New silverback takes over leadership of Nyakagezi gorilla group

New silverback takes over leadership of Nyakagezi gorilla group.

Located in Mgahinga National Park in southern western Uganda, the Nyakagezi gorilla family is the only known habituated group. Together with Volcanoes National Park of the Democractic Republic of Congo, this little national park is part of the great virunga mountains and shares borders with Rwanda.

Ten members of the Nyakagezi gorilla family include five silverbacks, three females, one young adult and one baby. After habituation, members of a particular gorilla family are given names to help them find one other readily. These cover Mathew, Nshuti, Baby Rukundo, Mutagamba, Nvuyekure, mark and bugingo.

News reports from Mgahinga National Park indicate that Mark, said to be 53 years old, has taken over as leader of the Nyakagezi gorilla family from Bugingo. Rare among mountain gorillas and other animals, Bugingo still remains with the family; displaced silverbacks often flee from such households and either seek safety on another gorilla family or go alone.

Sometimes they will develop a new family from either a habituated or wild gorilla family. We have observed similar situations when Mwirima silver back went into seclusion after the dethronement from the leadership of the Mubare gorilla group.

From seven to 10 members is fantastic news for Uganda’s tourism because visitors want to hike mountain gorilla families with many members including silverbacks and young infants. All of this comes from improved conservation strategies used by Uganda Wildlife Authority and other participants in this fight.

Until this year, when they settled in Mgahinga National Park, the Nyakagezi gorilla family spent most of their time traveling between countries. This makes it impossible for Uganda Wildlife Authority to sell its gorilla permits in advance to a degree that would allow all individuals who would be interested in trekking the Nyakagezi gorilla family to reserve their gorilla permits on ground.

Since gorilla permits were available for both Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda, this hampered the growth of gorilla tourism in Mgahinga National Park since no visitor would spend money to come to Uganda hoping to trek Nyakagezi gorilla family.

The Park is now attracting quite a fair number of visitors who visit Mgahinga not only for gorillas but also for other activities including golden monkey experience and tracking, hiking of Mgahinga Volcanoes among other volcanoes including Sabinyo and Muhavura. The gorilla family is now permanently settled in. Batwa path also exposes visitors to the way of life and culture of the previously wooded populace that was driven out of Mgahinga and other south western Uganda national parks once they were gazetted.

Accessible by road and air, Mgahinga National Park is situated in Kisoro district in south-west Uganda. From Kampala, it is around 9-10 hours drive; from Kigali city in Rwanda, it is roughly 3 hours drive. For individuals who want to fly to the Park, charter and scheduled flights may be arranged at Kisoro airstrip, the closest and only one available.

You could decide to travel up to two hours to Mgahinga National Park, where numerous lodging facilities like Gahinga Volcanoes Lodge is leading from Kisoro town. You may stay in the well-known Kisoro Travellers rest Inn in Kisoro, where Dianne Fossel used to stay while in Uganda.

Pope’s visit good for Uganda Tourism

September 22, 2024 September 22, 2024
Katland Safaris
Religious tours and safaris, Travel Blog

Pope’s visit good for Uganda Tourism.

Uganda is lucky to have hosted the Pope first among nations in Africa. Pope Paul VI visited Uganda in 1969; Pope John Paul later paid the nation visits in 1993. Pope Francis has also indicated his plans to visit Uganda in November 2015, according the Catholic News Agency.

Pope Francis reportedly declared, “God willing, I will be in Africa in November.” In the Central African Republic initially and then in Uganda. His preparations indicate that the journey je mentioned would be “before the presidential transition in the central African Republic and Uganda later in November.”

Invited by President Yoweri Museven on his trip to the Vatican last year, the Pope will be visiting Uganda. Should this be the case, Uganda would be the first nation the Pope visits three times among African nations.

