthed by BBC reporters and
informers, the DR Congo army is now accused to
cooperating with the Hutu killer militias in
Eastern Congo, and instead of fighting and
containing them said to work hand in hand to
exploit the mineral riches found in the region.
Only recently have UN, EU and other parties
admitted that no progress was being made in
reigning in the freely roaming militias, who are
responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and
large scale killings since. The DR Congo army
however in stark contrast always pursued the Tutsi
self protection forces in the Eastern Congo, which
constituted themselves to avoid another genocide
being inflicted upon them. The latest findings also
seems to confirm a long standing suspicion, that
border transgressions by the militias into Rwanda
and Uganda may well have been not just tolerated
but initiated and encouraged by the Kinshasa
regime's army units with the ultimate aim to
perpetuate conflict in the region in order to
continue to exploitation for cash of the country's
mineral riches. The reports also give renewed
credibility to 'renegade' General Nkunda's claims
that the Tutsi population is being deliberately
targeted, a reason for his troops not to disarm and
'integrate' into the Congolese 'army', where they
would more likely than not then be isolated and
assistance to their brethren be made
impossible. EMIRATES DISAPPOINTS A380
FANS A regular reader of
this column sent an email last weekend from the Big
Apple, expressing disappointment over the absence
of the scheduled A380 from Dubai to New York.
Having booked this particular flight to experience
the comfort of the giant Airbus for the first time,
the traveller was taken aback when the aircraft was
substituted against a 'normal' B777. Said the
traveller in the mail: 'at least they did not
cancel the flight and I got to New York, but I was
so excited with the prospect to fly on the A380 and
then bitterly disappointed'. It was subsequently
learned that the aircraft at the time was used for
training purposes but it was later discovered that
additional maintenance work was required, causing
further A380 flights to New York being operated
with other equipment over the coming
days. EAST AFRICA EXCELS IN
BEIJING The recently ended
29th Olympic Games of modern times in China again
brought success to the East African nations, with
Kenya in their best Olympic showing ever bagging 5
Gold, 5 Silver and 4 Bronze medals, putting them
firmly on top of the African rankings. Ethiopia
came a close second with 4 Gold, 1 Silver and 2
Bronze medals, while Zimbabwe came a respectable
third in the African standings, a major miracle
considering the economic and political turmoil back
home. Cameroon and Tunisia also got one Gold each,
while some of the African political and economic
powerhouses like Egypt, Nigeria or South Africa
ended up way down the scale having to settle for
some of the runner up spots or third places or even
no medal honours at all. Well done in particular to
the Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes for doing Africa
proud and putting East Africa on top of the world
news with good news. Well done indeed! UGANDA SET FOR UN SECURITY
COUNCIL After receiving an
approving nod from the African Union, Uganda seems
set to be voted on the UN Security Council for the
next term of non permanent members, representing
the African continent. Rival Madagascar has
apparently stepped aside in favour Uganda. This is
perceived to be not just an honour for the country
but also an affirmation of the democratic progress
made since dispatching the former dictators in the
mid 1980's. Uganda is also reportedly set to assume
the African Union chair at the next major AU
summit, which would add further profile to the
country and should attract more investment, more
trade and more visitors in coming years, all of
which will benefit the nation. Uganda has in the
recent past participated in global UN missions with
peace keeping troops, most notably in Somalia but
also in West Africa. Reports from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs also indicate that Uganda would use
her position to lobby for a radical change at the
UN Security Council's set up which could see two
African nations hold permanent seats, should the
demand for change be accepted by the global body's
assembly. EMIN PASHA ADDS
SPA What has often been
described as Kampala's first boutique hotel, the
Emin Pasha, has now added a brand new Spa to their
range of services. The small &endash; only 20 rooms
&endash; but very posh hotel has since it opened
its doors a few years ago become an instant
favourite with the Kampala 'who is who', most of
whom regularly frequent its acclaimed restaurant,
while the rooms are often oversubscribed, such is
the demand. The new Spa is available free of cost
for guests staying at the hotel (certain treatments
and ingredients do however attract a nominal fee)
and Kampaleans can acquire a membership, of which a
few are available to keep the clientele as
exclusive as possible. The hotel has also
gained a special niche market with its art
exhibitions and music sessions, which are regularly
sold out days before the event. KABALE &endash;
KISORO ROAD BEHIND SCHEDULE The long awaited
and equally long promised tarmacking of the scenic
Kabala to Kisoro road is running substantially
behind schedule, according to recent reports from
regular users. The road, a key element in opening
up the Kisoro area for greater tourism
opportunities, leads from Kabale through bamboo
forests and along the edges of Bwindi forest across
the hills towards the border triangle between
Uganda, Rwanda and Congo. Road users pass the so
called 'Kanaba Gap' where the forests open to allow
a magnificent view towards the towering volcanic
mountains in both Uganda and Rwanda. The road
already suffered delays before, during and after
the tender stages, once funding from the African
Development Bank had been secured for the project
and construction start was also late in coming,
causing protests from the local communities.
