Pant hoots and knuckle spins – Chimp tracking in Kibale Forest
The muzungu’s experience tracking chimpanzees in Uganda’s Kibale Forest and some tips for would-be trackers!
Chimps are the drama queens par excellence.
Most of my chimp encounters have been here at Sunbird Hill on the edge of Kibale Forest, where we frequently hear their pant hoots and the deep sound of buttress drumming that echoes through the forest. Chimps use this noise to communicate when they find food; it may also indicate the group is about to move. It doesn’t matter how often we hear the chimpanzees, it’s always exciting. We look at each other and ask “what are the chimps up to now?!”
I’ve been wanting to track the chimps for years. My primatologist friend Julia Lloyd led the team that habituated chimpanzees that tourists visit in Kibale Forest. How could I track without her?
However, after a year living tantalisingly close to the forest action, I couldn’t wait any longer: one birthday Cath, a one-time VSO volunteer like me, booked to see the chimps.
I’ve heard stories of multiple groups of tourists converging on the same group of chimpanzees. That’s not what I wanted. I wondered what my experience would be like?
NOTE: I went chimp tracking in Kibale Forest before the pandemic. Scroll down to the comments to read the Standard Operating Procedures that you will be expected to follow if you track chimpanzees or gorillas from now on.
Pant hoots and knuckle spins
“Welcome to Kibale National Park, a tropical rainforest, known as the primate capital of the world because of its high number of chimpanzees. Our afternoon of chimp tracking may take one or three hours.”
Before we embark on our forest adventure, our ranger guide Benson explains how we will be tracking the Kanyantale chimpanzee community who move through the forest in groups. “They are communities rather than tight-knit families like gorillas.” Ntale is the local Rutoro word for lion (not on Kibale’s species list, you may be relieved to hear!)
I’m super excited when I realise that there will be only two of us (plus Benson) for our afternoon tracking. We’ve lucked out!
As we enter Kibale Forest, we see evidence of elephants: broken trees lie across our path. Benson points to muddy streaks on tree trunks, where elephants have been rubbing their hulks to clean themselves – and marking their territory at the same time.
It’s a warm humid day. Our noses detect a fruity smell and Benson points out a chimp’s (night) nest above us. At our feet are half-eaten figs. Among the decaying leaves, roots and tree trunks lie cross farum, big fruits beloved by chimps (and inedible to us).
It’s thrilling to be in the middle of the forest (rather than at its edge). I feel my lungs expand to take in every atom of forest air. It smells so good.
We walk uphill and down. Are the chimps watching us, high in the trees?
Fifteen minutes pass.
Benson tries to contact another ranger but his radio is off. We continue wandering through the forest, but there is no sign of the chimpanzees. They seem to have disappeared.
Are we going to see the chimpanzees? Perhaps today is not our day. I let the disappointment wash over me. I know I’ll have other chances and being in the forest is a delight all of its own, but what of Cath? For her sake, I hope today is our day.
We can’t see the chimps, nor can we hear them. Can Benson?
“Hello. Hello Musa? Hello?” Benson is on the phone. He sounds worried.
“I don’t know where he left the chimpanzees. I am tracking and I have failed.”
I stifle a giggle.
“They are almost at the boundary with Julia’s,” he tells us. “They are moving toward the community” (outside the National Park).
We walk off track, pushing through low-hanging branches and creepers. Our destination is a towering fig tree on the park boundary.
“They are starting to move seriously” and so are we! We are almost running now.
“Look at the knuckle print; it’s fresh!” And there in the soft mud is the perfect outline of a primate’s knuckle. This is what I have come to see.
“Do you hear them?” Benson quizzes us. “Let’s move now, quickly!”
“We are really tracking!” I say out loud.
We hear a noise and pause, assuming it will be chimpanzees. We listen more carefully and recognise it as the Western Nicator, a bird we know from Sunbird Hill on the other side of the elephant trench.
“It’s a big one. I can see it!”
Benson cranks up the excitement levels. “See – more knuckle prints!” We follow, alert. “We should see the chimpanzees any time.”
The knuckle prints stop.
“Look,” he says as he points to a knuckle spin on the muddy trail. “This is where he has turned around.”
We can clearly see where the animal has spun around. We retrace our steps.
“Chimpanzees don’t like wet ground or water.” (Luckily the muzungu has her gum boots on!)
We hear the screams of chimpanzees in the distance. We leave the track and walk across a small wooden plank into the sunlight.
I stumble. In our rush to see the chimpanzees, I fall down a hole that is hidden by leaves and vegetation.
“They are on the ground ahead!” says our guide.
The deep thud of buttress drumming resonates through the trees.
Ahead of me, Cath turns on her heels, wide-eyed and yells at me “THIS IS AMAZING!”
I’m breathless. I expect trees and I expect distance but somehow I have not factored in hills. We are climbing now. There is no path; in our haste, we trip over tree roots and branches. Benson is slightly anxious. He wants us to push on.
I glimpse black fur and a pink bottom. The chimpanzees are on the ground now, pacing steadily forward. We are moving through their territory now.
Piercing screams fill the air.
“WE ARE GOING TO MISS THEM!” Shouts our guide.
With my heart pounding, I pause to catch my breath. We are racing to cross the track before the chimpanzees disappear. I see one chimp ahead of us. We are very close to the park boundary and Julia’s land now.
To our left there is loud screaming. What a din!
Ahead of us two chimps walk on the ground.
“They are inviting the others for supper,” says our guide, now confident.
He points to the female chimpanzee in oestrus (ready to mate). She has a swollen and painful-looking pink bum.
“She is so attractive to males,” Benson adds. Well, clearly! Nine or ten noisy male chimps compete raucously for the three females who are in oestrus.
We crane our necks and look up through the canopy of the tall Ficus mucuso fig tree. Leaves and figs fall around us. Something lands in my eye. The air buzzes with fruit flies.
“See the baby?” We watch a mother chimp with a baby on her back.
Of the 120 chimpanzees in Kibale’s Kanyantale community, we see around 15 individuals.
[I tell you what, it’s difficult to photograph a moving black shadow when you’re straining to look upwards while kneeling in the undergrowth and being rained on by figs!]
“Look one of the chimpanzees is making a nest,” Benson says and points upwards. “Come quickly – before they climb.” (It’s easier to see and photograph the primates on the ground and lower branches). It’s about four in the afternoon.
I don’t seem to be able to walk fast enough right now! Gumboots are no match for the slippery forest floor.
“Tintina is looking for food, he is shy.”
Tintina is one of Kibale’s oldest chimpanzees. He’s 44 years old and “very musticular.” (This Uglish pronunciation always tickles me). He is calm “not like those other guys.” The forest is quiet now and we pause for a few minutes to absorb the moment.
Mzee Tabu! I congratulate myself on recognising Tabu, a well-known elder of the community.
Seconds later, the silence is broken. Screams come from every direction, above us and around us.
We crunch forest debris underfoot as we pick up the pace and stride onwards.
It’s now 4.30.
“But it’s time to go back now,” Benson tells us. “It’s
going to get dark and this is the time for elephants.” Kibale Forest clearly
still has more mysteries for us.
The muzungu’s chimp tracking tips
Chimpanzee tracking is a popular tourist activity, particularly here in Kibale where it’s the main draw for many visitors to Uganda. There’s no guarantee that you’ll see the chimpanzees yet there’s a 90% likelihood you will.
If you’re chimp tracking in Kibale Forest, you can track first thing in the morning or at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Morning tracking can be easier because the rangers will know where the chimps have slept. Others recommend tracking in the afternoon as chimps are more likely to be down on the ground (so you are not going to strain your neck for an hour!) We tracked on a Saturday afternoon at the end of September.
What should I wear to track chimps?
- The ideal footwear is ankle-high walking boots. There are plenty of holes, hidden tree trunks and tripping hazards galore. Protect those ankles. Trainers don’t give much grip. Gum boots protect your legs from nettles, thorns and ants (but I always feel dehydrated after wearing them for a few hours). Locals will say they like gum boots as they feel protected from snakes! (You are very unlikely to come across a snake when you are chimp tracking).
- Tuck your socks in. This keeps various creatures out!
- Carry a rain jacket. It can start raining anytime in the Kibale Forest. Clue: tropical rainforest!
- Take – and remember to drink – plenty of water.
What else do we know about the chimpanzees of Kibale National Park?
Kibale is home to 1,450 chimpanzees, according to the last census.
Research and tourism concentrates on 500 chimpanzees living in five communities. Three of them are the research communities of Kanyawara, Ngogo and Sebitoli. Two of the chimpanzee communities are open for tourism. Kanyanchu is the base for tracking the Kanyantale group. Barega is where tourists can participate in chimp habituation.
Chimp tracking rules
- Always pay heed to the Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers’ advice.
- Keep a distance of ten metres at all times “but we have those stubborn ones that may come closer” says the ranger. (NOTE: because of high risks of primates catching COVID-19, the 10-metre rule is standard for both chimp and gorilla tracking now)
- Remember we share virtually the same genes. This makes chimpanzees (and mountain gorillas) highly susceptible to our everyday diseases, including Coronavirus.
- You should not enter any of Uganda’s great ape forests if you’re splattering and coughing. Be responsible and don’t track if you have a cold. (If you are ill, permits can be refunded, at the discretion of the authorities).
- If you want to make use of ‘the bush toilet’, go off trail. The guide will tell you what to do and (take your TP back home with you).
- Be as quiet as possible. Do not mimic the vocalisations of chimpanzees. (You don’t want to be responsible for what might happen next!)
- Don’t use flash photography
- You will have maximum one hour with the chimps. Get out from behind the camera 😊
A few facts about chimpanzees
- Every night chimpanzees make a new nest “to confuse predators such as crowned eagles, leopards and snakes.”
- The average lifespan of a wild chimpanzee is 55 years. They can live up to 65 years in captivity.
- A chimpanzee’s diet is fairly diverse (rather like we humans). 40% of their diet is figs, of which there are 13 different types in the forest. 30% of their diet is fresh meat, 10% is wasps, bees and honey. 10% is dead wood and soil which they consume for the minerals. Dr. Jane Goodall – famous for her ground-breaking study of the chimpanzees of Gombe in Tanzania – was the first person to observe chimps eating other animals. She observed them hunt and eat small mammals such as monkeys and watched them use sticks to extract termites.
- A female chimp will be in oestrus (ready to conceive) for 29 to 32 days every four years.
How much does it cost to track the chimpanzees in Kibale?
The cost to track chimpanzees in Kibale in 2022 is $200 per person. For this, you get to spend maximum one hour with the chimpanzees. You have to be 12 years or older to track chimpanzees in Kibale Forest (or anywhere else in Uganda). This age limit has been reduced from 15 years.
How to book chimp tracking permits
You can book chimp tracking permits through Uganda Wildlife Authority, National Forestry Authority (Kalinzu, Bugoma, Budongo) or through a tour operator. Some hotels and lodges can also arrange your chimp tracking tours. Visit my Travel Directory to find a tour operator or hotel.
Grateful every day #LockdownDiaries
A year locked down with nature: Kibale Forest birds – and the occasional rat!
As we approach the one-year anniversary of Uganda’s lockdown, I take a moment to record the everyday sights and sounds of life in my wooden house on the edge of Kibale National Park. It’s easy to forget how different my life is to most people’s. Will I ever live in a modern apartment block again, I wonder?