Should the Pope be able to visit Uganda, this would be fantastic news for tourism as He will be traveling in a large party and most resorts will gain from having meals and beds. Given that November is typically poor season for tourism in Uganda and most lodges and hotels are constantly vacant, funds obtained from this would surely assist to provide money to pay for their staff.

It will undoubtedly boost Uganda’s foreign currency influx. Uganda as a nation has been suffering from inflation and high exchange rate; as of right now, the dollar is trading at Uganda Shillings three thousand which requires some intervention and hopefully the arrival of the Pope and his group will result in foreign exchange inflow something that will affect the exchange rate and terms of trade.

This third Pope’s trip will help Uganda become more known as one of the most stable and possible travel destination in Africa. Most televisions will center Uganda and as such, Uganda will have the visibility needed to advertise it as a travel destination. Uganda has endured so much from its past marked by bush warfare, political unrest but in the last thirty years, it has had some relative peace leading to notable economic growth.

Popes group will also have some opportunity to go on excursions in Uganda most particularly the advance group. Tour operators should therefore be ready to arrange trips to Jinja, Kampala, and other areas that these individuals may visit while in Uganda.

Uganda is blessed by many tourism attractions, including the mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga, the longest river on planet earth, The Nile, The longest mountain ranges in the Rwenzoris, Chimpanzees in Kibale National Park, Budungo Forest and so much more.

Furthermore well-known for their friendliness are Ugandans, whose customs are somewhat distinctive. Should the Pope’s visit be successful, most of these tourist sites will be emphasized by media outlets something that can result in a rise in visitor numbers to Uganda in the next years after his visit.

Lake Mburo National Park Community Benefits

Lake Mburo National Park Community Benefits – Lake Mburo Safaris – Horse riding.

Uganda Wildlife authorities have kept their promise to provide some money or income back-off to the nearby Ugandan towns around National Parks. Three areas around Lake Mburo National Park of Isingiro, Mbarara, and Kiruhura have received more than two hundred and fifty million Uganda shillings, according to The Weekly observer.

These money will be used for initiatives chosen by local governments in these areas, including building healthy centers, road and many others as judged necessary. Uganda Wildlife Authority launched the income sharing scheme in order to strengthen her links with the nearby villages surrounding Uganda National Park.

Local communities used to use National parks directly for hunting, gathering firewood, herbs, honey among others but lost out on all these direct benefits something that drove a conflict between protected areas and the local communities around before they were gazzetted.

With regard to Lake Mburo National Park, the situation was not different. Originally communalally owned, the hea pastoralists utilized this area—which subsequently became a National Park—for grazing their Ankole long-horned cattle; however, their access to the park was blocked when it was gazzatted.

This culminated in a major confrontation between the hima and the park officials that ended in the death of every lion in Lake Mburo National Park. All pride of lions were poisoned to extinction, which led to a desire for people to sit and talk about with the nearby national parks.

From these conversations, it was decided that the local people most particularly impacted by the establishment of these National Parks should get a set proportion from gate collecting. Since then, this has been carried out as one of the plans to enhance parks and neighborhoods.

Among other creatures, lake Mburo National Park is well-known for its zebras and impalas. One may have a safari walk in the wild or a wildlife drive in addition to a boat tour on the lake. Popular for birdwatching is also Lake Mburo National Park; some resorts, like Mihingo, provide horseback riding as well.

Mihingo Lodge, Mantana Tented Camp, Rwakobo Rock, Arcadia Cottages, Lake Mburo Safari Lodge, Rwonyo Camp and many more such lodges dotting Lake Mburo National Park.

Of all the National Parks around Kampala, Lake Mburo National Park is the closest. From Capital City Kampala, it is around 4 hours’ trip via the stunning country side of Uganda adorned with road side shops offering fresh vegetables and fruits, drums like those at Mpambire royal drum manufacturers.

You also have a chance to stop over near the equator for basic experiments and pictures. If time allows, you might pause and enjoy the experience with the hima grazing their Ankole long horned cattle.

