Uganda's wonder water bodies (Tourism day supplement)

Grace Mugisha, a first time visitor at Murchison Falls looks at the rainbow below her feet. “It looks beautiful,” Mugisha declares as she stands on top of the rocks guarding Murchison Falls where the water of the River Nile squeezes through a narrow gorge. As the sun’s rays penetrate through the water splashed at the falls, they form a spectrum that leave patrons awestruck at the spectacle tucked away in northern Uganda.

The aggressive water flow plunges 10 metres on its way towards Nimule where it crosses into Sudan and then Egypt. “Winston Churchill was right to describe Uganda as the Pearl of Africa,” says Mugisha. “I have been to many parts of the country, but Murchison remains unmatched.” As Uganda commemorates the UN World Tourism Day under theme: Tourism and Water: Promoting our common future, spellbound tourists like Mugisha bring out the country’s overflowing beauty provided by lakes, rivers, wetlands and Uganda’ snow-capped Rwenzori Mountains.

The top of Murchison Falls, a popular tourism destination

The national celebrations expected to be presided over by Maria Mutagamba, the Minister of Tourism, will take place at Fort Portal in Kabarole district located at the foothills of the World famous Rwenzori Mountains. Apart from Murchison Falls, source of the Nile at Jinja where the world’s longest river starts its 6,600 kilometres journey to Egypt, Lake Victoria, which is the world’s second largest fresh water lake in the world, are among the richly gifted water spots globally.

Others include the Nile delta in Murchison Falls National Park where River Nile enters Lake Albert, which is among the most attractive parts of the country, but remain almost untapped. As the Nile gets out of Lake Victoria, it encounters barriers forming rapids, which have become the only part of Uganda’s discovered water tourism along the Nile. After Murchison Falls where the Nile enters the western arm of the rift valley, the river becomes calm and this would provide an opportunity for water safaris along the Nile. The water ways such as the Nile and Lake Victoria also act as routes for migratory bird species including the white winged black terns that roost at Lutembe and other parts of Lake Victoria.

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ONE OF Africa’S WONDERS
While the River Nile is cited among the world’s top tourism attraction and one of the 10 wonders of the African continent, the tourism potential of the Nile is barely scratched. “Nearly, every traveller inflicted with wanderlust dreams of cruising down the Nile,” says Howard Hillman, adding that the sights of ancient temples and everyday life along the river banks become cherished memories.

He was referring to an experience along the Nile in Egypt where half of the $7b from tourism is contributed by the expeditions along the Nile. “The opportunity in Egypt is not as good as the source of the Nile Uganda,” says Amos Wekesa, the director of the Great Lakes Safaris. “Jinja would be the World’s water capital.” LAKE VICTORIA’S sleeping beauty With more than 100 islands in Kalangala and Buvuma, Wekesa points out that tourism could turn round the fortunes of people on the lake by offering alternative livelihood. “There is no way we are going to protect wetlands, lakes and rivers without alternative livelihood,” says Wekesa.

“The fishermen can employment in the tourism sector and leave fish to regenerate.” In western arm of the lift valley, Uganda has more than 50 crater lakes. Other lakes include George, Edward, Albert and Kyoga in central Uganda. Water cat chments Uganda has half of the population of the Mountain gorillas estimate at 800 live in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in South Western Uganda. This is also part of the catchment Lake Edward in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

The snow-capped Mountains of Rwenzori and Mt. Rwenzori National Park are also known as the water tower for rivers, Semliki and Mpanga that also part of the ecological systems of the Nile. According to Dr. Callist Tindimugaya, a commissioner in the Ministry of Water and Environment, the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is being applied to bring together stakeholders who benefit from the water or protect the catchment. They include the National Forestry Authority, the Uganda Wildlife Authority, NGOs, urban authorities, National Water and Sewerage Corporation.

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Inadequate marketing

This wonderland, according to Raymond Engena, the director for Tourism and Business partnership at the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), is what is referred to as Uganda’s richness or tourism products. “We have a lot of products and we seem to be unmatched when compared to our neighbours,” says Engena.

He adds that countries whose tourism is booming and is fuelling the economies have perfected the art of packaging and publicising what they offer. “There is a need to package the products. When visitors come, they should not miss going to places like the source of the Nile and white water rafting,” he explains. One of the sources, who preferred anonymity, said packaging of the different products remains inad-equate due to insufficient marketing strategies.

“The Government does not appreciate advertising the country because they think the private sector reaps the benefits and they expect them to re-invest in marketing,” the source disclosed. It is an uphill task to market Uganda’s tourism against challenges like the poor roads and networks, outbreaks of diseases like ebola, marburg, riots and armed conflicts that had plagued parts of the country until recent years.

“The Government machinery should swing into action and address security, law and order and funding,” the source added. “You cannot market with meagre resources in a destination where a lot of negative things are taking place.” marketing st rate gy While the private sector, Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) and UWA have been marketing Uganda as a tourism destination, there is no clear strategy.

This has led the different players in the tourism sector end up into unnecessary conflicts and fighting. Herbert Byaruhanga, the President of Uganda Tourism Association (UTA) questioned why UWA, which is a conservation institution, should be engaged in marketing. He says marketing should revert to UTB. After being branded as “the Pearl of Africa” for decades, Uganda’s brand became, “a Country gifted by nature.” Sources say a neighbouring country was about to brand itself as “the pearl of Africa.” The top leadership intervened and for Uganda retained its original brand, the pearl of Africa.

