TANZANIA: Cessna C406 Plane Catches Fire, Tourists Escape

Details remain sketchy over information received about an aircraft accident at the Sasakwa airstrip just outside the Serengeti in Tanzania.

The Cessna C406 is said to have suffered a fire following a failed attempt to take off from the strip and neither the airline nor the Tanzanian accident investigations unit nor the Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authority have yet come out to state the exact circumstances.

What was learned though was that several among the five tourists and two pilots on board suffered burns and other serious injuries and were subsequently airlifted by East Africa's Flying Doctors to Nairobi to receive treatment. The evacuation by East Africa's oldest medivac organization used three aircraft, a Cessna Grand Caravan, a PC12 and a King Air, showing the seriousness of the situation the Flying Doctors were faced with.

One source at Nairobi's Wilson Airport has indicated that at least one of the victims was judged to be critically ill though no updates on the patient's condition could be obtained at this stage. The nationality of the tourists and of the two pilots are not known.

The Sasakwa airstrip serves the private Grumeti Game Reserve which adjoins the main Serengeti National Park.

TANZANIA: Air Tanzania , Tanzania Tourist Board In Deal To Promote Tourism

Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) and Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) has signed an agreement aimed at promoting tourism in the country.

The event was held in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday. After the signing ceremony, TTB Chairman Justice (rtd) Thomas Mihayo and ATCL Board Chairman, Eng Emmanuel Korosso, said the agreement will boost the sector growth and its contributions to the economy.

“One of the important factors in boosting the tourism sector is airline services. If you have done research, you will agree with me that countries with strong and stable airline services attract more tourists,” Korosso said.

According to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) monthly economic review for October this year, travel receipts grew by 12.8 per cent to 2,267.4 million US dollars following an increase in the number of tourist arrivals.
The government recently vowed to purchase two new passenger planes to boost the tourism industry.

Increased air access, with many carriers now flying direct to Tanzania, new luxury hotels on the Mainland and Zanzibar, improved infrastructure and tarmac roads on safari circuits are also major factors contributing to tourism’s success story. TTB Chairman Judge Mihayo said air transport and tourism depend on each other in revenue generation.

“Among many areas we agreed to work together is having a seminar to ATCL workers and pilots about tourism attractions in the country,” he said.

He said that ATCL is determined to promote domestic tourism destinations and make the country hub where tourists will visit Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater to mention a few.

TANZANIA: Tourism Needs To Evolve In Order For Tanzania To Benefit Better

Economists predict that tourism will remain a top foreign exchange earner for Tanzania in the foreseeable future, holding significant sustainable employment opportunities. However, to fully capitalise on tourism's potential to accelerate Tanzania's economic development and reduce donor dependence, the sector needs to evolve.

To claim a larger slice of the global tourism cake, government, industry bodies and private investors must collaborate to diversify tourism offerings. Endowed with abundant natural assets and diverse, rich cultures, Tanzania can advertise more than just wildlife, and tourism policies should reflect this.

Tanzania's coastline, distinct regions and landscapes suitable for numerous outdoor and sightseeing activities are underutilised. Tourism should embrace Tanzania's unique cultural multiplicity, its laid-back Swahili friendliness and its educated youngsters - potential entrepreneurs, if given affordable loans and guidance while establishing leisure industry businesses.

As Ebola anxieties fade, the time is right for increased publicity to promote regional areas, enticing visitors to explore Tanzania beyond the typical Safari plus Zanzibar trip and introduce the world to spectacular places like Mwanza, a rare gem. Who would not love "Rock City"? Wider marketing is desirable to balance negative media coverage of insufficiencies - inviting tourists to experience Tanzania's unique regions and preserve its image of a peace-loving, respectful, welcoming nation.

Tourism products not yet provided by large operators could sustain a significant number of entrepreneurs and employees in small businesses. Widening the scope of activities offered would encourage travellers to visit more destinations, stay longer and return to Tanzania more often.

