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As part of his post-prison life, the Rwenzururu king, Omusinga Charles Wesley Mumbere on Saturday, October 14, led his family to Queen Elizabeth National Park on a visit to some of the key tourism spots.

Flanked by the Rwenzururu Nyabaghole (Queen) Agnes Ithungu Asimawe, they took in a three-hour game ride during which he reached a sanctuary for leopards and another of climbing lions, the once popular but now defunct The Uganda Fish Marketing (TUFMAK) plant and the Banyampaka salt crater lake in the Kasenyi sector of the park.

He had a brief stop-over at Katunguru fish-landing village where business briefly came to a stand-still as the community temporarily abandoned their business to greet him, some women kneeling before him as he and his wife greeted back.

“We are happy to be back here. The changes I see here are very impressive,” he said.

The royal entourage had lunch at Mweya Safari Lodge which dominates the Kazinga peninsula before having a two-hour boat lounge cruise.

The cruise treated him to a panorama of local and migratory birds, swimming hippos, bathing buffalos, elephants, and some crocodiles.

“Having been away for almost seven years, the King was nostalgic about the Rwnzori,” the kingdom’s protocol and palace affairs minister, Yona Maate Tumusiime, told New Vision on Mumbere’s behalf.

“One of the things he wanted to assess was the impact of climate change and one of the places he wanted to see was Queen Elizabeth National Park,” Maate explained.

King Mumbere, family and a Palace officials relaxing at Mweya Safari Lodge Oct 14.

Maate lauded the Uganda Wildlife Authority for having hosted the family at short notice.

“Most exciting was when we found some of the big cats (lions and leopards) at close range,” Maate said.

During the ride through the Kazinga trail, the entourage went through areas that were being cleared of large areas of vegetation.

A UWA tour guide, however, told the king that while visitors look at the vegetation as all good, about 40% is invasive and was eating away chunks of the park’s wildlife grazing areas.

Also noticeable was the increasing water hyacinth that was engulfing parts of the Kazinga Channel.

“It is no longer a matter of Lake Victoria alone,” said the guide, who identified himself only as Daniel.

Mumbere has been away since November 2016, when he and some 200 of his people, mainly his security detail known as royal guards, were arrested in a joint security raid on his palace in Kasese Municipality.

They were slapped with criminal charges including treason and murder. Mumbere and his co-accused applied for amnesty and the government dropped all the charges.

In a June 13, 2023 decision, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Jane Frances Abodo, released the king and his co-accused, saying the state had “lost interest in the case.”

On Sept 5, 2023, Omusinga got his amnesty certificate from the Amnesty Commission delegation led by Msgr Thomas Kisembo Apuuli at the king’s palace in Kampala, consummating the peaceful resolution of the case.

However, Mumbere’s former minister for general duties, Johnson Thembo Kitsumbire, and one Hamada Masereka still face charges.