One of my favourite forest noises is the lead-coloured flycatcher, whose two-tone call is my morning alarm. I don’t want to miss a note of the dawn chorus; in fact, it’s the first thing I miss when I travel. The rich birdsong is the most heartrendingly beautiful start to my day. Nowhere in Uganda can match Kibale Forest for birdsong!
There is little to keep us awake at night, bar the sounds of the forest. Being close to the Rwenzori Mountains, we are also treated to the occasional SHUDDER of an earth tremor. Believe me dear reader, the earth really does move in these parts!
Other night-time noises from the edge of Kibale Forest include Wood Owls, Verreau’s Eagle Owls and Black-shouldered Nightjars. The bark of the bushbuck, the YAHOO of baboons and the eerie calls of the Black and White Colobus Monkeys punctuate the night. This morning we were woken by chimpanzees (jealously guarding a fruiting fig tree); frogs can make a racket too! Sometimes we hear elephants, or at least we are alerted to their presence: the sound of ululating children and the loud banging of jerry cans is the usual signal that we have elephant visitors. They are mostly silent but for the rhythmic swish… swish… swish… as they push through three-metre high grass. When the elephants get too close to our neighbours’ crops, rangers sound warning shots into the air. (Once the elephants were so close to my house, I swear I felt the ground tremble). Once in a while, we hear the splintering of wood as elephants fell trees.
Occasionally, we hear the noise of a container lorry moving over the speed humps that stud the road that runs through Kibale Forest. (Thankfully, we don’t hear them often).
My mornings start with a pot of tea on my balcony (after a quick glance at the floor to see which moths the bat has been eating from its roost high in my thatch!)
Early morning sounds vary according to the season. There are birds galore! The high-pitched twittering of Sunbirds, the squawking of Great Blue Turacos and the whistle of African Grey Parrots are joined by gregarious Black and White Casqued Hornbills that bang their cumbersome-looking beaks against tree trunks as they wipe them clean. Kibale Forest’s birds enthrall me! Primates are infrequent visitors to the family compound but Red-tailed Monkeys are known to raid the fig tree just before dawn (before the dogs wake up!)
Geckos are welcome housemates (they love eating mosquitoes!) They nest in the thatch and I often find their perfectly round white eggs on my wooden floor. Occasionally the eggs splatter to reveal their runny yellow yolk.
A rustle in the thatch generally denotes a gecko so it’s a sound I usually ignore, until recently when something bigger than a gecko moved noisily above my head. The small hole at the apex of the thatch lets in a few inches of light; next to it was the squirming black body of a medium-sized snake, coiled along the rafters! I imagine it had been sunbathing on my roof. (The grass is ordered and we’ll be sealing that hole in the thatch very soon Ma!)
While it’s still cool, I explore the forest edge. “You do know elephants blocked our way last night, don’t you?” Julia tells me. “Well, I do now!”
My morning walk-cum-runs along the edge of Kibale National Park have kept me sane this past year. My series of #LockdownDiaries are inspired by the healing effects of nature. Every day is different, should you choose to notice it: I have learned that rare L’Hoest’s Monkeys do visit the forest edge occasionally; I know that ‘cuckoos follow the caterpillars’ meaning hear a cuckoo and you will notice the caterpillars; it also means peak butterfly season is approaching.
A few days ago I had to do a quick U-turn when I saw three chimpanzees along the path ahead of me. During lockdown, the paths became so overgrown and unused that I would run through ten spiders’ webs every morning. (I could dedicate a whole blog to the various spiders that I share my house with! But would it be as scary as this story about night-time invaders?)
I often return home with wet trainers: the morning dew and wading through the flooded ‘elephant potholes’ trail (churned up by seismic elephant footprints) destroyed half my footwear during lockdown.
Sometimes I disturb monkeys on my morning walks. Tut tut tut they warn me, as I march on, undeterred by them (or the tenacious safari ants that can grab on and bite me, even when I’m moving). Occasionally, I hear the startled run of a bushbuck. It’s rare to see this large antelope but we sometimes hear him. What a loud ugly bark he has!
Back in my house, it’s time for a cold shower. Water is pumped up from the local stream by the solar pump (assuming we have a few hours of sunhine).
Over at the pit latrine – refurbished with a shiny mabati tin roof after the thatch rotted and slowly slid off – live a pair of Blue-headed Agama Lizards. A quivering tail pokes out from underneath the mirror on the outside wall. The mirror wobbles as the lizards hear me approach. “I have seen you!” I snigger.
The back of the latrine door bears the muddy nest of a hornet. I used to be terrified of wasps but I’ve learnt they leave us alone; just allow them their flight path while they’re building their nest (and stuffing it full of live caterpillars for their larvae to feed on) and you will be perfect housemates. Wasps build their nests inside furniture (and occasionally on clothes). Paper wasps are very good parents; they will spend almost every living moment sitting on their nest and will not disturb us humans. We live in harmony.
My day proceeds with a few hours at my desk overlooking the forest. Trees in the family compound grow so quickly that we only have a small window through to the forest at the moment.
The ‘bombs’ from the tall Cordia tree near my house make us jump out of our skins! The small hard fruits smash onto the tin roof of the store cupboard (the family’s temporary kitchen during lockdown). The ‘bombing’ can make for fraught nerves…
On Sunday mornings, we hear drumming from the local church, a few hundred metres from us. It’s low-key and we like it (which is just as well since the same rhythm may rumble for two hours or more!)
Lunch in the village is a simple affair. Most days we eat ‘staff lunch’ of posho and beans. I love katogo of matooke and groundnuts too (now you may understand why I have started running again!)
Mid-afternoon, the house skink runs up and down the wooden posts holding the thatch above the balcony. We regularly eyeball each other. (I hope that damned cat doesn’t get him).
I collect insects – inside my mosquito net. Today I have found a long-horned beetle. Last week there was a praying mantis inside my net. One time I was lying in bed and a rat ran over my foot. Note to self: tuck the net in a bit better!
We do our best to rat-proof, mouse-proof and insect-proof our belongings. If we are not careful, stuff gets munched. Food scraps must quickly go in bins with lids; dry goods must be in sealed plastic containers. Soap and computer cables are other favourite foods of rodents. Clothes must be shaken before wearing: one day Julia’s mum put on a jumper. A skink jumped out of it, then another, then another!
My open-air shower doubles as a washing-up station. Showering, birdwatching and doing the dishes – this is multitasking ‘forest-style’.
My life here as blogger in residence at Sunbird Hill is ‘a happy accident’. I moved here – temporarily – three years ago. It’s been an incredible place to spend lockdown and I am grateful everyday.
It doesn’t mean I don’t miss Kampala (but let me not start on the list of places and people that I miss!)
We toast goodbye to the working day with the occasional sundowner. Uganda Waragi – with freshly roasted ground nuts – is the tipple of choice. It’s usually dark by 7 o’clock and we retire early. I surround myself with books and immerse myself in podcasts. I sleep early, eagerly anticipating the next dawn chorus!
If you enjoy the Muzungu’s dispatches from the forest, read my #LockdownDiaries series and A forest wakes up.
A forest wakes up
Birdwatching my way through lockdown in Kibale Forest
Lockdown has found me on the edge of Kibale Forest in western Uganda where I live in a thatched wooden house on stilts a few hundred metres from the elephant trench that marks the boundary of the National Park.
Dawn chorus on the edge of Kibale National Park is so hypnotic that I’m regularly awake by 6.21 every morning, eager not to miss the Lead-coloured Flycatcher’s soothing two-note call, my usual morning alarm.
By contrast, the past few awakenings have been rather jarring. They may be grand birds on the wing but, when they are calling from your roof, Hornbills are not always so welcome!
I spend the first hour of every day birdwatching and drinking tea on the balcony at the front of my house. Here on the Equator, it gets light around 7 o’clock throughout the year.
The black-and-white Casqued Hornbills are bouncing around the fig tree before dawn. One hop, two hop, a Hornbill with a black head and matching casque hops up and down the tree boosted by a big flap of its wings. The branch sags low under its weight. The bird picks a small green fig the size of a Malteser with its cumbersome-looking beak. It throws back its almighty casqued head to swallow it. (It looks like a lot of effort for a tiny fruit). These sometimes-clumsy birds are dainty eaters. Who would have guessed?
A pair of Hornbills are joined by a third. As I watch, bird number one feeds the third one. Could this giant be their baby? They wipe their beaks left and right against the lichen-covered trunk. A bird bangs its hollow casque on a branch; the unusual noise fills the air.
There’s a flash of blue! The first of the Great Blue Turacos glides in.
Another Hornbill glides down onto a branch on the edge of Kibale Forest 500 metres from where I’m sitting. I trace its distinct silhouette against the dark green background.
It seems impossible that my movement might scare these noisy birds, but they panic easily. Seven Hornbills fly noisily into the forest. Smaller birds scatter in their wake.
The light is too poor for the camera so I just sit and watch. A pair of Ross’s Turacos hop and creep up the tree trunks. I contrast the dainty hops of the Ross’s with the clumsy antics of the Great Blue Turacos bouncing and crashing through the branches.
The sound of heavy wing beats signals the arrival of another Hornbill; a second loud wing beat follows close behind. They settle in the fig tree. Single caws suggest happiness and contentment.
Small birds swoop in twos and threes. They are non-descript in the early morning light. As the minutes pass, their blue sheen confirms they are purple-headed starlings.
Violet-backed Starlings now number more than 20. In bright sunshine, the plumage of these same birds appears bright pink. I love the seasonal twittering of flocks of starlings.
The caws have subdued. Six Hornbills sit silently except for the occasional beat of a wing as they move through the branches, scouring the tree for figs. The slender branches of this inconspicuous tree are stronger than they look.
From the village a few kilometres away, I hear the repetitive cawing and screeching of more Hornbills. As I watch the tree over the days and weeks that the figs are ripe, I notice a pattern: the Hornbills call loudly from the village before one, two, three birds fly towards the forest. They pause here at Sunbird Hill for a few minutes before resuming their flight to the forest where they pass the day. Wave after wave of twos and threes pass overhead every morning and evening.
By contrast, Great Blue Turacos can – believe it not – be far quieter.
I recall a morning when I heard leaves dropping from the canopy of another fig tree by my house. I looked up, amazed to see 12 GBTs gobbling figs. When the fruits are ripe, turacos glide in stealthily; the only thing you might hear is the whirr of wings, not a single call. While they feed, the only sounds are leaves and figs dropping to the ground. Disturb them and the mass evacuation will be panicked and noisy! Their feeding habits are in marked contrast to their otherwise gregarious behaviour.
I once spotted both Meyer’s and African Grey Parrots feeding in this same tree. “It’s very rare to see these two parrot species together” said our friend Ronald, a ranger and tourism warden with the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
A Hornbill heaves into flight. It flies head-first in my direction, veering to the right as it passes within ten feet of me.
One, two, four Hornbills depart for the warmth of the sunlit trees on the forest edge. There is a moment of quiet.
With little noise and no drama, the Great Blue Turaco population of the fig tree now numbers eight or more. The diversity of large fruit-eating birds is a sign of the forest’s abundance.