Europeans based in Tanzania have traditionally spearheaded tourism. Their initiative, capital and overseas contacts have benefited Tanzania's economy and developed the Safari sector. However, through foreign operators' economic power, tourism reflects and reinforces Tanzania's dependency on developed and neighbouring nations. Kenya remains many visitors' gateway to Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Kilimanjaro, resulting in tourism dollars bypassing Tanzania.

Therefore, alternative activities to safaris are required to facilitate local start-ups, especially in cultural tourism outside luxury accommodation, globally one of the fastest growing segments. Many visitors are curious about Tanzania's tribal diversity, fascinated by traditional customs, foods and folk arts. Small-scale diversification exists here, but potential operators lack the required capital. Local entrepreneurs need technical and financial support to realise tourism potential. Reluctant lenders should note that money earned by small domestic ventures trickles down through the local economy to benefit many.

The purchasing power of diaspora tourists is also worth targeting. Middle-income visitors of Tanzanian origin are ready to spend in their ancestors' regions, if offered the right goods and services. The diaspora can also help fund, thus increase domestic ownership and management of, tourism ventures - given the right investment climate.

Such rural tourism diversification also encourages adventure travellers who prefer Tanzania's raw, authentic beauty to overdeveloped cities. The rolling hills of the Kagera Region and the Lake Victoria ferries please travellers who shun the wastefulness of 5-star luxury and embrace the simplicity of natural environments, where diversification in ecotourism helps preserve nature and historically and archaeologically significant sites. Affluent domestic tourists are also prepared to pay for new leisure experiences across the country, in turn creating jobs in communities lacking the economic growth of urban areas.

Tanzania's coastal climate is ideal for snorkelling, diving, kitesurfing and recreational fishing - activities rarely offered outside the tourism hubs. Tanzanian citizens' artistic skills are also marketable assets.

Ingenious minds already have many ideas for hikers, mountain bike riders, families, festival fans and music tourists. Young Tanzanians' visions include sports tourism and health and wellness tours. What they lack is support and access to capital.

Diversified, sustainable tourism creates skilled and unskilled employment. However, its potential can only be realized when the public and private sector cooperate, when plans and policies support Tanzanians in establishing themselves in diversified tourism.

TANZANIA: Serengeti Wildebeest Migration

Snug in my tent in the northern Serengeti, I listened to the strange, pulsing cries of a swamp nightjar in the surrounding trees. Later, when the nightjar had fallen silent and dawn seeped through the canvas, a lion began to roar not far off. I dressed hurriedly, stepped outside and eventually picked him out with my binoculars, sprawling at full length on a granite kopje, gold mane on fire in the morning sun. What a way to start the day.

In 1913, an American big-game hunter called Stewart Edward White set out from Nairobi and headed south. “We walked for miles over burned-out country,” he wrote. “Then I saw the green trees of the river, walked two miles more and found myself in paradise.”

What he described is what we now call the Serengeti, a Masai word meaning “the land that goes on for ever”, where, every year, drawn by the presence of some 3,000 lions and above all by the spectacle of the wildebeest migration – the greatest wildlife show on earth – more than 90,000 visitors flock to what has become the world’s most famous national park.

Yet distances are so vast that it is still possible to find space and solitude, especially in the northernmost reaches of the park, whose horizons are empty of everything except wildlife. This is Tanzania’s Top End, where nothing but a line of white stones in the grass separates the Serengeti from Kenya’s Masai Mara national reserve – a border the migrating herds cross with impunity every year.

Not so long ago this was bandit country, crawling with poachers and cut off from the rest of the park by thorny woodlands infested with tsetse flies. Now the poachers are on the back foot. The park rangers are firmly in control and tourism is taking root on these remote savannahs of the wild northwest.

