Miss Tourism to Promote Uganda

The Miss Tourism Uganda pageant is in high gear following the announcement of the auditions dates by Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities minister Maria Mutagamba.

Mutagamba says registration is on, as they look to attract contestants from across the country to step to the challenge and represent the country’s rich diversity in tourism.

Would-be contestants can register at the Uganda Tourism Board offices at the National Theatre.

The registered girls will be screened before the number is cut down to 15 at the auditions, to be held on August 29 and 30 at Lions Centre, the Sheraton Kampala Hotel. 

The girls will be evaluated not only by their beauty but also their charm and brilliance.

The best 15 will be presented to the public during a fundraising dinner on September 6, before entering a boot camp, which will also include a trip to some of Uganda’s top tourist destinations.

In boot camp, the girls will be screened further by the judges, who will cut the number down to the final 10 who will contest for the title come October 6.

The last time a Miss Miss Tourism Uganda took place was in 2010, when May Amongi, who had earlier contested in Miss Uganda, won the highly-coveted tourism crown.

However, regardless of the hiatus, Mutagamba has promised a remarkable pageant, saying the event will continue to take place in subsequent years, as it is integral to improving the image of Uganda’s tourism amongst the Ugandans and abroad.

The winner of Miss Tourism Uganda 2013 will also participate in Miss Tourism World later on in the year.

“We are looking for a beautiful and brilliant girl who will be the perfect ambassador of Uganda to the world of tourism,” said the minister.

Murchison Falls offers hot after-eclipse spots

 Antelopes at Murchison Falls National Park

Murchison Falls National Park is set to offer hybrid eclipse enthusiasts extra adventure Comprehensive repairs and servicing of the ferry, which links the northern and southern banks of the Victoria Nile, have been accomplished ahead of the special occasion, while all the boats, including Kiboko, Shoe Bill and Mamba, are in sound condition. They will provide first-class service rides to the bottom of the falls and the delta, where the Nile joins Lake Albert in the western rift valley.

During the boat rides, tourists will be able to see a variety of birds, mammals and reptiles. They stare back as they sunbathe on the shores or wallow in water. There are also gigantic hippos which will engage tourists in a staring contest. The fee is $25 (sh60,000) per head for foreigners and sh20,000 for East Africans.

Under the guidance of Uganda Wildlife Authority’s professional staff, visitors will be able to spot unique trees with medicinal and nutritional value to both wildlife and human beings, a panoramic view of the Nyamusika cliffs, the crocodile bar and of course the gem of the park, the mighty Murchison Falls. The professional guides are also on standby to take the visitors to and from Nebbi, Gulu, Soroti and Masindi before and after the eclipse viewing for a memorable game drive. Each game drive will need $20.

Other packages include guided nature walks, birding expeditions, a hike from bottom to the top of the falls and visitation to cultural sites including a spot where the Luo brothers, Gipir and Labongo, are believed to have parted ways, setting a new course in the dialect and cultural development among the Luo. There will also be a drive along the Te-Bito track to the top of the falls from the northern bank, among other activities.
Murchison Falls National Park can be approached from Masindi via the Kichumbanyobo gate, Packwach through Tangi gate, Gulu through Wangkwar gate, Hoima using Bugungu gate, or Karuma through Chobe gate or even by air, landing at Chobe or Pakuba airstrips.

The park also offers the exciting chimp tracking in the Kanio-Pabidi area of Budongo Forest, sport fishing and other recreational activities. As visitors wait for the boats and ferry crossing, they will be treated to amazing cultural entertainment from various cultural groups. Visitors can also visit the neighbouring communities to appreciate UWA interventions against crop raiding through digging of elephant trenches, bee-keeping and use of red pepper bricks to scare away elephants from crossing to the community land.
Outside and around the park, visitors can visit neighbouring Gulu and have a breath-taking site of Fort Patiko, which was initially a slave trade holding area before Sir Samuel Baker turned it into a defense fort.

For this season, UWA has offered discounts on gorilla tracking permits effective November 1, which will enable non-resident foreigners to track at $350, and at $300 for residents. East Africans will pay sh150,000 each.