Besides tourism, which requires good access roads,
Kisoro is also a production area for cash crops,
but again transporting perishable goods require
good roads to reach the consumer markets in time.
Follow this column for future updates, although the
project completion may now well stretch into
2011. The contractor
blamed the difficult terrain and unfavourable
weather for overrunning the timeframe by several
months at this stage, and altogether worn out
explanation as both terrain and weather patterns
were well known to them when signing the
contracts. Kisoro however has
a good tarmac airfield which allows for flights
from both Entebbe as well as from the Kajjansi
airfield outside Kampala, where Uganda's main air
charter company is based. Visitors arriving by
chartered aircraft to track in the Mgahinga and
Bwindi gorilla national parks can stay right near
the action in the Volcanoes Safaris owned and
managed Mount Mgahinga Lodge or at 'Clouds',
recently opened by Wild Places Africa, which has
already become a magnet for up-market clients from
around the world. VOLCANOES ADDING
NEW LODGE AT KYAMBURA The Kyambura Game
Reserve, which adjoins the Queen Elizabeth National
Park, has long been one of the easiest places to
track for chimpanzees in the area, but tourists
staying at the other lodges in the park had to
commute some distance for this activity. The
reserve is also home to several crater lakes and
borders Lake George and the Kazinga Channel,
offering a unique safari experience. Volcanoes
Safaris is now in the process of adding an 8 room
eco-lodge on their 60 acres site adjoining the
upper Kyambura gorge, allowing more or less instant
access for their guests to the starting point of
the tracking. The new lodge, which like all other
Volcanoes properties is expected to blend well into
the surrounding landscape, is expected to open its
doors to the public early next year. Volcanoes has also
partnered with the neighbouring community to
intensify protection of the wildlife. Towards this
end they acquired a former clay extraction site
used for making building bricks, which will be
converted into a wetland, aimed to attract birds
and wildlife to the location. Queen Elizabeth
national park is already known as home to over 600
species of resident and migratory birds, making it
arguably one of the richest bird watching
destinations on the globe. AERO CLUB ADDS
PC12 The Kampala Aero
Club and Flight Training Centre, based at the
Kajjansi airfield a short distance outside Kampala
on the main Entebbe road, has just added another
plane to their growing fleet of light single and
twin engined aircraft. Their new PC12 will commence
operations imminently now catering for growing
demand of tourist charters and flying oil company
personnel to and from the exploration sites in the
Albertine Graben. Senior management of KAFTC has
also indicated that yet another Cessna 208 Grand
Caravan may be on the way to Kajjansi, should
traffic growth continue as experienced in recent
months. Visit www.flyuganda.com for more
information. ENGINE FAILURE
CAUSES PLANE RETURN An apparent engine
problem, some 15 minutes into the flight from
Entebbe to Kilimanjaro International Airport via
Mwanza, caused the pilots of the Precision Air ATR
42 aircraft to turn around and return
to Entebbe on Monday afternoon. None of the about 2
dozen or so passengers were hurt in the incident
and the plane landed safely on one engine without
further problems. Precision Air is an
IOSA certified airline and its pilots undergo
simulator training twice a year preparing exactly
for such situations. The ATR aircraft series is
designed to be able to land safely on one
engine. Two recent major
air accidents and a number of other scares in past
days including an aircraft fire at
Munich's international airport earlier in the week
have heightened awareness amongst airlines and
pilots, putting operational safety once again on
top of the agenda. EMIRATES MOVING
TO NEW TERMINAL 3 IN DUBAI The Kampala office
of Dubai's global airline has now given out
information, that the airline will move all
operations to the new terminal 3 at Dubai's
International Airport from about mid October this
year. The new terminal is expected to double the
airport's current passenger throughput and the
opening will come into effect over several phases.
