Uganda is a great country except for Wildlife Authority!

Aug 20, 2001

SIR—Regrettably my four-month stay in Uganda as an independent volunteer is now coming to an end. I have found my first visit to Africa

SIR—Regrettably my four-month stay in Uganda as an independent volunteer is now coming to an end. I have found my first visit to Africa to be both enjoyable and rewarding. Uganda is a very beautiful country with a favourable climate, and I have found the people to be both interesting and accommodating to foreigners. I have been lucky enough during my stay here to do a small amount of touring and visit some of Uganda’s more popular tourist attractions. Although tourism here is still in its infancy, it is obvious the huge potential benefit that tourism could prove to Uganda’s economy. Uganda has numerous beautiful, undeveloped and unspoilt natural attractions, which in the future will no doubt draw a steady flow of visitors (and their much desired foreign currency) from all around of the glove. I have however one complaint about my time touring Uganda. This grievance being centred on any and every dealing that I had the misfortune of having with the Uganda Wildlife Authority. It is almost like in setting up the UWA, the government intended to set up an association to discourage tourists from spending time and money here. From my first visit to the UWA headquarters in Kampala their staff proved to be unfriendly, unhelpful and discourteous. It seems that the main aim of the staff there is to extract money from foreigners; once this aim is complete they have little or no interest in providing any further service to the customer. My comments about the UWA may seem strong and harsh but were unfortunately echoed by a number of other tourists whom I met during my time here. Let me give a few short examples of why my opinion of the UWA has become so tarnished. After explaining that I have been living and working here as an unpaid volunteer for four months, and enquiring about the possibility of gaining the ‘foreign residents discount’. I was enlightened, “All volunteers have money and can afford to pay the full rate”. After abandoning any hope of being classed myself as a foreign resident, I began making enquiries about purchasing a pass to see the gorillas for my Ugandan friend (who has lived in Uganda all his life). Rather than asking to see his passport or Driving Permit, the first question from the lady at the UWA was “Is your friend black or white”. As it happens my friend is black, but surely the colour of his skin has no relevance to whether he is legally a Ugandan citizen or not. Later on my friend fell ill and was unable to travel to Bwindi. Even though the actual permit stated that he could be refunded in this eventuality, the UWA staff again did their best to be unhelpful. So much red tape and bureaucracy had to be overcome in getting his refund that I had to delay my trip to the Southwest by a couple of days. It is this sort of rude unprofessional conduct that I encountered every time I had any dealings with UWA staff. They seem to have an attitude that they themselves are the most important people to their business and that tourists are an unwanted annoyance. Saying all this I acknowledge that the primary function of the UWA is to conserve Uganda’s precious wildlife. In this respect they seem to be doing an excellent job, however if Uganda is ever to be viewed as a desirable tourist destination the UWA staff will need to learn a lot about public relations. Hugh Cantwell, Agricultural Engineer, Ireland

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