After Solar Eclipse.

up there

After the eclipse viewing, Please do not miss other attractions in Uganda, like: Gorilla Tracking Safaris, Chimp Tracking Safaris, Ruwenzori and Elgon Mountain Hiking, hot springs and birding in Semuliki Valley National Park, game viewing and boat rides in Queen Elizabeth National Park and Lake Mburo National Park, scenic views in Kidepo Valley National Park...the sky is the limit.

At the Hippo Pool

From the pulpit to the plunder

An elephant injured by a snare that was set up by poachers in Queen Elizabeth National Park

On a typical Sunday, when the church is full to the brim, Ben Baguma steps up to the pulpit to implore people to abandon their sinful ways. He is the reverend of Rwebisengo Parish in Ntoroko district. When I caught up with him recently, it was not in the environs of Rwebisengo.

He was in detention at Kira Road Police Station in Kampala over charges of poaching elephants. Baguma’s other life came to light when wildlife officials, together with the army, bust a racket behind the armed killing of elephants in Kibale National Park. It was an unpleasant scene.

The reverend was barefooted. Because of his position in society, he always avoided eye contact. He was ashamed of the charges placed against him. Rangers, who were excited about what they called a big catch, kept urging him to face the camera. He did not oblige and they forcefully pushed his head to look up.

It was a ‘feast’ for the pressmen and onlookers. “He has been poaching for long, but his luck ran out when we used spies as buyers of ivory,” said Moses Olinga, a Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) law enforcement officer, who coordinated the operation. “We have a network of informers and Baguma’s name kept coming up as the chief financier of ivory trade in most of the intelligence reports,” he added

 What does Uganda Wildlife Authority say?

Charles Tumwesigye, the director of conservation at UWA, confirmed that poaching was still a problem. However, he said the animal numbers for most species were either stable or going up. Tumwesigye said some huge herds of animals were no longer visible because the distribution had changed.

He attributed this to ecological changes, which he said were negatively affecting pastures. As a result, he said, most animals were moving towards Lake George and areas near Kasese in Queen Elizabeth National Park. “We have conducted an animal census and the conclusion is that the animal population is increasing. But the tourism routes will have to be changed in Queen Elizabeth to enable visitors to see the animals easily,” he said.

Reasons for unabated poaching

UWA has been raising awareness by calling for creation of alternative livelihoods for people living near the parks. But the approach has failed to tame poaching. In addition, community conservation strategies are thought to contribute to changing attitudes and mobilising support, according to sources. But UWA is underfunded and community conservation is not working to reduce poaching, according to sources. “Also, people around the parks are poor and, therefore, depend on bush meat for food and income.”

“In the absence of effective poverty reduction programmes in such areas as national parks, poaching is unstoppable. What are the acceptable alternatives to the poacher?” the source asks.Queen Elizabeth National Park. Its tusks had been extracted from the carcass, meaning UWA officials are still running in the shadows of the poachers at the park.

At Kibale, elephants are being killed using automatic rifles (AK47) or trapped in pits, where sharp sticks are planted and covered with leaves. When the elephants fall into the trap, the poachers cut off the tusks and leave the carcass behind. In northern Uganda, poaching is still a problem in Murchison Falls National Park, but Olinga says the rate has reduced, compared to what it was two years ago.

Uganda among the gang of eight A dark cloud still hangs over Uganda tours, which was accused at the most recent Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), of providing a safe haven for poachers from neighbouring countries. The poachers also use Uganda as a trafficking route. Sources also fear that the poachers could turn their guns to Uganda’s elephants. CITES cited Kenya and Tanzania among what they called the ‘gang of eight’, in reference to countries which are doing little to curb the illegal trade in ivory.

Others are Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines, and destination countries, Thailand and China. The countries were ordered by CITES to provide a programme of action to minimise the trade in ivory in the next 12 months or face sanctions. “There was a high level meeting on elephant poaching when the Thailand prime minister visited Uganda recently,” says Mutagamba. Other measures, according to Mutagamba include setting up an intelligence unit, recruiting 430 rangers and placing gadgets that can detect ivory at Entebbe Airport.

Sources say Kenya has put in place punitive laws, from which Uganda can copy. Poachers from West Africa and countries in Asia were operating rackets in Uganda because of the weak wildlife laws, according to sources. Illegal ivory traced back to Uganda About 1.3 tonnes of elephant ivory were recovered in Mombasa, Kenya, hidden under fish for export.