For all those visiting Uganda for gorillas who have some additional time, we advise spending at least one night in Lake Mburo National Park to experience this lovely national park as well as break the lengthy travel from Kampala to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Tourism sector priority in 2015/16 Uganda Budget

Tourism sector priority in 2015/16 Uganda Budget.

Every East African nation read out their budget yesterday, stressing the areas of greatest investment importance. This Budget at least acknowledged one industry that has long been underfunded.

According to the ministry of finance, government has focused on tourism as one of the sectors that can help Uganda avoid foreign currency luck-related issues. Uganda is looking at all feasible means of preventing the issue before it turns into major inflation because the dollars have been rising at the cost of the Uganda shillings. Although tourism has been Uganda’s top foreign currency earner for much of the previous years, a little budget has always been set aside for it.

This year’s budget shows that tourism has been set aside thirty billion shillings from sixteen billion shillings of previous year. The Ministry of tourist and Uganda Tourism Board will get this immediately to help with the yearly tourist investments.

The Executive Director Uganda Tourism Board says this is a welcome action since the extra money will assist in product development, so promoting Uganda as a tourism destination both domestically and internationally, training skills so as to match regional and global standards as well as be able to compete with regional neighbors such Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania.

Uganda has been struggling to market herself as a tourism destination due to lack of enough funds coupled by poor leaders at the top but with the appointment of the New CEO of Uganda Tourism Board and the development of an independent ministry of tourism, the situation is gradually changing for the benefit of the sector. For the commercial sector, particularly Tour operators and Hoteliers who have been funding themselves to visit international expos and shows for much of their careers, this is truly welcome news.

The aforementioned not withstanding; the private sector has objected to Government demand on VAT that was implemented throughout all-up country lodges last year. Based on figures from past years, hotel occupancy has dropped by 30% from 50% according to a press conference/release released yesterday at Uganda Tourism Board. Since VAT caused prices to rise, visitors were forced to leave Uganda as a travel destination.

With the increase in the sector budget, introduction of a single east African visa, tightening of security, creation of an enabling investment environment and infrastructure development with go a long way to help the country develop its tourism sector so that tourists can get to know Uganda.

The nation and industry would be perceived as headed in the correct route if everything that was shown in the budget—including promoting Uganda, creating prospective tourist goods as well as building skills—were also aligned. Since what has been provided is still much below what Rwanda, Kenya, and Tanzania are giving, we keep pushing government to finance the tourist industry more.

who is eligible to trek gorillas in Uganda and Rwanda?

gorilla tracking activities take occur in Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Katland Safaris gives unmatched experience to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Mgahinga National Park as well as volcanoes National Park Rwanda. There are things you should know before you and your family begin organizing a gorilla trip to help you avoid frustration.

Age restriction for gorilla treking in Rwanda and Uganda

The age restrictions or prerequisites for one to hike gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or Volcanoes National Park are the same for Uganda and Rwanda. The administration of Uganda Wildlife guarantees that all those trekking gorillas in Uganda ought to be fifteen years or above.

They are rather rigorous on this and to show this; every individual is expected to provide their passport data at the time of acquiring a gorilla permit and also before one embarks on the journey.

Though this is the response, some parents who want to accompany their children often ask this question. Conservation is the reason for this as it has been scientifically shown that youngsters will never show the emotion when they come across these mountain gorillas. They might yell or flee, which would lead to a scenario wherein mountain gorillas could assault those who had come to hike them.

The second reason is that while mountain gorillas are already in threat, their alleged 94% human nature means that humans share identical DNA and may readily transmit illnesses to them. Children are thought to be able to readily transmit these illnesses to mountain gorillas, therefore helping to lower the already small population of these animals.

You need a Uganda or Rwanda Gorilla permit.

One must have a gorilla permit granted by Rwanda Development Board (RDB) either for Volcanoes National Park or Uganda Wildlife Authority in case of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or Mgahinga National Park to track mountain gorillas in Rwanda or Uganda. Discounts are regularly offered; a gorilla permit in Rwanda costs USD150.00 per person per trip; in Uganda, it costs USD800.00 both in high and low seasons.