A flash of grey feathers catches my eye as I am sitting at the laptop. Seconds later, this striking Lizard Buzzard (plus wriggling lunch) lands in the tree a few metres from my desk. The remains of a long tail suggest it was eating a snake. (It was intriguing to note the reptile’s tail was still flexing, five minutes into the lunch session!)
Mid-afternoon the birdsong is almost deafening. (Who can work with so much distraction?) I am drawn onto the balcony to just sit amid the music. Two species of starlings entertain me. The African Blue Flycatcher and Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher weave colourful patterns in the lower branches of the fig trees. After a short absence, the Black-and-white (Vanga) Shrike flycatchers are back. A flash of red signals the head feathers of a Yellow-spotted Barbet. Hairy-breasted and Double-toothed Barbets are occasional afternoon visitors. Last year, this same fig tree was full of Barbets for several weeks; this year Hornbills, Turacos and Starlings steal the show.
As dusk approaches, a primate face peers through the bright green foliage of a medium-sized tree. It’s a dark-haired monkey with a white snub nose and white cheeks. It leans forward to grab young shoots and reclines to reveal a white belly. It’s one of many monkey visitors to the ripe fig tree. Each species has their timeslot; the Red-tailed Nkima Monkey appears after birds have had their fill.
I wrote this episode of my #LockdownDiaries for Alan Davies and Ruth Davies who are best known for identifying a record-breaking 4,341 bird species on their gruelling one-year world tour. You can read the original story on their website: A View From Uganda – A Forest Wakes Up – Kibale National Park. Alan and Ruth are regular birdwatching visitors to Uganda and we hope to see them here at Sunbird Hill one day!
Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo goes virtual! Register now
Uganda Tourism Board launches POATE 2021- Uganda’s first ever virtual tourism expo
Article republished with kind permission of author Kojo Bentum Williams of Voyages Afriq. March 11th 2021.
Register for the Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo 2021 and download the event app
The Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) has launched the 6th Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo (POATE 2021), which for the first time-ever, will be held virtually.
The 3-day event is scheduled to take place on 27th – 29th April 2021 under the theme “Restarting Tourism for Regional Economic Development.”
Speaking at the launch event on March 10th, CEO of UTB, Lilly Ajarova said, “Well aware that different players in the sector were affected variously, the key focus of POATE 2021 will be on four major sub-topics: Recovery, Rebuilding, Reconnecting and Rebooting the sector.”
CEO of UTB, Lilly Ajarova photographed with Hon. Godfrey Ssuubi Kiwanda, Uganda’s State Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities
“In light of the current climate in which there are multiple travel restrictions, especially in some of our key markets, as well as the need to ensure safety for all participants, POATE 2021 will exclusively be virtual.
“We have built a specialised virtual meeting platform that shall facilitate one-on-one meetings, virtual speed networking sessions as well as live conference sessions for domestic, regional and international tourism players.”
Participants for POATE 2021, according to the CEO, will be vetted through a set of criteria that has been developed by the national organising committee to ensure they are of the right calibre to showcase Destination Uganda’s offering.
“In line with UTB’s recovery marketing strategy, hosted buyers and exhibitors will be sourced from the existing core and emerging source markets within the East African Region (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda), rest of Africa (Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa) and the international markets (North America, UK and Ireland, Germany speaking countries, Japan, Gulf states and China and the new markets of France, Belgium and Netherlands.”
“Participating hosted buyers will be sourced through the newly procured Market Destination Representative firms (MDRs) following a ratio of 80:20, in favour of core markets,” she revealed.
Ms. Lilly added that they hope to build on the successes of POATE 2020 where Uganda registered a 138% growth in exhibitors (from 63 exhibitors in 2018 to 150 exhibitors in 2020) and leveraging the power of the internet. This year we expect to attract more than 200 exhibitors.
POATE is a tourism exposition organised annually by the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB). It brings together all of Uganda’s tourism stakeholders for the greater purpose of individually showcasing their potential to the world on one hand, and jointly, to raise the profile of Uganda as a competitive and attractive destination for domestic, regional and international tourists.
The Muzungu adds: since the advent of the pandemic, Uganda has had a number of initiatives to promote domestic tourism. Read all about Lilly Ajarova’s climb of Margherita Peak in the Rwenzoris.
Do you want to register for the 2021 Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo?
Click here to register for POATE2021. It’s free.
After you have completed Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo registration, you will be sent a link to download the event app (which is called Whova). Install the app, click on find my event and type Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo (or POATE). The app is an excellent resource and easy-to-use – but you won’t be able to use it until you have registered. Once you have access to the app, you can build your profile and start connecting with people. Look for attendees (bottom of the screen) and connect with me Charlotte Beauvoisin, Diary of a Muzungu. See you online!
Are you ready for the virtual Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo?
“I have liked you”
Gonja and roasted goat: bus travel from Kampala to Fort Portal
The bus from Kampala to Fort Portal leaves at 7 o’clock in the morning and I am told to be there an hour beforehand. I catch a boda boda across the city as the early morning traffic gathers. It’s refreshing to be driving through the cool early morning air with my bag packed for five days on the edge of Kibale Forest – away from the laptop.
Our boda heads downtown – avoiding a certain saloooon – where we are surrounded by thousands of people all jostling to get to work, to sell their wares, gearing up for the day ahead.
As we turn a corner, a tall man in bright green overalls shouts “Link? Link?”
I wasn’t sure where to find the Link bus park but there’s no mistaking the man in green who runs up the street to a yard filled with buses of the same bright green. The word LINK is written in large yellow letters.
I don’t have change (balance) so the man in green offers to take my money and buy a ticket for me and come back with the change for my boda boda. No thank you. He seems legitimate enough but I’m wary. (Once-upon-a-boyfriend-ago, a similar move in Cairo by a very helpful stranger separated us from all our money – on the first day of our holiday). Alert for similar tricks, I walk to a shop opposite the Link bus station, buy two bottles of water and have the change I need to pay for my boda boda and my bus ticket without using an intermediary.
On board I squash myself in near the back of the bus. I choose to sit near a lady and her baby. She beams at me as I sit down.
“But I need some water,” she says very loudly (to me?)
I’m not sure what I’m supposed to make of this so I choose to ignore her.
Before the bus departs for Fort Portal, a man walks up and down the aisle selling cakes. A small round cake is 500 Uganda shillings; a big square slab of cake is 1000 shillings. I opt for the smaller cake to accompany my breakfast apple.
The bus leaves on time.
I check WhatsApp while we are still in town. The guy next to me seems very interested in everything on my phone screen. “Ooo Facebook!” He exclaims. I try and ignore him and shield my screen from his interested eyes. His gaze keeps coming back to my phone. I glare at him. Out of the corner of my eye I see his ‘Nokia’ phone. I guess he is envious of my Smartphone. I feel bad for thinking mean thoughts.
We are seated one row in front of the back row. In my rush to get a seat I have (again) forgotten how I will regret sitting over the back wheel of the bus.
As the bus hits the open road to Fort Portal, phone networks go off and everyone settles down for a snooze. There’s a blast of cold wet air. Every time we slide the window shut, the juddering and shaking of the vehicle reopens it. The lady pulls the blanket over her child’s head. I try and keep myself warm by putting my bag on my lap.
The lady is trying to keep the window closed to keep her baby warm. The man sitting between us has fallen asleep. “Typical husband,” I think. “He’s asleep while she’s worrying about the baby.” I’m worried the baby is as cold as I am, so I fold a small piece of paper and pass it to her, thinking she may be able to use it to wedge the window shut. “Do you want me to put it out of the window?” She motions.
No!
I doze and am woken by the ringing of a phone. This lady does love to chat. I hear her cough and I get up to retrieve the second bottle of water from my bag. If she’s breast-feeding, she must need water.
We are halfway to Mubende before I buy my ticket. The ticket seller slowly works down the aisle, writing out each ticket by hand. The guy next to me peers into the pocket of my bag. I try and retrieve my money without showing him exactly how much I am carrying. He’s craning his neck to have a good look. The guy selling tickets doesn’t have enough change so he writes 5,000 UGX and his signature on the back of the ticket to denote that he has to pay me my balance.
At Mubende, plastic bowls full of roasted gonja and cardboard boxes of water and sodas are pushed up to the bus window. Someone waves roasted meat at us through the gap. I opt for a chapati. “Roasted or dry?” The young man asks me helpfully. I understand enough of the lady’s Luganda to know that she is complaining about the prices. She sends the young man to the shop with her order for orange squash and goat.
“I have liked you,” she said. “You can give me your number so I can call you.”
She tells me that she is going to Kasese (the stop after Fort Portal) to visit her parents for a few days and that she will go back to Kampala to see her husband.
“I thought this one was your husband?” I ask.
“No. This one I just met him on the bus.”
The young man jumps back on the bus brandishing wooden skewers of glistening roasted goat. He offers me one. It’s kind of him but I’m not in the mood for roasted goat. (I also recall the advice not to accept food or drink offered by strangers on public transport). This pair seem kind enough though.
He removes the flimsy bag (polythene paper in Uglish) from around the meat and screws into a small ball. He passes it to the woman who knows exactly what he wants her to do with it: she forces it out of the window.
He sits next to me, tearing at the meat with his teeth. His teeth hit a bone which he spits at his feet. A small heap of goat bones accumulate on the floor between us. The smell of roasted meat fills the air.
The chat chat chat starts again. I like this couple. She and her baby remind me of my niece and her baby. She is loud but friendly. He reminds me of someone from the village. He appears uneducated but innocent.
More passengers squeeze onto the bus. A lady passenger places her big bag on the aisle and sits on it and we’re off again. I am still standing up when the driver slams on the brakes. The guy next to me grimaces; I hang onto the side of the seat. There’s never a dull moment on the bus to Fort Portal.
On the other side of the aisle is a Muslim lady wearing a bright yellow headscarf and pink lipstick. She wears a bold kitenge print dress and an eyeful of cleavage.
I pull out a large tourist map of Kampala, fully expecting the young man to ogle at it and start asking questions. I’m rather pleased with my new map: KCCA have launched a tourism map of the city and I’m interested to see which places feature on it.
Nothing! The young man doesn’t even glimpse over. I read the map, unfold it, turn it over, fold again. I’m amazed – the guy doesn’t register interest even once! Is tourism just ‘a white people thing’ I ask myself?
I ask myself: I wonder if he can read? Or perhaps it’s only money and phones that make him tick?
The ticket inspector returns to check our tickets and I politely remind “sebo (sir)” whether he has my balance yet. He doesn’t seem to hear me.
“*Gwe!” Yells the young man, trying to back me up.
*It’s a little rude considering “Gwe” is old enough to be the young boy’s father!
Road travel from Kampala to Fort Portal via Mubende – tips for travelers
- There’s a universal price of 300 ugx for a short call whether at Kampala Link bus station, en route at Mubende or at the bus station in Fort Portal.
- For the best HOT gonja and chicken, buy directly from the women who are grilling (on the way back from the toilet!)
- If you take the afternoon bus from Fort Portal, you may be lucky enough to see the sun set over Lake Wamala. What a wonderful, unexpected sight that was.
- Link have made a lot of investment over the past few years: new buses, redesigned depots and generally helpful staff. The CCTV security system at the Kampala depot is another positive development too.