This is thought to avoid a repeat of the
disgraceful opening of the new Terminal 5 at
London's Heathrow Airport a few month ago, for
which both BA and the British Airport Authority
came under sustained criticism. Thousands of pieces
of luggage were lost at the time and passengers
messed about to no end, compounding the loss of
popularity of BA from the former 'world's favourite
airline' to 'Best Avoided', as voiced by many
travellers. Emirates and the
airport management in Dubai are already, according
to the report, training staff and testing systems.
Eventually all Terminal 1 operations of Emirates
will move to the new terminal, concentrating all
the airline's arrivals and departures in the new
facility. Several more test
runs and trials will be conducted between now and
the expected opening date. Dubai expects to handle
up to 40 million passengers this year and inspite
of the global aviation crisis Emirates seems nearly
immune against the global trend bedevilling the
industry right now. There seems no end in sight of
the boom created by 'Dubai Incorporated', which
started its vision for a transformation of the
Emirate in the late 70's and subsequently saw the
biggest building boom and infrastructural
developments over the past 30 years ever witnessed
in human history. UNWTO MEMBERSHIP
REMAINS SUSPENDED Uganda's ongoing
failure to pay arrears accumulated as well as the
current subscription to the World Tourism
Organization had left the country's membership in
suspension. For much of the past decade the
Ministry of Tourism failed to raise the funds
needed to maintain membership and benefit from WTO
programmes aimed towards developing countries and
in particular the group of Least Developed
Countries &endash; LDC's, for which marketing
support and human resource development funds worth
a multiple of their actual dues are readily
available. During a hearing in parliament over the
Ministry's budget it was also learned that
membership dues for other continental and
international bodies remain in arrears due to lack
of funds. The Ministry of Tourism, Trade and
Industry has long been one of the least facilitated
government ministries inspite of tourism's
generated income topping the list of economic
sectors. Ministry officials preferring to remain
unnamed blamed the situation on a lack of
understanding about how tourism functions amongst
the Ministry of Finance budget planners and senior
staff. HOTELS FINALLY
SIGN UNION AGREEMENTS In the run up to
the Commonwealth Summit last year hotels were told
that they needed to permit their staff to join a
trade union of their choice, something many hotel
owners had fought up to this point with
determination. At the time only the Sheraton
Kampala Hotel had signed a collective bargaining
agreement with the union representing hotel
workers. However, the summit preparations changed
all of that and finally, almost a year after the
summit, the hotel owners association signed an
agreement with the two key unions representing
hotel staff. The signing ceremony took place
earlier in the week. What however caused some
consternation was the comment by an assistant
commissioner for local government, calling on the
hotels to promptly pay the hotel tax recently made
operational. EASTERN UGANDA
PUT ON WEATHER ALERT The meteorological
department in Entebbe has given an early bird
notice to authorities in the East of the country
about expected heavy rains over the next two or
three months, some of which may cause flooding
similar to the situation experienced last year.