Discount gorilla permits starting in 2013 have been USD450 in April, May, and November. When you arrange all services—including lodging, transportation with us— Katland Safaris helps you get a gorilla permit at no additional cost.

As a corporate policy, we always advise all of our prospective customers to always book their gorilla permits at least three months in advance as most notably during busy seasons, gorilla permits tend to sell out rapidly. This is so because trekking mountain gorillas in any nation is impossible without a gorilla permit.

Has to be in excellent health.

Humans may readily spread illnesses to mountain gorillas, hence all people who want to follow gorillas in Uganda and Rwanda should first see their medical physicians before they even go down to Bwindi, impenetrable national park or Volcanoes National park. You won’t be able to hike gorillas should it be found that you are not in excellent health.

Should it so transpires that you contracted the illness one day before, you have to prove this by providing a medical doctor’s report; in this case, you could be entitled to a refund from Uganda Wildlife Authority, who oversee all national parks in Uganda and handle gorilla permit sales.

Please get in touch with our team to get more information on who is illegible to hike mountain gorillas; they will be ready to guide you appropriately. A lifelong journey, gorilla tracking has to be planned in line with those who know the dos and do nots.

Aerolink reviews their routing

Aerolink reviews their routing – Flying safaris and tours – Chattered flights.

First inside air firm to support planned interior flights to Uganda National Parks is Aerolink Uganda. They started a business in 2013 and have made a great name for themselves in Uganda. First running regular flights to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park landing at Kihihi Airstrip and Kisoro for the northern and southern sectors of the forest respectively, this Kenyan firm subsequently launched flights to Queen Elizabeth National Park landing at Mweya and Kasese Airstrip.

They reach Pakuba and Bugungu Airstrip in Murchison Falls National Park. All these were daily flights from and to Entebbe.

They later expanded their path to Kidepo National Park and Semiliki National Park as business developed. Their efforts did, in fact, lessen the monopoly Fly Uganda had created by means of competition brought about by their entrance into the market, therefore lowering prices.

Aerolink decided to make sure that for all those who wish to fly to Murchison Falls National Park must do so on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday with set conditions which include: There must be a minimum number of four people booked and confirmed and all flights must happen in the afternoon as business kept on shaping.

Anyone wishing to travel on any other day has to apply minimum seven times. The same is true of individuals who would like to travel to Kidepo National Park. This has hampered Uganda Tour companies who cannot raise a minimum of four individuals and connecting customers to fly on the designated dates is not easy.

The good news is that they have at least maintained two regular flights to Kihihi as well as Kasese Airstrip and have never raised their flight rates since their launch. Starting Entebbe Airport at 7:30 a.m., the morning flight arrives to Kihihi or Kasese one hour later.

The afternoon flight leaves Entebbe at 15:30 p.m. and lands Kihihi or Kasese at 13:45 hours. For those leaving Kihihi to Entebbe, the craft departs Kihihi at 9:45 am and arrives in Entebbe at 11:20hrs. Afternoon flights leave Kihihi at 14:30 and arrive in Entebbe at 15:30 hours.

Contact Katland safaris who will be in position to book you a fly in safari at reasonable rates, check and let you know the available seats and then advise you whether you can connect to your destination on the first or last day.

Those interested in flying to the gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or to Queen Elizabeth National Park for game drives should contact Katland safaris. Should you book a fly-in safari with us, we, as tour operators, are kindly happy to split some commission with you.

For any updates on Aerolink planned flights, do not hesitate to contact us directly; should you be happy with our service, kindly forward us to your family and friends.

Gorilla tracking and Uganda Visa information

Gorilla tracking and Uganda Visa information.

