Tour & Travel updates

If you are looking for a Gorilla Tracking adventure, look none further than Rwanda. The country is blessed with numerous wildlife and green vegetation,  unique bird species, not forgetting the gentle giants – the Mountain Gorillas among other attractions.  Poachers have negatively influenced the surviving mountain gorilla population on the African. However, the authorities in Rwanda have doubled efforts to conserve the gorillas and other wildlife in the parks. They have rescued an infant mountain gorilla believed to be around 15 months from poachers  in the Virunga National Park in neighboring DR Congo. This infant went through staid examination from the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) since she had spent quite some time in human contact. It was told that one of the poachers’ had a cold which called for Isolation of this infant before she joins other young gorillas at Senkwekwe Centre a sanctuary for gorilla orphans, located within the boundaries Virunga National Park. Vets also gave the young gorilla the name Ihirwe, meaning luck in Kinyarwanda. Whilst recognizing that criminals continue to sham a threat to ongoing efforts to protect the country’s critically endangered mountain gorilla population, the head of tourism and conservation at the RDB stressed that the Rwandan government is committed in its fight against poaching. At the moment, across the border, the ICCN (Congolese Wildlife Authority) is undertaking an investigation as it checks which gorilla family lost a member over latest days.

If all goes well, the Gorilla Tracking Tours will be more of a success than what they are now as more of them will be available. Rwanda does not only provide mountain gorilla tracking but also wildlife viewing, birding tours, chimpanzee tracking, canopy walks to mention but a few. Therefore the country is attributed with a number of game reserves and national parks such as Volcanoes Natonal Park, Nyungwe forest National park, Akagera National park among others.

Tourism industry in Rwanda has employed many people in the country, which has led to the improved standards of living in the country.

This was revealed by the head of tourism industry in the country during the close of the 3 days workshop for tour guides. Tourism industry in Rwanda has improved immensely following the established peace in the country as well as improvement in the tourist attractions and facilities. There are many hotels which have been built, and these employ a lot of people in the country. Besides, the improvement of national parks like Akagera national park, volcanoes national park, Nyungwe forest national park have improved tourism industry and many people work as guides, rangers. Gorilla tracking in Volcanoes National park is the major activity in Rwanda’s tourism.

Rwanda tourism board is planning to introduce rhinos and more lions in Akagera national park. The park, which has a variety of wildlife and over 500 bird species, is famous for Wildlife tours.

The park is found in the border with Tanzania, and saw animal depletion in 1980 and 1990’s due to un controlled poaching and civil strife which reduced the number of animals in the park.

The board is going to import more lions and rhinos from South Africa next year and this will boost the tourism sector.

Rwanda’s tourism sector has been on a steady increase with gorilla tracking in Volcanoes national park, chimpanzee tracking in Nyungwe forest national park a major contributor to the sector in addition to wildlife tours in Akagera national park.

In an effort to conserve the gorillas and other animals that are affected by poaching, the three countries that share the Virunga mountain ranges that is Rwanda, Democratic Republic Congo (DRC) and Uganda have intensified joint patrols in the  Virunga Landscape.
The Greater Virunga Landscape incorporates Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda; and Kibale National park, Queen Elizabeth National park,  Bwindi and Mgahinga National parks in Uganda.
The Chairman of GVTC said poaching at Virunga was becoming a serious concern to the countries and needed to be controlled, and thus the countries have agreed to put up a joint effort to cub the vise.
This has come up following the   discovery of  dead mountain gorilla and elephant by the park rangers which had died as a result of poacher’s snares.
The patrols aim at getting the culprits and removing the snares that are put by the poachers to trap the animals. So far 26 snares have been removed by the joint patrol team.

The Uganda wildlife director said that to control this, the countries need to sign a treaty agreeing on the way to conserve the animals. He further said that the neighbouring community need to be infolved in the concervation process by giving them on the proceeds of the tourism industry like building them schools, construction of water sources, building hospitals among others.

The virungas contribute a lot to the three countries’s tourism industry especially through the sale of gorilla tracking permits.

Rwanda has completed a month of mourning genocide victims that befell the country in 1994 in the infamous 100 days.  The Rwanda genocide befell the country following the international community abandoning the Rwanda people and left the Hutu to massacre the Tutsi who were the minority group. The spark followed the shooting of the then president Habyarimana who was a Hutu by the Tutsi led group. Over 800000 people lost their lives during the genocide. With the Tutsi led government headed by President Kagame now, they established genocide memorial sites which are used to memorise the lost lives. Also, they declared every month of April a mourning month, and people have to stop work for morning hours up to midday during this month.