However, the advance warning will now allow
governmental agencies and bodies to prepare for the
heavy rains, which took the country by surprise a
year ago and led to the closure of roads and
bridges while displacing many people and ruining
their planted crops. Meanwhile nights were
unusually cool recently with temperatures falling
as low as 14 degrees centigrade, caused by a
combination of overcast skies and unfavourable
winds. Kampala was also once again pounded by
strong rainstorms, causing flooding in some city
and suburban areas after the heavy down
pours. CONDOR MADE
EMERGENCY STOP IN MOMBASA German holiday
airline Condor, enroute from Mauritius to Frankfurt
/ Germany with over 270 passengers and crew on
board, had to make an emergency landing at Kenya's
Mombasa Moi International Airport last Thursday
around lunch time. Reports from Kenya's coastal
city say that problems apparently occurred inflight
with one of the plane's two engines, which
developed vibrations and probably also leaked fuel.
The crew, after shutting down the faulty engine,
then decided to land the plane in Mombasa, where
the emergency services including fire engines were
subsequently put on alert and deployed. The Boeing
767 landed however without any incident and all
passengers and crew were able to disembark
normally. A relief plane was due in Mombasa the
next day (Friday) to fly passengers and crew home
to Germany after they spent an extra unscheduled
day at the Indian Ocean beaches of
Mombasa. Happening only a
day after the Madrid Spanair crash the precautions
taken by the crew and their prompt reaction and
decision to rather land the plane in Kenya to
establish the cause of the problem was generally
applauded by the affected passengers, according to
a report from Mombasa. NEW GRAND
REGENCY HOTEL OWNERS CHANGE THE NAME If Laico, the
Libyan Africa Investment Company, thought that by
changing the name of the recently 'acquired' hotel
to 'Laico Regency' it would remove the spotlight
from the disputed transaction, they have to go back
to the drawing board. When the name change was
announced last weekend, it rather had to effect to
crank up expectations on the parliamentary and
judicial enquiries presently underway, whose
findings may yet overturn the sales agreement. Said
one hotelier from Nairobi to this correspondent:
'they are probably trying to create facts on the
ground with the name change, but then no one will
call it that. It was always the 'Regency' and few
of us bothered about the 'Grand' in the name,
almost like with the Lake Victoria Hotel, where
they also changed the name and no one seems
bothered now to call it Libyan Hotel or Laico Lake
Victoria. In any case, if the Cockar Commission
finds that Kenya has been cheated over the value of
the hotel, they will decide which way to go, also
the parliamentary committee, and if they say
reverse, then government has to follow and the name
change will have been in vain anyway'. Another source from
Nairobi accused the Libyans openly of contempt of
court by belittling the Justice Cockar Commission
of Enquiry and also contempt of parliament, as the
investigations into the controversial sale were
still ongoing and a verdict by in favour of the
sale by no means certain. Watch this space for
updates in coming days and weeks. TANZANIA MOURNS
PASSING OF TOURISM MARKETEER The Arusha
International Conference Centre Director of
Marketing and Conferences, Mr. James Mgani, has
passed away last week following a short illness.
Mr. Mgani had met members of the Africa Travel
Association during their global summit earlier in
the year and will also be remembered by the Leon
Sullivan Summit participants, besides the many more
visitors from around the world who had attended
meetings and conferences in Arusha in recent years.