- Buying bus tickets is a lot easier and more secure since Link introduced a new digital ticketing solution with the KaCyber app. It’s great because it promotes social distancing (avoid the scrum at the booking office!) Book your ticket in advance and pay using mobile money or PayPal. The KaCyber Go App is free to download but not available on all Link bus routes yet. The app is particularly useful now since it is a ‘contactless’ solution (no need to touch money or paper tickets so no need to sanitise your hands!)
- I wrote this story before COVID-19 disorganised us.
- Diary of a Muzungu readers know I regularly take the bus from Kampala to Fort Portal and in October 2020 I took my first bus journey of the pandemic. All travellers have to wear facemasks and everyone’s hands are sprayed with disinfectant. I sat between one empty seat and the aisle. For social distancing purposes, the pattern of vacant seats was repeated throughout the bus.
Do you travel by bus? What are your travel tips? If you enjoy my bus journey stories, I have plenty more 😎
The euphoric Rwenzoris!
What heights will you reach in 2021? Last year Lilly Ajarova pushed herself to summit Margherita, the Rwenzoris’ highest peak. She shares her inspiring story here.
Reaching the peak Margherita gives you a feel of being on top of the world, everything feels below you, it’s euphoric.
Lilly Ajarova, CEO of the Uganda Tourism Board
In December 2020, a team of climbers embarked on an ascent of Margherita Peak, the highest point in the Rwenzori Mountains at 5,109 metres (16,762 ft). The group took a nine-day fact-finding hike to Margherita Peak with Rwenzori Trekking Services in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Uganda. You can read more about the Take on the Pearl domestic tourism campaign in Uganda in new drive to market Mt Rwenzori by Titus Kakembo. Oh how I wish I had been with them!
Let’s not cage our wandering spirits but instead let’s go out there and do things we thought we would never do.
Lilly Ajarova
Below, Lilly shares her personal account of climbing the Rwenzoris.
When 2020 started, we all had plans, but then the unexpected happened and for most, those plans were no more.
But in all this I had one plan that I didn’t give up on: I hoped and believed I would achieve it.
My plan was to hike Mount Rwenzori in 2020. It’s not easy to explain why this was important for me but most importantly it was about pushing myself to the limits, challenging myself to do something that I would look back and say “this was worth it.”
We kept planning for the hike and postponing it until we finally settled on a date. In December, I and a group of passionate hikers started the journey.
It wasn’t easy but there was a determination by everyone that kept us going. Each time I looked at the faces of other hikers, beyond the sweat I could see a story, a story so personal that I believe each will tell theirs. We were all out there – each with a story on why they were doing this, but we all had one goal: to reach the highest peak of the Rwenzoris – Margherita!
I have challenged myself to many things over the years but this one meant a lot more. We were in the Rwenzori mountains at a time when the tourism industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a way we were doing this hike to bring back hope to the tourism sector, to inspire others to also take upon such challenges.
There is this unexplainable feeling you get when you reach the highest peak: it’s a moment of triumph, just that this is a different kind of triumph.
You look back at the number of days it has taken you to get here, you remember the emotional and physical strain. You’re tired but not tired. For a moment you stay silent and let it all sink in because you still can’t believe that you managed to do this. Even with all the fatigue you still gather the strength to smile for a photo moment because some memories can’t just be described by words. And then silently you just say “I did it, we did it.”
I say “We did it” because no-one can claim this achievement alone; it’s a team effort. A lot of people sacrificed and put their time in to make sure this was a success, and I am so grateful to all that made this possible.
As we come close to what has been a year full of challenges and uncertainties, my hope is that as long as we wake up each day – alive – let’s challenge ourselves to do something great. It doesn’t have to be hiking Rwenzori but let it be something that puts your spirit and determination to the test.
Let it be something that when you look back, the feeling is satisfying for you.
That’s the experience hiking Rwenzori has given me. I now – more than ever – understand what one can achieve with courage and determination.
I wish that as we start 2021, we all have something we shall challenge ourselves to. I hope that we don’t stop dreaming and having big goals. Let’s not cage our wandering spirits but instead let’s go out there and do things we thought we would never do.
The day I came back from the hike, one of my sons asked me “So, what next now that you have reached the highest peak of Rwenzori?”
I really didn’t have an answer, but I believe that as long as we are still alive there are other highest peaks in life that we should always challenge ourselves to reach.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year and may 2021 be the year which you climb to as many highest peaks in life as possible.
Lilly Ajarova, Uganda Tourism Board #VisitUganda #TakeOnThePearl #TulambuleUganda
About the Rwenzori Mountains
The 996 km2 Rwenzori Mountains National Park is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site, a Ramsar site (for its “wetlands of international importance”) and an Important Bird Area. And you haven’t visited yet?
Uganda’s RMNP is located in the 120km-long and 65km-wide Rwenzori mountain range that forms the border boundary of western Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is the highest mountain range in Africa. Margherita on Mount Stanley in the Rwenzoris is Africa’s third highest peak, after the volcanic peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 m) and Mount Kenya (5,199 m).
More than 70 mammal and 217 bird species have been recorded in the Rwenzoris. The best place to see these is in the montane forests at lower altitudes. Famous stand-out species you might see are the vibrant Rwenzori Turaco and an assortment of colourful chameleons.
Rwenzori mammals include the eastern chimpanzee, l’Hoest’s monkey, blue monkey, golden cat, African forest elephant, (the disturbingly loud nocturnal) southern tree hyrax, yellow-backed duiker and the endangered black-fronted duiker. Did you know that 19 of the Rwenzori’s bird species are Albertine Rift endemics (meaning they are only found in this corner the world)?
Have you seen Africa’s botanical big game?
Beyond the boggy moorlands, hikers cross valleys and waterfalls, rivers and lakes as they pass through evergreen forest, bamboo forest, colourful heather, and Afro-alpine zones. It is this unusual diversity of vegetation – much of it unique to the Rwenzoris – that makes the environment so memorable. The giant lobelia and groundsels at higher elevations have earned it the name “Africa’s botanical big game.” For most hikers, the fabulous scenery of the foothills is more than enough to stretch the limbs and inspire the soul. Hiking to one of the peaks is only for the fit and the well-prepared but determination is rewarded with spectacular views from seasonally snow-capped peaks and glaciers.
Lilly adds “Mt. Rwenzori is the third highest mountain in Africa, it is a mountain like no other. It presents a combination of a stimulating terrain, the rarest of vegetations, sights and sounds of magnificent waterfalls and the bluest of lakes, all climaxing in breath-taking glaciers and snow-capped peaks. Rwenzori Mountains National Park presents tourists with a more fulfilling and yet, crowd-free hiking experience that you will not find on many mountains across the world.”
Have you visited the Rwenzoris? Or do you plan to hike Margherita or Weissmann’s Peak?
Feel free to ask me questions here or visit my Travel Directory for recommended tour operators who can organise your hike. Oh yes, and take me with you 😉
Uganda slashes permit & park fees for all visitors
Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) announces long list of exciting discounts across the country!
If you’ve ever wanted to track the mountain gorillas, go on safari in Uganda’s National Parks and Wildlife Reserves, track chimpanzees or go birdwatching in Uganda’s Protected Areas, now is the time! Make the most of reduced fees until 30th June 2021. (In March 2021, UWA extended the discounts to the new June date).
It’s with great excitement that we can share a long list of discounts and incentives for visiting Uganda’s key wildlife attractions. Whether you are a Ugandan, an expat or planning to fly into Entebbe International Airport, travel between now and the end of June 2021. These substantial discounts make this gorgeous country even more attractive! (Pair these with discounts announced in July 2020 and you will be spoiled for choice!)
Reduction on mountain gorilla and chimpanzee tracking permit fees in Uganda for all visitors
Essentially, everyone is entitled to discounts, whether Ugandans, international tourists, expatriates living in Uganda or East African residents. Check out the tables I’ve created below.
NOTE: Uganda Wildlife Authority announced some discounts in July 2020 as well. I have tried to list them all in this blog as well (but the combinations and options do get a little confusing!)
Discounted prices for gorilla tracking and chimp tracking in Uganda from 1st December 2020 to end of June 2021
| GORILLA tracking permits – Uganda | *Now* | Was… | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| East African Community citizen (Ugandan, Rwandan, Kenyan, Tanzanian, South Sudanese) | UGX 150,000 | UGX 250,000 | UGX 100,000 |
| Foreign resident (expat) | USD 300 | USD 600 | USD 300 |
| Foreign non-resident (international tourist) | USD 400 | USD 700 | USD 300 |
Has this got you excited about tracking the mountain gorillas? Read Diary of a Muzungu’s Ultimate Guide to Tracking Mountain Gorillas.
| CHIMPANZEE tracking permits – Uganda | *Now* | Was… | Saving you |
|---|---|---|---|
| East African Community citizen | UGX 100,000 | UGX 150,000 | UGX 50,000 |
| Foreign resident (expat) | USD 100 | USD 150 | USD 50 |
| Foreign non-resident (international tourist) | USD 150 | USD 200 | USD 50 |
Chimpanzee tracking is a rather different experience – livelier, more energetic – and frequently very noisy! Read a wonderful account of chimp tracking here. I love on the edge of Kibale Forest so I have tons of stories and tips to share as well 😉
50% discount off park entrance fees 1st December 2020 to end of June 2021
UWA’s discounts apply to most National Parks and some Wildlife Reserves. The ones in the 50% promotion are: Lake Mburo, Queen Elizabeth, Kidepo Valley, Murchison Falls and Semliki National Parks; Toro-Semuliki, Katonga, Pian Upe and Kabwoya Wildlife Reserves.
There are three pricing categories: A, B and C. A is the most expensive (with the best facilities and most visited).
Here is the full – and pre-discounted – Uganda Wildlife Authority tariff of July 2020 to June 2022.
Pay for two days park entry and get one day free! Until June 2021
Note that UWA has another offer running currently too: pay for two days park entry and get one day free. This applies to all National Parks and Wildlife Reserves. The ‘3 for 2’ offer lasts until the end of June 2021.
It’s interesting to note that Uganda Wildlife Authority is promoting Wildlife Reserves. Plans are underway to upgrade Toro-Semliki, Katonga and Pian Upe Wildlife Reserves to National Park status in the very near future.
Visiting a National Park? Check out Diary of a Muzungu’ guide to Uganda’s National Parks.
50% discount off birding fees 1st December 2020 to end of June 2021
Yes! Did you know Uganda has over 1,000 bird species? (Contrast that with the U.K.’s 600 or so species and you get an idea of how special Uganda is. The countries are a similar size). Birding (or birdwatching) is one of the muzungu’s favourite activities.
50% discount off nature walk fees 1st December 2020 to end of March 2021
This applies to nature walks in Murchison Falls, Kidepo Valley, Queen Elizabeth, Lake Mburo National Parks and Kapkwai Exploration Centre in Mount Elgon National Park.
East Africans now pay 10,000 ugx.
Expats (foreign residents) and international tourists (foreign non-residents) now pay $15 (normally $30).
Do you want to climb Mount Elgon?
This is a really fantastic hike! Between now and the end of June 2022, groups of twenty people can get a 20% discount on the usual fees.
Read all about my four-day trip to Wagagai Peak in a “A girl called Kevin – climbing Mount Elgon, Uganda.”