According to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the Malaysia-bound ivory was from Uganda. KWS revealed that the ivory was stashed in bundles and sacks and hidden in the fish maws within the container and was ferried from Malaba (at the Kenya-Uganda border) to Mombasa. Its value was estimated at $342,000. Asan Kasingye, the Interpol director told Saturday Vision that they were working with UWA and Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to establish the origin of the ivory. Last year, tusks belonging to 200 elephants were impounded at Entebbe Airport, according to Kasingye.

This happened just after a massacre of elephants in Garamba National Park, in the DR Congo, by heavily armed poachers, assisted by a helicopter. animals hard to see in Queen Elizabeth In areas around Queen Elizabeth National Park, poaching is worse than is reported, according to sources.

“When you take a game drive through the park, you will keep wondering where the animals have gone.” A tourist who was giving feedback to one of the tour operators after a game drive in Queen Elizabeth complained that the animals were becoming too elusive. Tour operators say Murchison turns into butcher ground In Murchison Falls, the problems have been compounded by the current exploration of oil.

Also key is the fact that bush meat is part of the culture of the people in northern Uganda. While park authorities in Murchison say poaching has scaled down compared to the rate two years ago, tour operators say every time they are on a game drive, they encounter abandoned carcasses or poachers on a hunting spree.

“When you report to UWA, they intimidate you,” a source told Saturday Vision on condition of anonymity. “It is unfair for tourists to spend their money and get almost nothing out of it. After encounters with poachers spearing animals, what will tourists tell others who are planning to come?”

Fort Patiko: A beauty born out of slave trade

It was the 1800s. The Arabs, in their search for trading venues stumbled upon Ocecu Hill in present-day Gulu District.

Patiko is a beauty – mountains and hills grace her extensive vegetation. And she advantageously sits near Nimule, South Sudan and on wards to eastern Egypt, where the Arabs sold their merchandise.

The Arabs could not have found a better slave harbor and trade link. They descended upon Ocecu Hill and built three square-shaped huts to serve as stores for ammunition, ivory and foodstuff as well as hides and skins.

Slaves were a key trading item for the Arabs too and were captured from northern Uganda, Gondokoro in Sudan and other areas. Ocecu Hill became a sorting ground for slaves. Healthy-looking ones were forced to trek from Patiko, through Sudan across the Red Sea and sold in Egypt.

The journey to the slave markets was not easy. “The slaves were forced to carry looted millet, simsim, ammunition and ivory,” explains Constance Oneka who was in 2011 the caretaker of the site. Slaves who were too weak as a result of beatings and long treks were killed by firing squad or beheaded in the designated ‘execution slab/prosecution chamber’ on the hill. Barter trade was the major form of exchange. Traditional chiefs in Patiko supplied ivory to the Arabs in exchange for sukas, beads, guns and gun powder.

The Arabs turned Ocecu Hill into a trading centre and business boomed. However, when village raids intensified, fear, hunger and disease befell Patiko. Something had to be done. The then chief of Patiko – Rwot Kikwiyakare – organised the relocation of children, elders and the sick to a nearby mountain so that his people are not wiped away by slave trade.

Baker and the birth of Fort Patiko

That mountain, located about 2kms from Ocecu Hill, became known as Got Ajulu (Julu is Acholi for ‘nurture’, Got means mountain/hill). According to the Chief of Patiko, Rwot Jeremiah Muttu Bonojane, Rwot Kikwiyakare said to his people: “Let’s nurture (julu) our people so that our clan is not wiped away.” As a result, the mountain has since then been called Got Ajulu.

As Britain spread its colonial wings across Africa, quashing slave trade was one of their missions. Explorer Sir Samuel Baker was commissioned by the Queen of England to oversee that mission. Although Britain would colonise Uganda in 1894, by 1863, Sir Samuel Baker and the chief of Patiko - Rwot Kikwiyakare met and discussed the slave trade menace in the area.

In 1872, Baker returned from Egypt with Nubian soldiers, passed through Bunyoro to quash the Kabalega resistance against the British and headed to Patiko. He over-run the slave harbor, expelled about 250 Arabs and fortified the place. Fort Patiko, also known as Baker’s Fort Patiko, was born.