Among the safari specialists who have moved in is &Beyond, a Johannesburg-based company whose upmarket portfolio of camps and lodges is matched by a long-standing commitment to conservation. In 2006 it came up with the idea of Serengeti Under Canvas, a seasonal camp with the lightest of footprints that would move to different locations during the year so that guests would never be more than an hour’s drive from the migration. Its newest site is a dappled grove with far-reaching views into Kenya, and if you go there in late October – as I did – you will find yourself in the thick of the action.

Not even Hemingway in his heyday enjoyed such comforts as those provided by its nine spacious walk-in tents, each one a khaki cave of comfort with en-suite loos, hot bucket showers, and polished brass bowls for washing and shaving. Persian rugs complete the picture and nothing is left to chance. There are even brollies for wet days and hot-water bottles for chilly nights. Five-star camping this may be, but it is offered with an elegant simplicity that sits easily in the pristine surroundings.

Around the camp lies a sea of bush, a neglected orchard of small, crooked trees lit up by the dazzle of galloping zebras. Through the leafy canopy loom granite whalebacks – including the one where I saw the lion – leading to a wild, broken country of rocky ridges and grassy valleys in which steep-sided korongos – seasonal watercourses – wind down to the Bologonja River.

In November the camp moves south, following the herds to a new location in the Seronera Valley; and in January it moves again to be on the spot for the season of birth on the short grass plains between Lake Ndutu and the Gol Mountains. But it is here in this far northwest corner of the park that the big river crossings take place, and if you don’t want to miss this extraordinary spectacle, then Serengeti Under Canvas is the place to be.

For days, delayed by the onset of the rains, the wildebeest had been massing in the Lamai Wedge, a triangle of pristine grasslands between the Kenyan border and the Mara River. Now, driven by the urge to return to their calving grounds, they were unstoppable. Regardless of the waiting crocodiles they poured across the fast-flowing river, like an army in full retreat.

With me was Les Carlisle, &Beyond’s group conservation manager, who had flown up from Johannesburg to join me. He has spent his whole working life in the bush, yet even he was rendered almost speechless by the drama unfolding around our Land Cruiser. “Unbelievable,” he muttered as we watched them plunging headlong into the water. An hour later they were still storming across in wave after wave of tossing heads, eyes rolling in panic until they stumbled clear of the water and thundered past us on either side.

We witnessed only one casualty, a yearling wildebeest dragged under by a monster croc, and even while the crossing was at its height the other river creatures – hippos, storks and malachite kingfishers – got on with their lives as if nothing was happening. Nearby lay a lioness fast asleep in a thicket, her belly distended by an earlier meal; and at one point an Egyptian goose with a dozen fluffy goslings paddled right through the midst of the struggling herds.

For the next few days the wildebeest were all around camp, filling the air with their sonorous groans as they swarmed among the trees, coalescing like molasses on the open hillsides before streaming away in unbroken columns that stretched for miles.

For the Serengeti predators the arrival of the migration signals a time of plenty. Every night echoed to the hacksaw cough of prowling leopards, and every morning we went looking for lions among the Wogakuria Kopjes, an African Dartmoor of granite outcrops that pierce the infinity of plain and sky. You couldn’t design a better big-cat habitat than this tumbledown chaos of cottage-size boulders, and most days the lions obliged, posing against the blue on a granite dome or else staring sphinx-like into the distance where Mlima Saba – the Seven Hills – mark the beginning of the Masai Mara. No wonder Myles Turner, the renowned Serengeti warden of the 1960s, loved this area above all others.

Lions are not the only creatures to seek the shelter of the kopjes. Agile klipspringers – small antelopes that stand on tiptoe, like ballet dancers – keep watch from these enigmatic rock castles. Leopards give birth in hidden caves, and fig trees rooted among the crevices provide fruit for green pigeons and deep shade for eagle owls.