You will find that before even buying your gorilla permits at that, you will need authorization to enter Uganda if you are there for gorilla tracking and other safari activities. Most foreigners will need a visa to enter Uganda, and this is really simple. One may use three different kinds of vias when visiting Uganda. These consist of east African visas, business and tourist visas.

Best site to apply for a visa

While most individuals would rather register for a Uganda visa before visiting the country, they may get their visas at any point of entry—Entebbe International Airport in this instance. This activity is rather simple, and immigrants’ staff is quite useful.

Usually depending on your place of origin, they will ask for a yellow card certificate, USD50 for your tourist visa, your return ticket, and if you have sufficient money to last you through Uganda. Once they are generated, the amount of days you want to spend in the nation will determine the visa you are granted.

We advise you to get your visa at Entebbe Airport instead of wasting your time since the disadvantage of getting your visa at a nearby Embassy or consul in your country is that you will incur expenses of transportation to and from the embassy as well as providing all necessary documentation including passport photos which you do not need to do if you acquire it upon arrival at Entebbe Airport.

East Afrian Visa

Applying for an East African visa, which costs US$100 and lets you visit all three East African nations, would be ideal if you would like to visit two or three of Uganda, Rwanda, or Kenya. You would have at least saved fifty bucks by doing this.

Using one East African Visa, you may visit Rwanda for gorilla tracking, Uganda for gorilla tracking, chimpanzee trekking, boat rides on the nile, Kazinga channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park or go to Kenya for the masai mara experience.

Applying this from any of the embassies where you will be beginning from would enable you cross boarders hassle-free. We would be pleased to assist you should you need any supporting documentation. Please get any advice on Uganda visas by getting in touch with our office.

A gorilla trekking safari to congo DRC

A gorilla trekking safari to congo DRC – Gorilla trekking permits.

When one discusses mountain gorilla treking, most nations that spring to mind for visitors and travel companies are Uganda and Rwanda. Over 400 mountain gorillas are said to be living in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park; others are thought to be residing in the virunga rangers distributed across Uganda, Rwanda, and Congo. Although The Democratic Republic of Congo also has the rare mountain gorillas, Uganda and Rwanda have hundreds of visitors annually interested in trekking and locating the rare mountain gorillas.

Popularly known as Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo is a nation in central Africa that borders Uganda in the east, Atlantic ocean in the west, Rwanda, Burundi and Angola in the south, and other nations in the north. Mostly in the Virunga national park, this vast nation has a great abundance of mountain gorillas, low land gorillas, chimpanzees, and other savannah animals. Among all these attractions, relatively few gorilla-loving visitors have chosen to follow gorillas in the Congo for a variety of reasons, including the great tropical rain forest.

Gorilla permits in The Democratic Republic of Congo are as little as USD400.00 per person compared to Rwanda’s USD1500.00 and USD800.00 in Uganda. This may be seen as an incentive, however the nation has not drawn enough visitors to its national Park.

One of the factors influencing gorilla tourism and trekking in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern region is insecurity there. Several rebel groups most notably from Uganda, Rwanda, and Congo do operate on this side of the nation making it difficult for gorilla tracking loving visitors to risk their lives for the purpose of visiting Congo for gorilla tracking and other tour activities. Using the dense tropical rain forest as their hiding place, these rebels frighten off potential visitors.

One other big issue is the impassability of the road on Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern side. Most visitors to Congo go by car, and many would not want to be caught in the middle of nowhere only for gorilla trekking. Last year, some news papers revealed a presidential convoy caught in mud meaning that, without a strong vehicle, chances of making it in and out are extremely low. As a result, visitors prefer visiting Uganda and Rwanda where good roads do exist and reaching gorilla is done with little difficulty.

The Democratic Republic of Congo still has low degree of lodging, thereby providing fewer options for visitors. Budget and premium choices abound in Uganda and Rwanda from which visitors may pick; so, in a circumstance when DRC cannot provide alternatives, it becomes quite tough to compete with Uganda and Rwanda.

