Many Christians visit the Martyrs’ Shrine because they believe that the place is a sort of “God’s miraculous healing referral hospital” where all kinds of diseases can be healed.

This is why many believers and traditional healers carry “holy” water from Namugongo Martyrs’ Lake and tree barks to their homes to get blessings and heal diseases.

However, one of the things that attract people on this day is the Ndazabazadde tree, which intertwined with the original tree on which martyrs were tied and tortured to renounce their faith.
Ndazabazadde is a Luganda word literally meaning “wombs that give birth”.

The tree, standing fifty metres away from the main road and near to what is said to be the compound of Mukajanga, the martyrs chief executioner, has in the past years been visited by pilgrims from all walks of life.

However, the rate at which the tree is being ripped of its bark is worrying church authorities, tourists and environmentalists.
They fear that it (new Ndazabazadde) will soon disappear just as the original tree.

The danger is that the tree is being raided and almost phasing out before the authorities plant a similar species to hold the stump that remains peeping. The old tree has been in existence for over 120 years.

“Ndazabazadde faces a lot of environmental degradation whenever we celebrate the Martyrs day on June 3,” Rev. Francis Kajura says.
“We have to employ personnel to keep guard of this place otherwise the tree could be no more as traditional healers disguising as pilgrims come and peel off the bark,” Rev Kajura says.

He says that the surrounding communities and pilgrims struggle to get the bark from the tree assuming it cures a number of illnesses.
According to people who claim to have used the bark to heal sickness, there is no single disease on earth that it cannot cure. Mr Sunday Kakooza says the tree cures demonic related attacks, all types of cancer and brings fortune once water from its bark is drunk or bathed with.

Christians who visitedNamugongo Anglican Mukajjanga Shrine on June 3 cutting off the stem cover from the Ndazabazadde tree.

“A piece of the bark attracts good pay from traditional healers and a person in possession of it receives maiden local treatment,” Mr Kakooza says.

Though Rev. Kajura spent most of his time sensitising and denying pilgrims a chance to peel the tree bark during this year’s celebrations, all his efforts were falling on deaf ears.

“It’s your faith that can eliminate disease from your body not this tree bark that you are struggling for,” Rev Kajuura kept on telling the pilgrims.

George William Kyeyune, a student at Namugongo seminary attributes the raid on the species as ignorance for a host of reasons.
“Our people are still primitive to assume that healing power has been passed on to the new tree which has twinned the original stump of Ndazabazade,” he said.

Several attempts have been made by church officials to replant the tree seeds but they do not germinate. Although the Anglican Church raises income from the species, the tree does not have a potential environment security.

Damage caused on the tree stem in the recent past has left it with no healed scars and it may take almost two years for the species to be regained.

Rev. Kajura says the only thing that can save the tree is to fight primitive ideologies engulfing surrounding communities. He suggested that caging Ndazabazadde in the future could prevent people from accessing it.

East African Community (EAC) ministers in charge of immigration are yet to meet to consider a proposal for a common tourist visa-a proposal, which if adopted, would bring to the fore benefits of marketing East Africa as a single travel package.

Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda’s state-run tourism agencies already market East Africa at international fairs as a single destination but failure by immigration bosses to make progress on the adoption of the proposal, has failed an unprecedented move that would boost revenues and tourist numbers.
A Uganda immigration official told an East African consultative meeting on facilitation of air transport last week in Uganda’s eastern town of Jinja.  No progress has been made in Tanzania as the immigration bosses there are yet to meet to even consider the proposal.

The proposal was mooted by the Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) more than three years ago.
In Kenya,  the situation is the same as is the case in Tanzania, but there are plans to introduce visa stickers.

The EAC Council of Ministers, which is the designated decision-making authority on all matters that touch on the sovereignty, revenue, policy and immigration matters, is the organ that will ultimately adopt the joint visas for tourists.

A single tourist visa would allow tourists to travel through a series of endless borders to sample the unique attractions that East Africa has to offer.For Example toursit going for Uganda Tours, Kenya tour,  Tanzania Safaris and rwanda Tours would find it cheap and easy to buy our tour products.

The EAC Secretariat has listed the single tourist visa among its foremost future plans and had initially hoped that it would have been agreed upon by the five states, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania by November 2006.

Tourists continue to demand to sample the entire array of tourist attractions spread across the region, from Mombasa’s breathtaking beaches, Tanzania’s Ngorogoro Crater, the chimpanzee parks in Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda’s mountain gorillas and other wildlife safaris. While the technocrats are still considering the proposal, their reluctance to agree on a joint visa for tourists, has, however not crippled the joint promotional activity.

The strategy has been applied during international tourism exhibitions where tents of all the five member states have been placed close to each other. According to the plan, a tourist would apply for a visa in any one of the five states and would travel uninterupted to all the countries.

Tourist boards from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are the joint inventors of the plan, a crosscutting measure, which aims to standardise all tourism facilities in the region, including hotels and other tourism facilities.