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Harnessing Uganda’s tourism
The tourism sector allocation from Government has declined to less than $1m in this year’s budget. Uganda has a lot to learn from her neighbours. For instance, Rwanda has allocated $5m, Tanzania’s tourism got $10m and Kenya’s tourism captures the lions share amounting to $34m. Also, Uganda is the only country in East Africa without a national airline.

Such limitations should not overshadow the opportunities. Uganda could work more with the embassies in Uganda’s source markets to undertake aggressive marketing campaigns. Public relation firms could be hired to undertake promotional campaigns in the source markets. The promoters should also not forget domestic tourists like Mugisha who could sustain the industry during low seasons

 Tracking gorillas in Bwindi

By Titus Kakembo

A husky snarl slices through the dense jungle like a hot knife chopping a brick of frozen butter. It sounded so close. What frightened me most was the rasp of the leaves. It conjured mental pictures of a cobra with its mouth ajar or a charging leopard in flight. This left the hair on the nape of my neck standing on edge with fright. “Stay put. It is a friendly sound,”
cautioned the guide Noel Banya, as he walked towards the thicket. Swinging a stick as though he was slashing the bush, he moved foliage, exposing the maker of frightening noise.

Then Makara, a visibly scaring silverback and leader of the Habinyanja family of mountain gorillas that reside deep within Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park was visible. His two little ones, playful sprung up and down. Upon seeing us, they decide to come close, curiously peering through the thick undergrowth.

A gorilla and its young one

Their big brown eyes look very curious about our intrusion. Then our meeting was punctuated with a loud huff as Makara stirred, stood upright and engaged us in a staring contest. With a tantrum, his nostrils flinched he paced back and forth. Bracing for the encounter, literature had earlier furnished me with data that these primates weigh up to 200kg. The thought of that made my feet go jelly.

You guessed right, I forgot the briefing, where we were told never to sprint away but move backwards while keeping face. Mysteriously, Makara stood ramrod stiff like a poll and came to an abrupt halt two metres away. He then dramatically retreated. According to UWA, UHOA and the Ministry of Tourism, gorilla tourism is in big business. Permits cost $500 (£332) per day and the demand often out-numbers the supply.

A maximum of 96 gorillas are issued daily and trackers are evenly split between the 12 families of gorillas that have been habituated (introduced to humans.) Of the 880 critically endangered mountain gorillas that remain in the wild, more than half are found in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

The park is tucked away in a lush south-west part of Uganda. The others are split between neighbouring Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo where they move without passports. The time spent with these jungle celebrities is strictly limited to one hour. As the name suggests, Bwindi is an untamed wilderness; misty mountains cloaked with thick and almost impassable jungle that rise to heights of more than 2,000m.

Excursions around After the 60 minutes in the company of our hosts (the gorillas) in their natural habitat one feels it worth the trek through mud, scaling steep cliffs and being drenched in rain at times. The rangers are tasked with locating them by scouting for their location at dawn as dew settles. The tourists then follow them at 8am.

The challenge goes on for between 30 -60 minutes or even six hours. It all depends on where their preference to go is. The most preferred season being the end of September, in January and February.That aside, gorillas are an internationally
treasured attraction but  there is more in Bwindi. My gorilla experience was a thrill. I even contemplated a handshake
with Makara as we parted ways. But when I took a cautious glance at our guide for approval, he read my mind and hastened to reassure us. “He’s a gentle guy”

UWA wardens, with the help of the GPS device, tally numbers in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park hills during the 2011 gorilla census exercise

As we part ways, Makara and his dozen-strong brood peacefully sits playing with a thick bamboo stick in his black fingers as though it were a tooth pick. The little comes scrambling through the grass as another adolescent male, keeps a distance and climbs a tree top. Popular tracking Last year, UWA offered discounted gorilla tracking permits between April and May 2013. The volume of gorilla trackers shot up since the cost was slashed. A permit for Ugandans and East Africans was reduced from sh250,000 to sh150,000.

And that for foreigners, who are not resident has dropped from $500 to$350. While the one for foreign residents was chopped from $450 to US$ 300 a permit. “We expect an exodus of trackers in the short term,” said a Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) writer Jossy Muhangi. “And Ugandans are fast picking interest in these closest relatives to human beings.”
The UWA management has launched the ongoing gorilla tracking promotion to enable potential visitors enjoy the amazing gorilla experience at subsidised rates in Bwindi Impenetrable National park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.

The generous offer applies to unsold permits for that period, but does not include payments before announcement of the promotion. The booming gorilla tracking dates way back to 1993 with two habituated groups that have since increased
to 12.

Habituation is the process of making gorilla groups accustomed to human beings thereby facilitating close interaction without the danger of gorillas displaying aggressive behaviour of attacking in self- defense. According to gorilla census in 2011, there are now 400 gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park compared to the 100 that were available five back. Gorilla tourism is currently the leading revenue earner among all the tourism attractions.

Each day, only eight visitors are allowed to visit a gorilla group for a maximum of one hour. Maria Mutagamba, the Minister of tourism says, other than gorilla tracking, Uganda has many more attractions like the 1,050 different bird species, culture, geographical features and adventure. “Tourism earned the state $820m from 1050 guests last year. Each region of Uganda has a unique attraction that can make your gorilla tracking memorable,” she said.