Although the nation has so much to offer, very few visitors are not willing to endanger their life merely because of one day activities available elsewhere. Safety of our customers is paramount, so we do not work in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Gorilla tourism and communities around Bwindi impenetrable forest.

Shared across districts of Kabale, Kisoro, and Kanungu, Bwindi impenetrable National Park stretches a sizable portion of southwest Uganda. Almost half of all the mountain gorillas in the world live here, making over 400,000 total.

Before Bwindi Impenetrable forest was gazzatted as a national park, local people and villages in kisoro, kabale and kanungu used to directly profit from the forest by gathering firewood, harnessing honey, hunting forest elephants, monkeys among others. They would also gather plants and drugs to treat malaria and other diseases. Practically, the local population considered their own as Bwindi impenetrable forest and felt they had rights over it.

Using Uganda Wildlife Authority, the government of Uganda decided in 1991 to classify Bwindi Impenetrable forest as a national park. This meant that, in terms of direct forest use at least, the local kabala, kisoro, and Kanungu communities surrendered their mandate to the Uganda government.

our did not go well in certain areas of the community as one elderly man complained that “God made sure he supplied a resource to the local communities in each region when He was building this planet.” God provided them Lake Victoria in central Uganda as a resource to support them by giving water, fish and leisure and so for that matter, the people of Kabale, Kanungu and kisoro were given Bwindi Forest as source of survival interms of firewood, medicine, hunting and honey harnessing.

Tell your government, then, that what they are doing is unacceptable. The Batwa people, who had been living in this forest for hundreds of millions of years, had seen it as their home. Their own will drove them out of the woodland when it was gazzatted.

Looking at the above, one wonders whether gorilla tracking helps the communities more than it did in past times. Uganda Wildlife authority began using the local people as rangers and guides after it took over the forest, therefore enabling them to somewhat profit from it rather than destroy it. Uganda Wildlife Authority’s motto, “Conserving for generations,” led them to provide an opportunity to all young people—especially those in school—to work as porters for gorilla hikers in order to generate some school fees and money to purchase books. our is considered as directly benefiting the younger generation, who will shape the future of our nation.

Revenue sharing involved a certain percentage of park entrance fees paid by visitors being returned to the nearby communities to build roads, hospitals, and other infrastructure absent from Bwindi impenetrable National Park when gorilla tracking tourism had not begun. Actually, the communities are gaining from this more than they have ever done.

Thanks to gorilla tracking, several community enterprises have emerged around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. A testimony to the fact that gorilla tourism has indeed been a revelation in as far as community development is concerned is camp sites like Buhoma community Bandas, craft shops and so many small businesses around buhoma, Ruhija and in the southern part of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

UWA clarifies on Mgahinga discounted gorilla permits

UWA clarifies on Mgahinga discounted gorilla permits.

Today, Uganda’s wildlife authority has come out to correct the narrative that was written about in the weekly observer dated 29th May 2015. Details at http://www.observer.ug/business/38-business/38076-mgahinga-cuts-gorilla-ticket-fees.

The report above claims that Mgahinga gorilla licenses were allegedly decreased from USD700, the regular fee for all Uganda gorilla permits in peak season to USD350.00 in June 2015. The campaign, which runs from 1st to 30th June 2015, aims to draw more visitors to Mgahinga National Park, which is under competition from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

But data from Uganda Wildlife Authority’s Director of Tourism office shows no such indication of declining Mgahinga gorilla permits granted out from the agency. He stated that while Uganda Wildlife Authority would be offering low season discounts on all Uganda gorilla permits, be it for Bwindi National Park, every year UWA will be reviewing the fee to be paid from time to time.

For tour companies eager to get visitors to Maghinga National Park in June—high season—this story had created a lot of buzz. For anyone who want to monitor the endangered mountain gorillas using reduced gorilla permits, this means they will have to wait until November 2015 when they will be once again on sale.

More specifics about reduced gorilla permits and how to schedule reasonably priced gorilla trips still in our control.