Rwanda tourism makes another Record

According to the globe spots web portal, Rwanda was ranked sixth among the top adventurous places to visit in 2013. The country was named after Portugal, Mozambique, Kyrgyzstan, Panama and Armenia where as Cuba, Ukraine, Malawi and Canada were ranked behind Rwanda. The website is also an international travel guide for tourists just like TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet.

The Head of tourism and conservation at the Rwanda Development Board Miss. Rica Rwigamba, said the ranking will attract more tourists as the country gets more revenues from tourism sector. She added that the country has more attractions to offer to tourists beyond Mountain Gorillas.

Last year only, the tourism industry generated Rwf152.4 billion million in revenue and since the beginning of year 2012, the country hosted about 493,744 visitors, which represented an increase of 22 per cent compared with the same period in 2011.

It recorded a remarkable 16 per cent increase in leisure visitors as well as an eight per cent increase in business visitors.

Rwanda Safaris will boom next year compared to the rest of the years since the country was ranked among the top tourist destinations for 2013.

President Paul Kagame opens Gorillas Golf Hotel

Rwandan President Paul Kagame opened the new 88 room Gorillas Golf Hotel on Nov.16 officially. The hotel is located in Nyarutarama district which is the neighborhood of Kigali city the country’s capital.

The hotel is the fourth for the hotel chain which was started 10 years ago. Other hotels of this nature are in Kigali, Musanze and Rubavu areas. The hotel investment will have benefits for the Rwandan society through Job creation and development of the tourism industry. According to President Kagame “this is a proof that no one will stand in the way of Rwanda achieving prosperity“. 

Though a small country, now Rwanda has 370 registered hotels with 6700 rooms across the country. Among the 370, only 31 have been graded and awarded stars. Several hotels are expected to open in the next few years including Marriott hotel (5 star) with 251 rooms which is still under construction.  Other soon to open hotels are Radisson Blu Hotel (5 star) which will run Kigali Convention Center with 292 rooms, Vision Hotel (4 star) with 157 rooms. Rwanda Sheraton Hotel was recently given a certificate which was a sign of appreciation.

With the above hotel development in the country, Rwanda Safaris will highly be recommended due to well developed accommodation facilities and this will definitely increase the country’s tourism earning in terms of foreign exchange and revenue.

Uganda declared a birding hub

The Pearl of Africa Uganda has been declared a preferred bird watching destination 2013 and 2014 which is a development expected to promote birding activities and uphold the country as a major tourist birding destination. This declaration was mad by the government after Birdlife International a global programme on conservation and protection of birds and their habitats, and Nature Uganda announced that the country has thirty four important bird watching areas with diverse bird species.

The Minister for Tourism Ms Maria Mutagamba declared Uganda as a preferred bird watching destination during the launch of the birding campaign that attracted various birders and guides at Kasenge Forest Resort Beach in Mukono District over the weekend. The ministry had been priding in the recent accolades by Lonely Planet, which voted Uganda as the best tourism destination for 2012 and Africa Bird Club, which voted Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Africa’s number one birding site. These accolades provide an important avenue for showcasing Uganda’s rich bird diversity which account for 10% of the world’s total bird species and 50% of Africa’s bird species population.

Our Uganda Safaris include a lot of birding places like Bigodi swamp walk, Mabamba Swamp, Ngamba Islands, Ssese Islands and so on. Join us for your birding experience while on your Safari in Uganda.

New Tourist Activity start in Mt. Elgon

Uganda wildlife Authority (UWA) has introduced a new tourism activity on Mt. Elgon national Park named the mountain bike-riding. The news was given out by the assistant warden at the national park, Mr. Stephen Nyadru, while speaking at the activity launch on Friday. He said that the new activity is aimed at attracting more tourists to the Park and it will include traversing of rocks, washouts, and steep declines, on dirt trails, logging roads, and gravel roads that wind along lazy streams through forested valleys or trails that climb up steep mountainsides; and other unpaved environments.

It is the first time that this form of tourism activity has been introduced in the country and will be most especially exercised by the tourists after climbing. This is because since most of the tourists remain dull during the descending, this activity will give them exercise down the hills as a modern form of Uganda’s tourism. The activity of mountain bike-riding will combine the pleasures of being in the mountains with the health advantages of altitude and gradients, significant level of physical exercise and the possibility to cover longer distances.

Posted by www.safaritoeastafrica.com

Cantsbee Silverback Gorilla turns 34 years old

One of the dominant Silverback Gorilla named Cantsbee of the Pablo group in Rwanda turned 34 years yesterday. He is one of the last living mountain Gorillas named by Dian Fossey and presides over the largest group of mountain gorillas that the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International monitors.

Cantsbee of Pablo Group in Rwanda

At the age of 34 years, Cantsbee is still very strong and out competing his son Gicurasi who is the second ranking silverback in Pablo group for dominance.  The fund hopes that since Cantsbee is still very strong, he pushes the record of the oldest mountain gorillas it monitors since the oldest male gorilla monitored by the fund died at the age of 35 and these were Pablo and Titus.