James worked in the tourism industry in various
capacities for the past two decades and was a
dedicated promoter for the country and its tourism
sector. He had joined the Arusha International
Conference Centre in 1990 and is mourned by his
family and the many friends he made inside and
outside Tanzania during his career ORTPN TO SPEND
600.000 US DOLLARS IN COMMUNITY WORK The Rwanda Office
for Tourism and National Parks is set to spend
nearly another 600.000 US Dollars in supporting
communities neighbouring national parks and
reserves. This will include some 20 projects near
the Akagera national park (see next column
item). Since the start of
the programme in 2005 nearly a million US Dollars
were spent by ORTPN on community related projects,
aimed at propagating conservation and protection of
wildlife and preserving biodiversity amongst the
population, while showing them direct benefits from
doing so. The funds helped build schools, class
rooms, hospitals, water catchment tanks, wells and
community run shops for visitors, where the can buy
locally made curios, carvings and fabrics. The
funds are drawn from gate receipts and park income
generated through visitors. Besides a gate receipt
sharing scheme ORTPN also operates a fee sharing
with neighbouring wildlife management bodies for
groups tracked inside Rwanda but 'belonging' to
either Congo or Uganda, where the groups were
habituated but migrated across the border. Well
done! RWANDAIR TO ADD
CARGO SERVICES The Executive
Chairman of Rwandair earlier in the week confirmed
that Rwanda's national airline is due to establish
a separate cargo operation in a few months time.
The strategic objective of this move will be to
guarantee affordable, regular and dedicated
airfreight capacity to export flowers, fruits and
vegetables to the consumer markets in Europe and
the Middle East, as the present capacity for
palletized cargo is limited to the flights of
Brussels Airlines, and for loose cargo to Kenya
Airways and Ethiopian. It was also confirmed that
negotiations with Lonrho Africa's airline partner
Fly540 are on course and expected to be concluded
soon. This will result in the Rwandan government
selling 49 percent of its stake to Fly540 while a
portion of the remaining shares will then go to
some institutional investors from Rwanda itself, to
retain the required number of shares for the
nationality clauses in international and bilateral
agreements with other countries. The airline has
also confirmed that they are putting together a
team of consultants to develop a new strategic plan
and a new business plan to be prepared for the
challenges ahead in coming years. RWANDA WELCOMES
ELECTION MONITORS President Paul
Kagame formally welcomed the leaders of the EU
election monitoring team, who arrived in the
country early in the week. Unlike in other African
countries the Rwandan government had invited
monitoring teams for the forthcoming parliamentary
general elections. The visitors will undoubtedly
boost hotel occupancies substantially across the
country but are also expected to take in the sights
of Rwanda, and maybe even track for the mountain
gorillas, while in country. The main elections
campaign was launched by the President at the main
Kigali stadium before thousands of excited RPF
supporters. WILDFIRE SPREADS
THROUGH THE AKAGERA PARK Sections of
Rwanda's Akagera National Park were last week
ravaged by a bushfire, which was only brought under
control after several days. 5 suspected poachers
were arrested by the task force and the men are
thought to have started the fire to flush out game
from their hiding places and thickets to have easy
targets. The only lodge in the park is part of
Dubai World's investment programme which intends a
full refurbishment of the property and upgrading to
5 star standards. The lodge was
reportedly not affected by the fire and the current
rains will support sprouting of new
vegetation. Game rangers are
now also patrolling areas where previous fires were
started in order to prevent further outbreaks while
neighbouring communities are being sensitized about
the issue and will benefit from a major financial
support programme by ORTPN. SCRIBE LANDS
INVESTOR IN COURT A local
'journalist' with apparent issues landed a South
African investor in a Rwandan magistrate's court in
Musanze recently. The Managing Director of Elegant
Africa Ltd. was charged over wearing a T-shirt with
the old Rwandan flag printed on it and the scribe,
for undisclosed reasons, decided to rat him to the
authorities, a matter which then ended up in court.
The judge hearing the case however showed some
remarkable compassion and found the South African
'not guilty' of the charges, as there was obviously
no evidence of him having deliberately manufactured
the T-shirt, which he must have bought outside of
Rwanda where it was peddled as the 'real thing'.