Tanzania’s Tourist Board (TTB) favours a system where member countries market their tourist attractions independently with a joint banner bearing common features designed by the EAC Secretariat on the background of the booths. These initiatives are aimed at ensuring decisions made by the Council of Ministers on promotion and cooperation in tourism are implemented. Tanzania is Kenya’s most serious competitor as a destination for foreign tourists after the US followed by the UK and South Africa.

Uganda also ranks among the top 10 destinations in the world with a 6.2% preference level compared with the 21.7% who prefer to travel to  Tanzania is closer at 17.5%. These rankings are a powerful indicator that the East Africa region has potential to become one of the world’s biggest global  attractions as a single package rather than a disjointed bloc.Uganda Gorilla safaris are a key attraction for vistors to Uganda, while masai mara Safari are a key attarction for kenya safaris, while kilimanjaro tour is a key attraction for Tanzania

Kiiza Calah

 It has been realised that Female chimpanzees are hungry for sex with as many males as possible, and keep their mouths shut about it to boost their chances of luring the top chimps, a British university said yesterday.

Scientists at the University of St. Andrews studied the copulation calls — sounds they sometimes make during mating — of female chimpanzees in Uganda

like those at Ngamba Island, Kibale forest national park, Kaniyo Pabidi and Queen Elizabeth  to find out more about what they mean.

The Scottish institution’s team concluded that female chimps sometimes keep quiet during sex so their female rivals do not find out what they have been up to.

Evolutionary psychologists Simon Townsend and Klaus Zuberbuhler studied chimp behaviour in Uganda’s Budongo Forest over 16 months.

The team established that female chimpanzees hid their sexual activity when high-ranking females were nearby, perhaps in a bid to reduce competition for good quality males. This could prevent higher-ranking female chimpanzees from turning on them.

They also found the females produced more copulation calls when high-ranking males were around to attract them to have sex. The scientists believe that having sex with several males causes confusion among the male chimpanzees as to which one sired the offspring. The males are therefore less likely to kill any babies that might be theirs.

The study found no evidence that males were competing to have sex with females after they produced copulation calls, and no link between a female’s fertility and her use of the calls.

“Chimpanzee females adjusted their calling behaviour in flexible ways, potentially to avoid aggression from other females and possibly to secure future benefits from the socially important males,” the study said.

“Competition between females can be dangerously high in wild chimpanzees. These females use their copulation calls in highly tactical ways to minimise the risks associated with such competition.”

Kiiza Calah (safari news reporter)

katara lodge i s located just out side eastern side of the Queen Elizabeth national park, set on the edge of the hills overlooking the open savanna. Katara lodge accommodates 10 guests in 5 spacious thatched cottages with rich wooden floors and classic interiors. Each cottage commands breathtaking views of the park from the room, en-suit bathroom window and private balcony.

Each cottage has a queen sized starbed, which during thedry seaskon can be rolled out onto the private veranda sko tha guests can sleep directly under the starlit African Sky.

The main bar and dining area is a large thatched structure, completely open to the western side so that guests can enjoy the view of plains of Queen Elizabeth national park , with Rwenzori mountains providing a stunning backdrop on a clear day.

Activities for guest at in Queen Elizabeth National park include game drives through the park, launch trip on kazinga channel, chimp trekking in Kyambura Gorge, Maramagambo forest walk.

Kigali, Rwanda.

Byishimo (happiness) and Impano (gift), the world’s only surviving twin mountain gorillas in Rwanda made 4 years whereas 20 baby gorillas are yet to be named on June 21.

These twin gorillas in Rwanda were born on May 20, 2004 to a beautiful mother Nyabyitondere of the Susa Family of gorillas in the Volcanoes national park of Rwanda. The Director General of Rwanda Tourism Board, Ms Rosette Rugamba, could not imagine seeing these twin brothers live up to the present day. She said, “not only is the birth of gorilla twins very rare, but even when it happens; their survival is extremely unusual.”

Thanks to the gorilla mother, Nyabyitondere for the care she has offered to the twin gorillas despite the cold environment of the Volcanoes national park. The president of Rwanda, Mr Paul Kagame and his wife, Mrs. Jeanette Kagame, baptized the young blessing to the world and Rwanda, Byishimo (happiness) and Impano (Gift) in a public gorilla naming ceremony in 2005.

The twin gorillas’ survival is a symbolic testimony of prosperity of mountain gorillas in Rwanda. Rwanda’s international advocacy for gorillas’ conservation was launched in 2005. In May 2005, 30 Rwanda gorillas were named; the following year 12 new ones were given names and in 2007 only 23 were offered names.

In April 2007, the event reffered to as Kwita Izina - the brand name for the event was launched. With the theme, “Working Together for our Wildlife,” this year’s event will be attended by over 100 key personalities in wildlife conservation and business sectors. Rwanda is home to about a 1/3 of the 750 mountain gorillas that still survive in the world. Last year tourism was the second highest ranked foreign currency earner for Rwanda.

Rwanda has over years excelled in gorilla tracking safaris. A gorilla safari to Rwanda is one any visitor to Rwanda would can afford to miss. Besides, gorilla tracking safaris, Rwanda’s Nyungwe forest offers excellent primate safaris, especially chimpanzee safaris in Rwanda. 