How to track the gorillas and chimps – safely – during COVID
My plea: travel safely, wear a mask, wash your hands and sanitise frequently. If you’re planning to see the primates, follow the instructions to the letter. Mountain gorillas and chimpanzees are at high risk of catching COVID-19 from us and extra precautions have been put in place to ensure the safety of our closest relatives. Remember we are approximately 98% the same DNA and a chimp or gorilla can catch a human cold. Do not do anything that might compromise their health.
Uganda Wildlife Authority’s list of incentives will come as a big blow to neighbouring Rwanda who had dropped their gorilla tracking permits from a high $1500 down to $500, undercutting the stated prices in Uganda. However, everyone in Uganda is delighted that we can start marketing again! This is a great boost for the Ugandan tourism industry.
Visit the Uganda Wildlife Authority website for confirmation of the tourism incentive promotions.
Do you have any questions? If you’re ready to plan a trip, visit my Travel Directory. I work with a number of tour operators who can book gorilla and chimp permits, arrange your accommodation and guide you on safari.
Want a tried and tested recommendation? Feel free to drop a comment below or contact me directly.
Now let’s go enjoy Uganda’s wild areas!
Please share with a friend 
#VisitUganda #Tulambule #TravelTomorrow
Entebbe International Airport, Uganda: travel in ‘the new normal’
“Traveling in the age of the pandemic is not for the faint at heart” writes Prof Wolfgang Thome of ATCNews.org Wolfgang flew with Brussels Airlines from Entebbe International Airport, Uganda. He shares his experience of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) testing, airport check-in, what to pack, new protocols for travelers and airport operating procedures.
“The trials and tribulations of travel in the age of #COVID19- Part 1”
Posted 24th October 2020. Republished with the permission of the author.
Wolfgang writes:
We all look back at the days when one could book a ticket, at the airline, with a travel agent or do it online, pay and proceed to Entebbe, go through the – albeit dreaded – security checkpoints, check in, pass immigration and wait for the flight to be called for boarding.
No longer …
When Uganda’s main international aviation gateway finally opened on the 01st of October, months after our neighbours for that matter, had new protocols and operating procedure been introduced, adding more logistical requirements on wannabe travelers intent to leave the country by air.
First, and key to travel, is the required COVID19 negative test, which must be carried out within 72 hours before departure and notable does the clock begin to tick when the test is conducted, NOT when the results are released. It has been established that travelers have been barred from entering the airport after falling foul of these time limits.
While a range of facilities in Kampala, Entebbe and of late also Mbarara are able to take the test swabs, do most then send the vials to an official laboratory where the actual test is carried out.
Cost, as reported on ATCNews before, varies, as does the time frame within which the results are transmitted – which can take anywhere between 6 to 10 hours to two days. The need for speed does influence the cost of course and the faster the results are needed the more a traveler has to pay.
That hurdle taken, flight booking made, paid for and e-ticket issued, can packing then commence. Most airlines restrict the amount of cabin baggage to reduce the time needed to stow it away and reduce potential contact points for passengers and crew and travelers should more strictly observe these rules today than was the case in the past. It has been mentioned that both checked bags and cabin bags would be sanitized – at least the handles – but no evidence was seen to that effect when checking in at Entebbe.
I had opted to use the NAS – formerly ENHAS – Pearl Assist service, available for departing and arriving passengers, to ease the process of navigating through the various security and health check points before reaching the check in counters, but the service extends beyond that through immigration, into the lounge and then to the point of boarding.
First was my test result checked and the bar code scanned – from my phone, no hard copies are required – before I could proceed to the terminal entrance. There, as before, are passports looked at as are tickets following which entrance into the departure terminal is granted.
The immediate entrance security check is then conducted as was the case before, of all bags as well as the personal scan and when passed can one then proceed to the airline’s check in counter.
There again, are passport, ticket and yellow fever certificate checked before one is actually able to proceed to the counter itself. Plexiglass shields keep the distance between airline and handling agency staff and passenger.
The Brussels Airlines staff, as usual, were at their friendliest best, not having seen me for nearly 9 months since my last flight with them, and with my seat prebooked were the bags swiftly labelled and tagged before beginning their own journey on the baggage band into the loading area at ground level.
Next came immigration, the desks equally upgraded with added safety measures in the form of plexiglass shields. The staff were wearing masks and gloves while handling the passport and after I had scanned my finger prints I used my own sanitizer to clean my hands.
Next then came another new feature which needs to be mentioned.
In the past were boarding security checks carried out at every gate – there are four in use right now at Entebbe International Airport – but now a single departure area entrance point check has been installed, just behind the main duty free shops.
A second such checkpoint has been installed just at the door of the Government VIP Lounge, covering all entrances to the main departure area and ensuring that access to the boarding gate is now less congested, improving the traffic flow considerably.
This single access checkpoint is something ATCNews has repeatedly suggested in the past, as this feature had been introduced at other regional and international airports, but it took the pandemic to finally get this done, and well done for that matter. Better late than never …
Man wearing PPE. Entebbe Airport, Uganda 2020 PHOTO ATCNews.org
My next step of the journey was the use of the Premium Lounge in Entebbe, where again added safety measures had been put into place, including spaced seating. My Pearl Assist service member Robert delivered me to the lounge and escorted me later to the gate for boarding. His shift leaders Carol, who after introducing herself then handed over to Christine, both kept checking on progress, so no passenger booking this service will feel left alone at any stage from arrival at the airport to the point of boarding their aircraft.
Service at the lounge remains friendly but self service is no longer possible as all snacks and drinks MUST be served by staff, who are properly attired with gloves, masks and head shields. Guests can only touch their food and drinks once delivered to their tables, again in line with global health and safety protocols.
The final stage before departure was boarding and as the incoming aircraft from Kigali had landed 25 minutes early was boarding equally called early.
The Pearl Assist service was again at hand, ensured the use of priority boarding and then bid me farewell as Brussels Airlines staff took over. After a final check on my boarding pass and passport was I guided to the aircraft, an Airbus A330-300, for my nonstop flight to Brussels.As always when I travel directly to Europe I use Brussels Airlines for my flight which I already reviewed on TripAdvisor though part 2 of this narrative too will reflect on my experience.
Details of this part of my journey, covering the ‘New Normal’ inflight service, my arrival experience in Brussels and my subsequent onward journey to Germany, will be covered in part 2 of this narrative.
In closing, compliments to the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority for putting effective measures into place to make the flow from arrival to boarding somewhat more efficient compared to the past.
When it rains challenges remain of course to reach the departure level from the parking / drop off area but construction of the new terminal is advancing and that eternal problem – to remain relatively dry when it pours – will then hopefully be a thing of the past.
Staff, from aviation security to health personnel, were markedly more courteous and friendly, perhaps reminded by the 7 months grounding that it is travelers which keep them employed and who deserve a friendly disposition at all times and at all locations.
You can read the original article here on ATCNews.org
Wolfgang is a prolific writer and blogger at ATC (Aviation, Tourism and Conservation) News. He is an aviation expert and has worked at a strategic level in tourism across East Africa for over four decades. He posts daily #COVID19 updates at 6 am and 6 pm. Read The future of travel in East Africa – Diary of a Muzungu’s interview with Prof Thome.
Related blogs you may find useful:
When can I travel to Uganda? post-lockdown FAQs based on Qs and As with travelers. September 2020
Now is the time to take precautions! US Embassy Kampala August 2020
Coronavirus survival tips: how to work from home based on a decade working from home in Uganda. March 2020
Bracing ourselves for Coronavirus in Uganda comprehensive health advice. Published March 2020 and updated regularly.
Are you traveling to Uganda? Have you passed through Entebbe Airport during the pandemic? Please share your experiences – or any questions – here. We’d love to read them 🙂
Uniquely Semliki
Semliki Safari Lodge, Toro Semliki Wildlife Reserve, western Uganda
Where in Uganda can you enjoy a night game drive, engage with experts who are actively conserving a Protected Area and share stories over Masterchef–calibre dinners at the Captain’s Table?
The luxurious Semliki Safari Lodge sits in the middle of Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve, a Protected Area that will soon be upgraded to a National Park. “Uganda’s oldest upmarket tented camp” is equidistant from Lake Albert and the excellent new road from Fort Portal to Bundibugyo that winds its way through jaw-dropping Rift Valley panoramas.
This was my third – and arguably my most interesting – visit to this luxury lodge. My mission? To count birds on behalf of NatureUganda… (while being spoiled rotten!)
Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve’s birdlife is fantastic and easily seen. The wildlife reserve may not have the animal numbers of well-established National Parks but forest elephants and a multitude of primates made for three memorable game drives. One morning I even heard the unmistakable sound of a chimpanzee in the forest below my tent.
If you want to reconnect with nature – in luxury and style – I highly recommend a few days at Semliki Safari Lodge.
“I heard a leopard last night” Lodge Manager Tony announced when we checked in – but would we see one?
Scroll down to read the Muzungu’s account of our night game drive and learn about all the diverse activities you can do in and around the lodge.
Scat, cats and bats! A night game drive in Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve
We were thrilled when the team suggested we jump in the lodge’s safari vehicle for a night game drive. As we dimmed our torches, fireflies blinked in the darkness and we bumped along the marram track towards the airstrip.
Our first sighting was a pretty little Genet Cat, similar in size to a domestic cat with a bushy tail. Once I was familiar with their eye colour and size, it was easy to pick out more Genets in the woodland either side of the track.
A few minutes from the lodge, we pulled up next to a big puddle. We were amazed when Tony jumped out and plucked a terrapin from the muddy water! He explained how Side-headed Terrapins are common in Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve but only appear when the rain fills up the ruts and gullies. “Our guides drive around the puddles to protect the terrapins, rather than through them.” He added.
On the airstrip, a small flat area of cut grass, we cruised slowly up and down looking for nightjars, shy nocturnal birds that are sometimes seen ‘dust bathing’ on the ground. They are masters of camouflage. It’s only when you (almost) run over them that you notice them fly off in alarm.
According to Stevenson and Fanshawe’s Birds of East Africa “Nightjars are a notoriously difficult group to identify: not only do the species look alike, several have different colour morphs.” Don’t ask this casual birder to tell the two species apart, but our guides did. There were two new ticks for the muzungu that night: a Square-tailed Nightjar and a Slender-tailed Nightjar. Temporarily dazzled by our torches, the nightjars sat silent and immobile giving us the chance to admire their delicate plumage.
A Water Thick-knee pretended not to see us. This mainly nocturnal bird “freezes or squats if disturbed,” the book tells us. How true! “They are easily identified by their well-camouflaged brown plumage, large yellow eyes and long thickly jointed yellowish legs.”
Our nocturnal adventure continued with more interesting creatures: a leopard had visited the airstrip not long before us.
As we swept our torches along the ground, we picked out the small dark shapes of animal droppings. On closer inspection, the leopard scat (poo) was crawling with 40 dung beetles. Tony’s eyes lit up with excitement “I’ve never seen so many!” He said. “It’s the remains of a leopard’s kill.”
As we leaned in for a closer look, we recognised fluffy grey baboon fur among the dung beetles, moths and leopard scat. The beetles had clearly been industrious in the preceding 24-hours: little remained of the baboon prey.
Back in the vehicle, we spotted the ears of a young Kob poking through the long grass at the verge of the airstrip.