The genocide memorial sites have acted as tourist attraction on top of Gorilla trekking and chimpanzee tracking adventures. People come from all over the world to come and witness how people were gruesomely killed in the genocide. Other attractions in the country include wildlife safaris in Akagera National park, forest canopy walk in Nyungwe National park among others.

The managing Director Uganda wildlife authority has refuted claims that the animals in Uganda national parks face extinction. There has been media reports that animals like Zebras, impalas, lions, giraffes, leopard face extinction.  But the UWA director dismissed these reports, clarifying that the animals are endangered species but do not face extinction. This is because these animals are only limited in certain national parks and some have high mortality rate. For example, Zebras and impalas are only limited to Lake Mburo National park, Giraffes are only limited to Murchison falls National park, lions have high mortality rate due to lack of food as they have to depend on other game. There are other endangered animals in Uganda like golden monkey, Mountain gorillas, which is the major tourist attraction as tourists come for Gorilla tracking experience. Mountain gorillas are found in Bwindi impenetrable national park and Mgahinga national park in Uganda. Then Volcanoes national park in Rwanda and Virunga national park in DR Congo.

Starting from 1^st June 2012, the permits fees for the gorilla tours in Rwanda will be raised from $500 to $750 for foreign nationals, $250 to $375 for foreigners living in Rwanda and Rwf 20,000 to 30,000 Rwandese. Rwanda gorilla safaris are carried out in Volcanoes national park which is known as a raven for Mountain gorillas, while the Uganda safaris provide gorilla tracking tours in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga National park.

Besides Gorilla tracking tours in Rwanda, there is also Wildlife Safaris which is done in Akagera national park.

This price increase is due to the advancing growth of the gorilla population and increased in demand in gorilla tracking permits. This is based on the fact that there are about 10 gorilla groups and each group is visited by a maximum number of 8 tourists per day.

There has been introduction of a tour package for High-end clients in which a group of visitors will have to book a specified gorilla group with modified services at only $10,000 per group.

The government of Uganda is in process to spray all Uganda national parks against tsetse flies which is common in the parks and threatens the lives of animals.

This will boost tourism in the country as the animal lives will be preserved. The idea followed a comment from one of the tourist who had visited Murchison Falls national park on Trip Advisor complaining about the tsetse flies.

The idea comes after Uganda was voted number one tourist destination area in the world by lonely planet. Uganda boasts of many national parks which boosts wildlife tours. But to note among all, are the mountain Gorillas in Bwindi impenetrable national park, with most tourists coming for gorilla tracking.

Rwanda tourism board is planning to introduce rhinos and more lions in Akagera national park. The park, which has a variety of wildlife and over 500 bird species, is famous for Wildlife tours.

The park is found in the border with Tanzania, and saw animal depletion in 1980 and 1990’s due to un controlled poaching and civil strife which reduced the number of animals in the park.

The board is going to import more lions and rhinos from South Africa next year and this will boost the tourism sector.

Rwanda’s tourism sector has been on a steady increase with gorilla tracking in Volcanoes national park, chimpanzee tracking in Nyungwe forest national park a major contributor to the sector in addition to wildlife tours in Akagera national park.

Rwanda Development board has launched a new tourism product named “Congo Nile Trail” which will contribute to the growth of the tourism industry. Mr.Rica Rwigamba, Head of the tourism and Conservation at Rwanda Development Board (RDB), said that the new hiking project on the shores of Lake Kivu creates the western Rwanda corridor that links Nyungwe Forest national park and Volcanoes national park. The trail stretches from Lake Kivu shores across from the DR Congo and extends southwards to Rusizi through Karongi and Nyamasheke Districts covering 227 kilometers offering stunning scenery, coffee and tea experiences, and visits to towns and villages along the lake shores. The trail is expected to attract tourists who come to do Gorilla tracking and this will be a big boost to the tourism sector since the visitors will stay long to trek along the trail. The new product shows that Rwanda is well endowed with other tourist attractions other than the national parks and other historical sites. The 10-day by foot and 3-day by vehicle trail has been developed by RDB in collaboration with United Nations World tourism Organization (UNWTO) and SNV Rwanda. The trail will offer memorable and exceptional experience to visitors. Rwanda currently has three national parks, the home of the Mountain Gorillas, Volcanoes national park where tourists go for gorilla tracking, Nyungwe Forest National Park , famous for Chimpanzee tracking tours and the Akagera national Park which is suitable for wildlife tours.