Located about 32 kilometers north of Gulu Town, the fort is enclosed by a 16 feet wide and 15 feet deep trench dug by slaves on the orders of the Arabs to avoid the escape of captives. The tourism site, located in Patiko Sub-county in Gulu District covers about 9.4 hectares.

It is neighbored by six hills - Ajulu, Ladwong, Akara, Abaka and Labworomor to the north and Kiju hill to the south.

In 2011 when I first visited the Fort, an oval-shaped, roofless hut with half of its wall crumbled down, stood at the entrance with two doors on either side. Small rocks pieced together with mud and cement, formed the wall of the hut which served as a gate.

Two years later, the hut is no more. Inside Fort Patiko lies well-trimmed grass, with a rectangular-shaped structure sitting on the left of the vast compound.

This small house used to be a reception and a registration room. But the roofless structure is now a haven to grass, insects and animal waste, despite its well-trimmed surroundings. On the right side of the compound sits an oval-shaped structure, built only almost two feet up. “It used to be the visitors’ waiting room,” says John Too, who says he was the Fort caretaker from 1976 to early 2000.

Beyond the lush compound dotted with small, scattered, protruding rocks, sit three square-shaped and roofless huts that were used by Arabs to store their loot. Two years ago, one of the store walls had an inscription “Patiko, 1872-88, founded by Sir Samuel Baker, occupied by Gordon and Emin”.

Mr. Too says the name Patiko was misspelled by Baker, while writing the inscription. The metallic plate that bore the inscription is no more and according to Rwot Muttu, it was recently stolen. Next to the three huts stand a giant rock, about 150 high and is known as Baker’s leap/seat. It was on top of this rock, that the Arabs would sit to monitor any infiltration by their enemies to the area. Behind the three square-shaped huts is the execution slab and further left of the slab is a cave where slaves –destined for execution were ‘imprisoned’.

The ‘execution slab’ is dotted with dents which Mr. Too says were caused by axes used to behead slaves. Dark spots, believed to be blood stains of slaves, can also be seen on the rock. Fort Patiko might have witnessed terror from Arab slave trade dealers, but the natural beauty of the place, rose above its dark history.

Management, maintenance woes cloud Fort Patiko

Fort Patiko could have risen above its dark history, but what remains to be seen, is what the government, which gazettes the Fort as a government object in 1972, will do to milk its potential for area residents and the country.

Area residents think fencing off the area and placing its management with them, will ensure the protection and preservation of the Fort.

The chief of Patiko, Rwot Jeremiah Muttu Bonojane, who accuses the government of taking away management of the place from his people, says the area where Fort Patiko sits, was given to the Arabs by Rwot Kikwiyakare, his great grandfather. “I don’t know why I should be wrangling with government over this place. Government said they can’t give it to me because they have a plan for it,” he explains.

He adds: “But I told them the people of Patiko want to manage the place in partnership with development partners.”

Fort Patiko, according to Rwot Muttu is currently managed by the Sub-county but he thinks a lot needs to be made better.

“There are no urinals, no toilets in the place. If I have life, I’ll change that place for the better in just five years,” he says, adding that Fort Patiko has been moving from the ministry of Tourism, Trade and now they understand it’s under Heritage and iniquities.

In a letter dated October 13, 2009, the Department of Museums and Monuments in the Ministry of Tourism and Industry, expressed concern over the decline in maintenance of Fort Patiko. “There are signs of degradation of the walls of key historic monumental structures (the granary, ivory and ammunition stores). The compound is bushy and the trench system is rundown and invisible,” the letter, addressed to the Gulu Chief Administrative Officer, reads in part.

The business community in Gulu has in the past requested the Ministry to be allowed to manage the fort. However, the ministry said after basic conservation work is complete, there could be a private-public partnership. “The immediate need of the site is opening the borders to establish the boundaries of the site, clearance of vegetation and grass cutting in the defensive ditch surrounding the camp…” the 2009 letter reads further.

“Removal of all anthills within the periphery, reconstruction of an attendant’s office, construction of a pit latrine and erection of enamel signposts in Gulu and on the main route to Patiko,” the letter, signed by Mwanje Nkaale Rose Ag Commissioner, Museums and Monuments, adds.

Even as the management hiccups for Fort Patiko get sorted out, local and foreign visitors have continued to troop the area to revel in its beauty and history.