“Don’t disturb it.” Tony explained how we must not draw attention to this lone calf. It would make easy pickings for a leopard.
As we drove back to the lodge – and around the puddles – a Yellow-winged Bat swept through the night air. The beam of the headlights picked out a Defassa Waterbuck in the sanctuary of the lodge grounds. We may not have seen the leopard, but it was clearly around.
Wining, dining and sleeping – Semliki Safari Lodge’s creature comforts
Even with the reduced number of staff (due to the pandemic) the lodge did a tremendous job of looking after us. Every mouthful of food was delicious. Each ingredient is carefully considered, from the home-made chili to the exquisite pumpkin soup and pretty creations of delicate salad leaves. Breakfast is a gourmet affair of poached eggs with bacon and rocket, cereals and tropical fruit served with home-made bread, chunky marmalade and excellent coffee.
Every night, guests are invited to dine by candlelight with the lodge managers at the Captain’s Table, a rare treat at a Ugandan lodge. Tony and Noline are seasoned Safari experts. (I would revisit Semliki Safari Lodge any time for these shared dining experiences alone!)
The huge dining table – fashioned from one gigantic slab of wood – is perfect for social distancing. Semliki’s main living area of chunky sofas, tribal art and wall murals by the artist Taga is rather grand.
All rooms are fitted to a high standard. The hardwood floor of the luxury tents felt wonderful underfoot and there is generous amounts of hot water for the showers and luxurious outdoor bathtubs. Persian carpets and antique furniture recall a classic African safari. Kikois and slippers are provided, as well as mosquito repellent and a lockable cupboard. Every suite has a daybed on its private deck. (As I write this, I feel the urge to return!)
On a tour of the lodge grounds, lodge manager Tony explained how the units have been re-modelled to maximise the forest views. The new layout almost doubles the floor size of each luxury setup. Where possible, every item has been recycled, including “Amin’s steel,” reclaimed from the ruins of the original Uganda Hotel that once sat on this site. New materials include Elgon olive wood and thatch provided by the nearby Ntoroko Grass Growers’ Association.
Here in the bush, the Uganda Safari Company has invested heavily in solar power, a water borehole, a vegetable garden and more. They supply the water to the Uganda Wildlife Authority and UPDF (army) camps, a key contribution to managing the security of the Wildlife Reserve and its wildlife. Working together, the three organisations have cut the tracks and created a pond for animals to drink from during the dry season, amongst other initiatives. I admire The Uganda Safari Company’s vision – and determination – to protect this little pocket of nature.
What was Diary of a Muzungu doing at Semliki Safari Lodge?
Twice a year the team from Sunbird Hill carry out bird population monitoring on behalf of NatureUganda. Our patch is the Kibale Conservation Area which comprises Kibale National Park, Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve, Semliki National Park, Lake Saka / Lake Bikere, Toro Botanical Gardens, Fort Portal and Katonga Wildlife Reserve.
Why should you go on safari at Semliki Safari Lodge?
Whether you drive – or fly in – to Semliki, I highly recommend game drives with the lodge’s knowledgeable site guides Julius and David. They know the Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve inside out and are full of interesting anecdotes. They are expert drivers too.
What are the rates to stay at Semliki Safari Lodge?
Semliki Safari Lodge have some superb rates for residents. Take advantage of them while you can. The lodge has two packages to choose from: Full Board includes all meals and the Game Package includes meals, certain non-premium drinks and two game drives a day. If you make an enquiry, please say Diary of a Muzungu sent you 😉
Recommended activities from Semliki Safari Lodge
- A night game drive to the airstrip.
- Safari game drive on one of the numerous tracks in Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve.
- A dip in the lodge swimming pool.
- Sundowners around the lodge campfire at the lodge or at the Semliki Bush Bar on an evening game drive.
- Luxurious bush breakfasts, picnics and private dinners in stunning locations.
- Primate walk in Mugiri Forest below the lodge. Chimp sightings are not guaranteed but you have a good chance of seeing Olive Baboons, Vervet, Red-tailed and Black and White Colobus Monkeys. Bookings can be made at the Uganda Wildlife Authority office next to the lodge entrance.
- Lake Albert and tours to see the Shoebill are 30 minutes’ drive away and can be arranged by the lodge.
- Semliki is “a Mecca for birders” with over 425 species recorded. My birding highlights included: Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Crested Francolin, Crowned Hornbill, Palm Nut Vulture, Flappet Lark, White-browed Coucal, Grey Kestrel, Yellow-throated Longclaw, Striped Kingfisher, Helmeted Guineafowl, African Paradise Flycatcher, Black-billed Barbet, Northern Black Flycatcher, Oxpecker, Ruppell’s Long-tailed Starling, Long-crested Eagle, Black Coucal, Grey-backed Fiscal, Rattling Cisticcola, Blue-naped Mousebird, Ring-necked Dove, Grey-headed Kingfisher, Ross’s Turaco, Pygmy Kingfisher, Piapiac, Bateleur, African White-backed Vulture, Red-cheeked Cordon Bleu, Blue-spotted Wood-dove, Little Bee eater, White-banded Snake Eagle, Fork-tailed Drongo, Black-billed Wood-dove, Lanner Falcon, Spotted Morning Thrush – and two species of Nightjar.
- Look for butterflies. The Sunbird Hill team identified over 50 species including: Blue Sailor, Sulphur Orange Tip, Pea Blue, Red Tip, African Queen, Pearl Charaxes, Citrus Swallowtail, Blue Demon Charaxes, Scarlet Tip and Guineafowl Butterfly.
- Birding in Semliki National Park (SNP) or Ntandi along the main road just outside SNP, just over an hour’s drive from the lodge.
- The hot springs at Sempaya, Semliki National Park.
- Do a day – or longer – hike in the Rwenzori foothills. There are a number of tour operators and community organisations that organise hikes. Send me a message if you would like a recommendation.
- Andrew Roberts, co-author of the Bradt Uganda Guide, recommends the (very steep) walk from Ntandi to Karagutu.
- Bundibugyo is the Rwenzori region’s closest town to the DRC (just 10km). There is not a lot to do in Bundibugyo but I find it rather charming. It’s a scenic drive, particularly during the rainy seasons. Look out for cocoa plantations along the route.
- Enjoy the Rift Valley scenery. As you drive from Fort Portal, skirting the Rwenzori foothills to the left, there are a number of roadside stops where you can take photographs. To your right is the Kijura Escarpment, the “eastern wall of the Rift Valley” according to Andrew Roberts’ excellent maps of Uganda.
If you love birds, a tranquil pace, seriously great food and stimulating company, you will love Semliki Safari Lodge. It’s perfect for seasoned safari-goers who want to reconnect with nature.
Would you like to visit Semliki? Which activities would you try?
Read more about Semliki Safari Lodge in my Travel Directory and, if you make an enquiry, please mention the Muzungu sent you 😉
Will you support the campaign to save Bugoma Forest?
Bugoma Forest: A garden of Eden under threat.
As regular Diary of a Muzungu readers know, I’m passionate about the environment. It’s devastating to hear how advanced the plans are to destroy yet more indigenous forest. The campaign to #SaveBugomaForest is gathering momentum – but do we have time? I’m delighted to see the New Vision Group promoting the cause to save Bugoma Forest. Thank you to New Vision Group for allowing me to republish this article by Gerald Tenywa, first published by them on 30th September 2020.
Scroll down to watch a short video clip from Malcolm Webb of Al Jazeera entitled Uganda: Bugoma forest reserve facing destruction.
Vision Group begins a campaign to save Bugoma Forest.
ENVIRONMENT | #SAVEBUGOMAFOREST
A chunk of Bugoma Forest Reserve is being cleared for sugarcane growing. There is no doubt this will bring jobs and some social services closer to the people. But the encroachment could start and soon the whole forest will be gone. Dire climate change consequences will follow. Today, Vision Group begins a campaign to save Bugoma Forest.
The birds chirp in the trees. Not far away, black and white colobus monkeys shy away as a tiny path into the wildlife sanctuary unveils what part of the 41,000ha Bugoma Forest Reserve offers. The birds and monkeys are part of Bugoma Central Forest. It is their natural home. But they are threatened with eviction as part of the forest is being cleared for sugarcane growing.
The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), gave a go-ahead to the sugar project, an indication that it sees no negative impact on the environment when the forest is replaced by sugarcane. Yet, once it is cleared the birds and chimpanzees will not have a home.
Already, they have been under threat from farmland and logging activities. A Vision Group team is in the forest, accompanied by Nazario Asiimwe, a tour guide. Chimpanzees cry out, jumping from one tree to another.
Asiimwe explains the loud cries as grumbling because the chimps are not comfortable with the intrusion into their homeland. “This is one of the better days when you do not have to labour to see some of Bugoma’s best kept secrets,” Asiimwe says.
He explains that on some days you have to walk for hours before you can spot a chimpanzee or colobus monkey.
Costantino Tessarin, an investor in tourism accommodation, says Bugoma is endowed with chimpanzees. He points out that some of them are undergoing habituation.
Habituation is a process through which primates such as chimpanzees get used to human presence without losing their wild character. The habituation of the chimps in Bugoma started last year and they could be open to tourism in the coming year.
Already, primate tourism in Bugoma is generating a lot of interest. This is because an endemic species of monkeys known as the Ugandan mangabey has become an eye-catcher for tourists. “Ugandan mangabeys are the flagbearers of Bugoma,” Tessarin says, adding that animals are also being re-introduced in the nearby Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve.
Tessarin says to track the Ugandan mangabey, tourists have to part with $40 (sh150,000). This is higher than the nature walk which goes for $25 (sh100,000). Tracking chimps could go for as a high as $200 (sh740,000).
In other parks with chimps, Ugandans part with sh150,000 to track them. Resident non-nationals (expatriates) pay $150 (sh553,000) and foreign tourists $200 (740,000). Tourism is the highest foreign exchange earner in Uganda.
In 2017, Uganda earned $1.4b from the sector. This was expected to double to $2.7b (sh9.8 trillion) by 2020. Tourism earnings are about 10% of Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product, according to the Uganda Tourism Board.
Given that Hoima is located only 200 km from Kampala, Bugoma and Kabwoya could become the tourism destination nearest to Kampala. Mbarara where Lake Mburo National Park is found and Mbale that is blessed with Mt. Elgon National Park are located 240km from the capital city. Murchison Falls National Park is 203 km away.
BIG TOURISM POTENTIAL
Tessarin says the tourism potential of Bugoma and Kabwoya wildlife reserve is immense, but is barely being scratched.
He says Bugoma promises to become a stopover for tourists heading to the northern tourist circuit (Murchison Falls National Park) and the southern tourist circuit (Queen Elizabeth National Park, Kibale National Park and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park).
The prospects of Bugoma and Kabwoya as a stopover have increased with the construction of the road linking the Kampala-Gulu highway to Fort Portal through Kigumba, Masindi, Hoima and Kyenjojo.
In addition to the Kigumba-Kyenjojo road, Bunyoro has been networked with the construction of the oil roads. The connectivity will increase further with the construction of Hoima International Airport.
The discovery of oil is also bringing many people, including workers and expatriates, to Hoima and Buliisa. This could become part of the market Bugoma and Kabwoya should be looking up to. “Bugoma could be the new tourism hub,” Tessarin says.