The investor is in the process of establishing a
tourism business worth 1.5 million US Dollars and
showed appreciation to court when he was told he
was free to go. Barbs however for the overzealous
scribe who made a disgraceful figure of himself and
was, according to sources in Kigali, acting out of
jealousy or an unsubstantiated feeling of anger
towards the investor and sought revenge in accusing
him falsely. JUBA TRAVELLERS
LEFT STRANDED AND DISORGANIZED Complaints have
emerged from Juba, Southern Sudan's capital city,
that of late the Air Uganda service was erratic
which led to regular delays, at one stage to the
point that permission for take off had to be denied
by Air Traffic Control as darkness settled over the
airport. In the absence of functioning lighting
systems the airport is only conducting daylight
operations, a fact well known to most airlines, and
the Air Uganda aircraft had to stay in Juba
overnight before returning the next morning to
Entebbe. At least some clients were reportedly
lucky that afternoon to 'hitch a ride' on one of
the Nairobi based airlines' planes, which routed
via Entebbe dropping them off, while the rest of
the booked passengers had to make their own
arrangements for the extra night in Juba. Upon some
further investigation it was then learned that one
of the airline's two MD aircraft was away for at
least a month on an ACMI lease arrangement in West
Africa, leaving the remaining aircraft struggling
to perform all the required scheduled flights,
leave along doing them on time. During subsequent
days a number of other travellers also apparently
flew via Nairobi to reach their final destination.
Oooops. And more news again
from down South, i.e. Gill Staden's tourism update
from Livingstone / Zambia: From Safari Par
Excellence As a matter of
respect for the Late President and during this
period of National mourning, please be advised
that Safari Par Excellence shall not be conducting
rafting and canoeing on 28 August - elephants and
cruises shall continue as normal. On 3 September
Safari Par Excellence operations shall be limited
to our accommodation and related services and
transfer of guests to the airport. We
shall not be doing any activities which
include rafting, canoeing, elephant back safaris,
cruises, game drives and other
tours. Safari Par
Excellence shall be contacting respective companies
regarding the bookings currently being held for the
above-mentioned dates. Kind
regards Graham Nel
(MD) Airport During the week, as
part of my investigations into tourism companies in
Livingstone, I took a wander around the airport to
see what companies operate there. Zambian
Airways There are heaps of
flights to Lusaka now Sun, Wed, Fri
&endash; 12.50 Tues, Thurs, Sat
&endash; 06.30, 09.45, 16.00 And to
Johannesburg Sun &endash;
14.20 Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri
&endash; 14.25 Thurs, Sat &endash;
13.45 They also operate
to Ndola, Solwezi, Mfuwe and Chipata The cost of a
ticket is around US$254 to Lusaka return and to
Joburg return &endash; US$326 Proflight Every day to Lusaka
&endash; 12.45. Cost - about US$400 return, but
specials are available Proflight also goes
to Ndola, Mfuwe and Solwezi British
Airways Livingstone to
Johannesburg Mon &endash; Fri at
11.05 Sat &endash;
9.20 South African
Airways Livingstone to
Johannesburg &endash; 12.15 every day * * * *
* Then I found two
Air Charter companies Zamfari This company has
taken over from Livingstone Air Safaris. Contact Michael on
0977 707967 Sefofane They work with
Wilderness Safaris to move their clients about
Zambia and neighbouring countries. Contact Nixon on
0977 640602 Finally, I came
across: Voyagers Car
Rental Voyagers has 11
vehicles, although they are not always stationed in
Livingstone. With a bit of notice, though, they can
get vehicles here if they are required. They have
five saloon cars, four 4x4 vehicles and two
buses. Contact them on
carrental@voyagers.co.zm Beyond the
Victoria Falls I am sure that all
of you who read the Livingstone Weekly will think
that I spend a lot of my time on holiday &endash;
travelling around the National Parks. Actually, I
do travel around, but I am researching for a book
which has yet to be printed. The book will be
called, I think, Beyond the Victoria Falls. It is a
travel book which covers the area around the