The frenzy to industrialize remote areas is fast spreading. Many areas in Uganda are falling victim to this trend. The Uganda’s Maramagambo Rain Forest, which extends to Queen Elizabeth national park, and a habitat to several bird species and plants of immense medicinal value to human beings, has not survived this frenzy. Just miles away from Maramagambo, the French global industrial conglomerate Larfage’s local cement company Hima is likely to extend to its immediate neighborhood of the globally recognized Ramsar wetland site in search for limestone.

The Mpanga Gorge that extends from Kibale Forest national park into the Queen Elizabeth national park towards lake George has been subjected to a hydro-electric power plant development despite the national park boundary being cearly above the waterfalls, which puts the development in the vicinity of the protected area, something that is unpleasant to conservationists.

Surprisingly, the Mpanga River Gorge is a natural habitat to rare species of cycad trees which is the largest concentration in the world. A US-based company is preparing to clear off the whole forest, which a famous environmental journalist has termed as “a crime against our environment”.

Meanwhile Uganda Wildlife Authority has convened a meeting for business, academic and scientific opinion leaders in early June under the title, “Leadership for Conservation in Africa”. This meeting is to deliberate upon planned UWA investments in and around protected areas to make nature and wildlife based tourism a bigger economic force in Uganda.

The wildlife Conservation Authoritative body, Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) in Uganda, is looking for six investors who are ready to undertake development projects in Uganda Safari parks.

Basing on its procurement notice on its website, there is need for bidders to re-develop and manage the first three projects, i.e, Gwara Sport Fishing Concession on Victoria Nile in Karuma, Wildlife Reserve Ntoroko Tented Camp and Campsite in Toro, Semliki Wildlife Reserve, and the buffalo tented camp within Lake Mburo National Park.

More three bidders are also required for collaborative management of Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve, Matheniko-Bokora Wildlife Reserve, and
Ajai Wildlife Reserve. After selection, successful investors will sign concession agreements.

Inspection of the bid documents can be done at the UWA Procurement and Disposal Unit on Plot 7 Kira Road, Kamwokya at the cost of 50,000 Ug. Shillings, for the documents.Delivery of the bids deadline is June 4 at 11:00am. Opening of the bids is at 11:10 am in the presence of bidders or their representatives.

Recently UWA has been looking for potential investors who can promote gorilla tourism. It should be noted that mountain gorilla tourism has become the hottest tour product that East Africa can offer. Gorilla safaris to Bwindi and Mgahinga national parks has more than doubled in past five years. This trend has greatly enhanced Uganda gorilla safari packages of recent.

safarisgorilla on 11 Apr 2008

The executive director of the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), Mr Mapesa has been grilled for exclusively giving gorilla tracking permits in Nkuringo, lacated in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, to one tour company. In a stormy meeting at the Ministry of Tourism, tour operators complained the the UWA favoured The Uganda Safari Company by giving it six gorilla permits and leaving only two for the rest of the companies. In effect eight gorilla permits are issued daily for tracking gorillas within this area. One tour operator, Mr Bakeine proposed that such a deal with UWA should be cancelled immidiately. However Mr Mapesa refuted this allegation and mainted that UWA has no arrangement with any tour operator to have monopoly over the gorilla permits. He surrendered all permits to Nkuringo Conservation Development Foundation in the spirit of Compensating them for loss they face when wild animals attack their gardens. He explained that the Foundation entered a partnership with the said company to manage the eco-lodge and gorilla tracking. The executive director of Uganda Safari Company, Mr Jonathan Wright Mike said that they obtained rights over these gorilla permits through competitive bidding in response to an advert by the foundation.

Most tour companies are accusing UWA for selectively dealing with one company at the expense of the others.
The Rubuguri and Nteko parishes mobilised themselves into a foundation with a population of 3000 members.Mr Mapesa Noses, the executive director of UWA,explains that the permits given to Nkuringo were meant for their compensation for the damage on their crops by the animals in the park.
The foundation, has a partnership with the Uganda Safari Company,has recently obtained $250,000 (sh425m) for the construction of Nkuringo eco-lodge.

Uganda Safari Company is to invest $750,000 (sh1.275b) for operating the eco-lodge for 10 years however the facility will remain a property of the local community. The eco-lodge is planned to be completed by July 1. The revenue from this project is to be ploughed back into the community for its development.

The arrangement in place is that the community will recieve an annual fee of $5,000 as the ground rent for the luxury eco-lodge. ]]> http://www.safarisgorilla.com/safarinews/2008/04/07/disagreement-over-gorilla-tracking-permits/feed/ http://www.safarisgorilla.com/safarinews/2008/04/04/access-africa-safaris/ http://www.safarisgorilla.com/safarinews/2008/04/04/access-africa-safaris/#comments Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:13:50 +0000 safarisgorilla http://www.safarisgorilla.com/safarinews/?p=3 The proprietors of Africa Adventure Safaris have been in business for the last five years and are able to boast of a steady growth envied by the existing tour companies.