In 2018, the hotel hosted 196 tourists. The number increased to 276 last year. This year, the numbers were projected to increase to 350400 before COVID-19 spoilt Bugoma’s party.
Another accommodation facility was supposed to be set up at Lwera. However, the investment in a second lodge is being discouraged by the encroachment on Bugoma by the expansive sugarcane plantation.
SUGARCANE IN BUGOMA
Hoima Sugar Limited, a private company, is moving into the heart of Bugoma, clearing part of the ancient forest for growing of sugarcane. The sugar company leased the land from Gafabusa Iguru, the king of Bunyoro.
This was three days after the Bunyoro king acquired a land title for the land, which also houses a cultural site for the kings of Bunyoro. This land was carved out of Bugoma after the king of Bunyoro claimed ownership of the land adding that not far from Bugoma are Kabwoya and Lake Albert.
At Bugoma, Tessarin is turning his dreams into reality. He has built Jungle Lodge at the fringes of Bugoma Forest.
As Hoima Sugar clears 5,779.7ha, part of Bugoma near Nsozi in Kyangwali sub-county, MZ Agencies is also clearing a swathe of forest sitting on 2,000ha from Kisaru. The two investments are eating into the heart of Bugoma towards Kaseeta.
Mustafa Zaidi, a tycoon in Hoima city, owns MZ Agencies. This will not only destroy the beauty of Bugoma, but also pose a risk to the chimps that are categorised as endangered species. Muhangaizima, where the companies are operating, is where most of the 600 chimps housed by the forest stay.
“The chimps are going to lose their habitat,” says Bashir Hangi, the public relations manager of Uganda Wildlife Authority. “Do you know what this means? Human-wildlife conflicts are going to escalate. The chimps are going to get into contact with the human population and grab their children as well as destroy crops.”
Link to original article on New Vision.
SAVE BUGOMA FOREST CAMPAIGN supporters include the Uganda Tourism Association, Association of Uganda Tour Operators, Association of Uganda Tour Guides, Association of Uganda Travel Agents, Uganda Jungle Lodges Ltd, Rosaline Place LTD, Destination Jungle Ltd, NGO Uganda Coalition, Association for the Conservation of Bugoma Forest, Association of Scouts of Uganda, Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust, Joint Energy and Environment Projects (JEEP), Tree Talk Plus, Care International, ACODE, Youth Leading Environment Change (YLEC), Bugoma Chimpanzee Project, Eco-trust, NAPE.
Please share the links and let’s #SaveBugomaForest.
Got anything to add? Please share it here.
Entebbe International Airport reopens
Uganda Civil Aviation Authority directives for resumption of international flights
The Muzungu writes: Entebbe International Airport is open again. Many Ugandans and expats have been returning to Uganda and they report that the COVID-19 protocols at Entebbe Airport are generally working well. The official statement from Uganda Civil Aviation Authority below raises a few questions so do note everything is subject to change. There is no quarantine now unless you arrive with symptoms. Self-isolation is recommended option now for majority of positive COVID-19 cases.
UPDATE May 2021: travel remains subject to change so I draw your attention to the comments below this blog post. At the time of writing, flights from India to Uganda are banned. Numerous countries are required to have an additional PCR test on arrival in Uganda.
UPDATE November 2021: I am regularly updating the blog post Latest COVID-19 health measures at Entebbe International Airport so if you are travelling soon, please bookmark that page.
This is the official statement. First published October 4 2020 by Tony Ofungi
Ahead of the resumption of all scheduled and non-scheduled passenger flights in and out of Entebbe on 1st October, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of the Republic of Uganda issued directives regarding the resumption of international flights.They were contained in a letter signed off by Fred Bamwesigye Ag. Director-General, the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority as follows:
1. All arriving passengers on international flights whose body temperature is NOT above 37.5° C (99.5°F); do not have a persistent cough, difficulty in breathing, or other flu-like symptoms; have negative PCR based COVID – 19 test carried out within 72 hours before travel shall be exempt from quarantine.
NOTE December 2020: the PCR test period has a longer window now: it must be carried out within 120 hours of touchdown at Entebbe (not 72 hours).
i. For passengers presenting with symptoms at Entebbe International Airport without a test result, a sample will be collected upon arrival and the individual is required to quarantine at his / her cost until the result is returned. The sample will be tested at the individual’s cost.
ii. Testing of any of the recent travelers will be symptom-based, in the event that they develop symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
iii. Contacts to recent travelers that develop symptoms consistent with COVID-19 will be advised to self-quarantine for 14 days and tested if symptomatic. The contacts that are in the high-risk category will be prioritized for testing to ensure early diagnosis and management.
iv. The most vulnerable individuals will be prioritised for tracking, testing and care if infected.
v. Self-isolation and self-management, under well-defined Standard Operating Procedures and clear referral pathways will be instituted for the asymptomatic non-high-risk individuals.
vi. Health facility-based isolation and care will be preserved for the moderately, severely and critically ill case-patients.
vii. Consideration will be made for auxiliary non-health facility-based isolation and management of mild cases especially among the high-risk categories.
2. All crew shall be exempt from quarantine after operating any flight if they have negative PCR based COVID – 19 test carried out within 14 days before travel, their body temperature is not above 37.5° C (99.5°F); do not exhibit symptoms of COVID–19 and there is no suspected case of COVID-19 on their flight. With a suspected case of COVID-19 on the flight, the crew shall be quarantined at home or designated facility. If results are negative they shall be allowed to resume normal duties.
3. Air operators shall be responsible for ensuring: the passengers are tested prior to travel; proper screening; medical briefing and reporting any cases to the relevant authorities.
4. Passengers traveling out of Uganda will be required to have an Authentic Valid Negative PCR test Certificate and abide by the particular travel, health and COVID-19 related requirements of the Destination Country.
5. Passengers arriving on flights after the curfew, with a valid Air Ticket and Boarding Pass shall be allowed to proceed to their hotels and/or residences.
6. Drivers should have evidence that they have come from Entebbe Airport to drop or pick up passengers.
7. Passengers departing on flights after the curfew, with a valid Air Ticket and Boarding Pass shall be allowed to proceed to their departure airport.
8. Air Operators shall provide guidance material to passengers regarding the application of the preventive measures on board.
9. Where physical distancing cannot be guaranteed because of the seat configuration or other operational constraints, the crew members will make constant on-board announcements reminding passengers to adhere at all times to all the other preventive measures including strict hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette and should wear a surgical face mask. In addition, other measures such as cabin high-efficiency particulate filters (HEPA) where available will be employed.
10. Uganda Civil Aviation Authority is reviewing the frequency and timing of flights to facilitate physical distancing at Entebbe International Airport. So far only 12 airlines have resumed operations including Turkish, RwandAir, Ethiopian Airlines, Emirates, Tarco Air, FlyDubai and Kenya Airways.
Related blogs you may find useful:
When can I travel to Uganda? post-lockdown FAQs based on Qs and As with travelers. September 2020
Coronavirus survival tips: how to work from home based on a decade working from home in Uganda.
Bracing ourselves for Coronavirus in Uganda comprehensive health advice, updated regularly.
Uganda tourist visas – apply online or buy on arrival at Entebbe Airport.
The Muzungu adds: I’m in daily contact with travelers and the tourism industry and am always happy to answer your questions. Contact me or post your questions here in the comments so other travelers can benefit from our experiences and knowledge.
Conservation in Africa during the Pandemic: podcast interview
Charlotte Beauvoisin talks to Kojo Bentum-Williams about Conservation in Africa during the Pandemic.
The VA Tourism Podcast is a dedicated platform for discussing happenings in the travel and tourism sector. It is hosted by Kojo Bentum-Williams, the Managing Editor and Publisher of Africa’s Leading Travel Media VoyagesAfriq Travel Media.
Listen to the VA Tourism Podcast here (25 minutes). Below is a transcript of our conversation (with links to further reading).
Kojo, VoyagesAfriq: tell us a little about yourself and what you do in Uganda.
My name is Charlotte. My Ugandan name is Nagawa, which in the local language means that I am the protector of the Red-tailed Monkey Nkima. I have a lot of fun with this name. Some of my Ugandan friends call me Nagawa and don’t even know me as Charlotte! Read “Nagawa, you cowardised – a detour via the Congo.”
It’s quite poignant to be called Nagawa because it has a strong conservation message: when you have a Kiganda name you automatically have a totem. It’s your responsibility to protect your totem and I have (quite a glamorous) monkey. Some people have a mushroom, or a tree totem and they are not allowed to kill the animal or eat it or chop down that tree so there’s a nice conservation aspect to having a Kiganda name. Read “Bwindi – eye to eye with my totem.”
Uganda is my adopted home. I’ve been here since 2009 when I arrived as a volunteer with the Uganda Conservation Foundation (UCF), a British charity that does a lot of work on Human Wildlife Conflict and antipoaching in the National Parks. I came here on a two-year contract as a VSO volunteer. VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) is for professional volunteers who want to share their skills with developing countries.
I ended up in Uganda not knowing very much at all about the country. I had heard of Idi Amin and Lake Victoria, but I don’t think I knew much else about Uganda. However, I loved Uganda as soon as I got here. It’s a very beautiful country with incredibly welcoming people. Read “Why #VisitUganda? Dispelling a few myths.”
I had some really great experiences with UCF. We would go to Queen Elizabeth National Park and hang out with the rangers. The most interesting part (of volunteering with UCF) wasn’t just the wild animals but meeting the villagers, the subsistence farmers who live on the edge of the National Park who have to put up with buffaloes and elephants and other animals that were trying get into the shambas and eat their crops. Read “How do you deal with an elephant in your garden?”
UCF has interventions like an elephant trench which is a long trench – several kilometres long in places. The idea is that it is a physical barrier that stops an elephant wandering into your garden. Elephants are incredibly destructive; what they don’t eat, they can trample. That was my first job here in Uganda – fundraising and marketing for UCF.
Our aim was to build the capacity of rangers that work in Queen Elizabeth National Park. In these big remote areas, it’s hard to cover a lot of ground and generally the poachers know the area better than anyone else. We gave the rangers capacity to patrol using boats on the lakes and rivers; it’s quicker to jump in a boat and go straight across the lake than it is to find the vehicle, find the fuel and drive round the lake. Doing things ‘the old way’ on land gave the poachers time to escape. Read “Anti-poaching: the answer’s in the gum boots!”
I cut my teeth in conservation in Uganda although I’m not a conservationist by training, I’m a marketing manager. Uganda is such a diverse country – and a developing country with many environmental issues – so I spend a lot of time volunteering to promote anti-poaching, birdwatching, gorilla tracking and more. Conservation is my big passion and I’m still very actively involved in lots of conservation projects.
Kojo, VoyagesAfriq: At what point did you come into media? When did you launch Diary of a Muzungu?
I heard this blog word about 10 years ago and thought blogging sounded like something I’d like to do. I was working in proposal writing in London, so I had the formal training of business writing and gradually built up my portfolio of CSR projects. I liked writing for the staff newsletter and that kind of thing, so I came into communications through corporate-type work.
I had a strong desire to come and live in Africa (since I was a teenager in fact), and the blog was a way to document this life changing-experience. Rather than write lots of emails to friends and family back home, I said to them ‘if you’re interested in my new life, why don’t you follow my blog?’ That’s how Diary of a Muzungu started.