Victoria Falls and covers parts of Zambia,
Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana. The main aim of the
book is to bring all the countries together and
work together to market the whole
region. There are four main
architects of the book &endash; me, Gill, from
Zambia, Katy from Namibia, Jayne from Zimbabwe,
Karen from Botswana - one from each of the
countries. And we are going to portray the area as
it is, from our local knowledge. We will tell
visitors how to get here, where to stay and what to
do. The book will be
typeset by Belinda Hodge of Peppercorn Design. The
maps will be produced by Surveys Department in
Mosi-O-Tunya Building, under the supervision of
Bernd. Hopefully, 1,500
copies of the book will be given out free at Travel
Shows, to Tour Operators and Travel Agents
throughout the region. 1,500 copies will be
sold. The book is
supported by advertising. So, if you want to be
included, please let me know &endash; I can send
you details. From the Zambian
Ornithological Society Newsletter Siloka Island by
Bob Stjernstedt This is the largest
island in the Zambezi close to the Victoria
Falls. A lot of people
visiting the National Park driving along the
Riverside Drive do not realise that the bank
opposite the wide stretch of river from David
Livingstone Lodge almost to the Old Drift Monument
is not Zimbabwe but Zambia. It is a large, and
well vegetated, full of elephants which you can
almost always see from the Mosi O Tunya National
Park riverside drive. ZAWA do not allow any
visitors there, so it is a beautiful, completely
protected area. We have to get special permission
to do the waterfowl count twice a year, and we do
not begrudge this. Siloka is Chief
Mukuni's name, and the island historically is his
home, and contains his traditional burial ground.
It is often called "Chief's Island" for this
reason. We are lucky to be allowed to visit this
lovely island twice a year to carry out the
International Wetland Waterfowl counts. The terrain
consists of a number of parallel sandy ridges
separated by strips of wetland with a dense grown
of Muchenje trees (Diospyros mespiliformis) and
Waterberry (Syzigium cordatum). Some water remains
all the year round in one of the wetland strips,
although later in the year it becomes covered with
reeds, good for Crakes and Moorhens but no good for
Ducks and Grebes. It is a good spot for
Rufous-bellied Herons and Little
Bittern. I first visited the
island in 1997 in pursuit of the Long-toed Lapwing,
common enough in the Okavango and Kafue Flats, but
new for Livingstone. There are usually one or two
still around, and now they sometimes frequent the
Sewage Ponds. One grove of tall Waterberry trees is
a good undisturbed roosting site for Pel's Fishin
Owl. It is necessary to
go there with an armed ZAWA scout because elephant
can often be encountered unexpectedly at very close
quarters, and the hippo there have a clear run and
spend a lot of their time on land.\ We did a rather
rushed and incomplete Waterfowl Count, due to
difficulties in organizing a boat and scouts with
ZAWA. Although it is rather late, we (myself and
Chiinga Siavwapa) hope to have a more thorough
visit in a week or two's time. We missed out the
major lagoon in the middle of the island, as we
were late and time was running short. Undoubtedly
we should have found greater numbers and variety
had we been earlier in the day, and covered the
whole island. I estimate our coverage was 50
percent at the most. Nonetheless there was an
impressive assemblage of ducks and geese on the
smaller lagoon in the north-west of the island, but
we were very short on waders. A nice immature
Martial Eagle passed over, and there was a huge
raptor nest in a tree in the centre of the island,
very like the Martial Eagle. There was no obvious
occupant but plenty of whitewash and there could
well have been an invisible incubating bird. We
intend to leave time for investigating this next
visit. Disappointingly we found no Fishing Owl in
the usual Waterberry tree opposite the National
Park. Plenty of fresh
elephant signs but we did not encounter any. A
sizeable 'pod' of hippos was basking on a sandy
rise in the middle of the island far from the
shoreline. Plenty of bushbuck, and water
monitors. |
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News
from 'Uganda - Gifted by Nature'