Early stories were about me sleeping under a mosquito net for the first time and going out into the bush with the rangers. The first few months in Uganda were really amazing. I love birds and the tropical birds that we have just outside our window here in Uganda were things I wanted to shout about all the time. Read “Birds send my heart a flutter.”
The blog was a hobby that kind of got out of control! After a couple of years, I met a Ugandan tourism marketing lecturer who told me I was promoting Uganda in a way no-one else was. This was a lightbulb moment for me. I had no idea I was promoting Uganda. I thought I was just telling the world about my new life and conservation issues here. Now I write to promote Uganda and East Africa for tourism, but a lot of my stories are about conservation because those issues are really dear to me.
Kojo, VoyagesAfriq: How has COVID pandemic affected Uganda? And how has COVID affected conservation in Uganda?
Uganda is not doing badly right now. [This podcast was recorded at the end of August 2020]. We have less than 20 deaths from coronavirus but things have gathered speed over the last two weeks and Ugandans are now starting to realise that COVID is real and that we have to take action. Unfortunately, people are quite reluctant to wear masks and people who have them don’t wear them properly and don’t understand you have to social distance as well. In terms of awareness, we are very much behind the curve here but fortunately the number of infections is comparatively low by comparison, for example, with Kenya and Tanzania. The deaths remain low and we have a very young population (over half the population is under 35) so we are hopeful that we won’t suffer too much because the economy is on its knees. The airport and the borders have been closed for almost five months and tourism is the number one foreign revenue earner. A lot of people are really suffering financially.
Kojo, VoyagesAfriq: Looking at conservation, a lot of funding for National Parks across Africa is through tourism. How are people navigating that now that tourism is effectively shut?
To answer that, let me give you a description of where I live.
I live on the edge of Kibale National Park in Western Uganda which is 795 km². It’s one of our top parks because of the chimpanzee population. There are 13 types of primate here, but the chimpanzees are the people (rather our ‘relatives’) that tourists come to see. Chimpanzee tracking tourism is shut* so even though some of the parks have reopened the primate parks (with chimpanzees and gorillas) remain closed. That’s because we know that they are susceptible to COVID because we are approximately 98% the same DNA.
*Chimpanzee tracking tourism has been reopened since the recording of the podcast.
I live at a place called Sunbird Hill. The land touches the National Park and so the lack of tourism has devastated everything that has been happening around here. All the people that we interact with are guides or rangers and most of them lost their jobs, or nominally still have a job but have been sent home with no money or a bit of pocket money.
The people from the village are doing a little better because they can still farm. We live in a very lush area, so we have two harvests. Villagers are planting cassava, beans, Irish and sweet potatoes, millet and ground nuts.
As for the guides who move up and down the country, they are not getting any tourists. They are not driving tourists around and not getting tips (which can be worth as much as the actual salary). Our guides are really affected because not only are they without salary, they also miss the tips, which are sometimes in dollars.
The Uganda Wildlife Authority have committed to keeping everything going for a year and the UWA Executive Director Sam Mwandha announced that they would carry on funding the anti-poaching patrols until July 2021. They committed to 12 months but there is a huge amount of insecurity within the conservation sector – and of course the tourism sector – because we don’t how long the pandemic is going to last for and at what point we need to source extra money into running those reserves. Read Uganda Wildlife Authority discusses wildlife protection during the pandemic on Facebook Live.
Uganda’s savannah parks have reopened but who’s going there? We don’t have a lot of domestic tourists and besides, domestic tourists pay a lot less than international tourists do to enter the parks. We are in a dire situation now and I’m not sure how we going to make up the shortfall in the long run.
Fundraising is happening, however. African Wildlife Foundation, for example, has been very visible throughout the pandemic and they’ve fundraised to support rangers. Even though a ranger may be on a salary from the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the concern is that these rangers worry about losing their jobs and may turn a blind eye to people going to the parks to poach. We have seen the increase in poaching across Africa and most of it, we believe, is for subsistence. However, there’s still a danger of the commercial poaching element coming in and taking advantage of the fact that people don’t have the money that they used to; also, some rangers can be persuaded to turn a blind eye or will even become poachers themselves.
Kojo, VoyagesAfriq: Sometimes there is a misconception that nature is getting a break in the face of pressures such as land grabbing, illegal mining, wildlife poaching and so on? What’s your stance on that?
We have seen the chimps many times from private land and I do wonder whether they miss human interaction. However, my feeling is that the chimpanzees and gorillas might be enjoying a holiday during lockdown. Although you only spend an hour with the primates if you go on an organised tour, these animals are wild and I’m sure they prefer just being left to do their own thing.
We have seen clearer skies across the world so it’s wonderful to see the environment recovering. Mount Fuji for example is visible and Mount Kenya can now be seen from Nairobi.
I do feel that wildlife and Protected Areas are recovering to some degree but then I’m very concerned about areas that are not Protected Areas; in fact, most of Africa’s wildlife is outside the gazetted areas of the National Parks and Conservancies. Here, for instance, on the edge of Kibale National Park we know a bushbuck was poached. It is not a rare animal but it’s not common to see one so I was very disappointed to find that Sunbird Hill’s site guide (and reformed poacher) found a trap and evidence that an animal was killed on our land a few weeks ago. That’s the first time that we’ve heard of animals being poached on this part of land. We also hear that there was a plan to catch an elephant recently.
The pressing issue we have now is the increasing human wildlife conflict: we had elephants on our land last night. They did quite a lot of damage as they were in our neighbours’ banana plantation and were uprooting cassava and sweet potatoes too. If you don’t have tourists and you don’t have a regular income now – more than ever – you need all those crops. You really don’t need elephants or chimps or baboons coming in and destroying everything, sometimes in one night. Some kids told us that villagers were trying to catch an elephant perhaps because the elephant was going on their land or was it because they are looking for extra money and they want the ivory? (I don’t think you can just kill an elephant and sell the ivory just like that but the plan to kill an elephant is unexpected).
At the same time, more trees are being felled outside the Protected Area. Climate change is going to suffer as a result of thisbecause people are cutting trees to burn charcoal. Charcoal burning creates ‘quick and easy money’ so we are really worried about the environment outside the protection of the National Park.
Kojo, VoyagesAfriq: In terms of policy, have you heard any deliberate policies from the Ugandan government so that we don’t roll back the country’s conservation achievements?
I’m impressed that UWA has made the public commitment to keep people in their jobs and to keep the law-enforcement patrols over the coming year but beyond that I haven’t seen anything from government about supporting conservation in Uganda (during and beyond the pandemic).
I think individuals are trying; individual tour companies and conservation organisations, for example, are trying to do what they can, fundraising for villagers who traditionally earn from tourism but I don’t see anything from government, but somebody may correct me if I’ve missed that.
Kojo, VoyagesAfriq: Do you think domestic tourism in Uganda has good prospects?
I like looking to Kenya to see what they’ve done with their domestic tourism. They have completely overhauled tourism in Kenya over the last five years. It’s incredibly impressive and I love meeting Kenyans because when they go away for the weekend they go to the Maasai Mara or Mombasa. They are incredibly adventurous so it is possible, but Uganda is much further down the line. Having said that, I do meet Ugandans in their 20s and early 30s who are adventurous. They like to travel in groups and they like to go away for weekends somewhere and party. Some of them are into safari activities as well. People might say ‘Africans don’t want to go on safari to see animals.’ Actually, that’s not quite true; I think the younger demographic gets it and they are interested in conservation issues and going out and exploring and seeing animals. Read “How to be a tourist – my top four tips for Ugandans who want to travel.”
Older Ugandans who travel (40s, 50s and above) are still more likely to want to go to Mombasa or somewhere outside Uganda. They don’t see Uganda as a holiday destination and that’s partly because the pricing and the packages haven’t been right but we do talk a lot about domestic tourism now in Uganda and hopefully the moment is right for that. We really need Ugandans and expats living in Uganda to make lodge bookings and to keep the revenue coming in to keep people in jobs.
Kojo, VoyagesAfriq: what is one thing that you think we should do better post-pandemic in the tourism world?
There have been some silver linings during coronavirus for me. Living on the edge of National Park I spend a lot of time outdoors. I have always been an outdoors kind of person but I notice that if I get fed up, I go outside for just five minutes and nature resets my brain. It puts me on a more positive wavelength just noticing the flowers and hearing the birds sing.
I think that’s a feeling that many people have had around the world, even people in towns and stuck in apartments, they have had a yearning to be outside and go to the park
I hope we remember this. I hope we harness this feeling because this could be really powerful: the feeling that nature can make you feel so much better about yourself and about life. How do we harness that so people understand the intrinsic value of nature and wildlife, rather than seeing it as a commodity?
#LockdownDiaries
I think things go through phases don’t they? Some would say ‘let’s give a value to an elephant because then we are more likely to protect it, if we see it as a tourism investment’ but let’s not forget that all these living things also have an intrinsic value which I know has really kept me positive during this time.
[Read my #LockdownDiaries that document my daily nature walks. Story no. 12 finds us birdwatching in Semliki Wildlife Reserve in Uganda’s Rift Valley].
I’m a travel blogger so I’m normally on the road. I’m also a digital marketing trainer and specialise in teaching tour operators and tourism businesses so everything I normally do has been put on hold. It’s therefore been really important to get out there and be intrigued and captivated by nature. How do we harness that going forward – that pure joy of nature?
I’ve been listening to a lot of audiobooks. I rarely get newspapers and I have really relied on reading and audiobooks. I noticed that one of the top audiobook downloads was the sound of the forest; it comprises thirty minutes of raindrops and a waterfall. That audiobook showed me how people really yearn for this positive connection with nature. Let’s remember that feeling and try and work with that as we try and push our way out of this situation.
Kojo, VoyagesAfriq: what is your message to tourists and travellers: what ethics do we need to adhere to?
This is a great opportunity for us to rethink how we travel and to plan to travel more sustainably. I was interested to hear your podcast with Judy Kepher Gona of Sustainable Travel Tourism Agenda (STTA) in Kenya who is doing fantastic work regarding sustainable tourism and the future. This is not just about protecting wildlife and getting community involvement in all aspects of the value chain but also looking at reducing our carbon footprint when we travel.
I would like visitors to interact more with communities and to travel more responsibly. I would like to see plastic water bottles banned. Kenya has banned them from the National Parks in June this year. (Please don’t track with a plastic bottle – bring your own refillable metal bottle). These small things make a big difference. As I say, I live on the edge of a National Park and we don’t want a tour van to turn up and empty a day’s worth of plastic bottles with us. We are on the edge of a village; how do we recycle 20 plastic bottles?
I’d also say to potential visitors: if you are planning a holiday in Uganda or Africa, please postpone and don’t cancel. We need you here. It is not just about needing money, but we also need the exposure and the good stories that people take back home and share on Facebook, for example.
How do we support conservation during this lean period? If people can think about making cash donations in the short-term, then please do so because cash does make a big difference to the motivation levels of guides and rangers and local people. I’d also say – because it’s all connected – don’t eat bush meat and don’t buy ivory or wildlife products because this is what is driving the increase in poaching. It’s all connected. So many aspects of our lives are far more connected than we realised until this year.
Thanks Kojo for hosting me on VA Tourism Podcast!