The area I loved best, though, lay across the Bologonja River, where immense plains rolled away to the Nyamalumbwa Hills. This was new country for me – the final piece of the Serengeti jigsaw and every bit as uplifting as the more familiar grasslands in the south of the park. Apart from the desert dates whose parasol shapes graced every skyline, the plains were virtually treeless. Jackals rose out of the land and trotted away at our approach. Eland ran along the horizon and the clear highland air was filled with the guttural cries of sandgrouse.

Late-afternoon storms had replenished the landscape, greening the hillsides where drifts of white taka-taka flowers now blossomed among the scattered bones of old kills – a perfect metaphor for the Serengeti, where life and death go hand in hand.

In this infinity of grass and cloud shadows we drove all day and never saw another soul. We searched for cheetahs but instead, far out in the all-embracing loneliness of the plains, we came upon a pair of mating lions, lying as if half-drugged by the heat and oblivious to the European swallows hawking for insects about their ears.

Back in camp at end of day, I arrived to find that sundowners had been arranged on a nearby kopje. Red Masai blankets had been laid out on the flat rocks, and there I sat in the deepening amber light, cold beer in hand, looking out over what felt like the whole of Africa as thunder rumbled in the hills and curtains of rain trailed over the expanse.

Wildebeest migration basics

Brian Jackman travelled with Africa Odyssey (020 7471 8780; africaodyssey.com). The company can arrange a week’s safari based on three nights at Serengeti Under Canvas and three nights at &Beyond’s Grumeti River Camp in the Western Corridor from £4,975 per person, including return BA economy flight from London, all local flights and one night in Nairobi at the Palacina Hotel.

For the Serengeti wildebeest every year is an endless journey, chasing the rains in a race for life. The action takes place across 154,000 square miles of woodlands, hills and open plains, a wilderness bigger than Holland including not only the Serengeti national park and Kenya’s Maasai Mara national reserve but also the dispersal areas beyond.

The key players in this 1,200-mile odyssey are the wildebeest - all 1.3 million of them - but they are joined on their journey by 200,000 zebras, 350,000 gazelles and12,000 elands.

The yearly cycle begins in the south of the park when half a million calves are born between January and March – most in a three-week period. Up and running almost from the moment they hit the ground, they grow fast on the rich volcanic soils of the short-grass plain. But when the long rains of April and May are over the plains dry out and the grazers must move on.

Herds tend to follow the rainfall gradient, which increases from south-east to north-west. On leaving the calving grounds at the end of May, some head north into the Seronera Valley, but most push on into the Western Corridor, where they must play Russian roulette with monster crocodiles as they cross the Grumeti River.

June is the rutting season, which takes place as the wildebeest swarm through the park’s northern woodlands en route to their dry season refuge in the Maasai Mara.

Zebras are often the first to arrive in the Mara, chomping down the tall red oat grass with the wildebeest hot on their heels. Here they remain from July to October, sweeping this way and that across the reserve in search of fresh grazing. If you want to see them storming across the Mara River, this is the time to come.

With the beginning of the short rains in late October or early November the migration makes its way back into the Serengeti, making this a good time to be anywhere in the north of the park between Klein’s Camp and the Lamai Wedge. By December, having emerged from the northern woodlands, the herds pour across the Seronera Valley to mass on their calving grounds again and the circle is complete.

ZANZIBAR: More Than Just A Spice Island

A visit to Zanzibar, or in fact Unguja, the largest island of the Zanzibari archipelago – the other larger island is called Pemba – is never one dimensional, nor should it be. On this Indian Ocean island, just 20 minutes flight from Dar es Salaam and of course a bit longer by ferry – the advantage of the ferry is the shorter transit from the port into the CBD of Dar es Salaam and of course the scenic view on arrival in Zanzibar – are several tourism attractions wrapped in to a nice package, worth exploring each and every segment.

Here comes history, heritage, birdlife, wildlife and marine life together like in few other locations across the United Republic of Tanzania and then add the recent arrival of championship golf for extra measure.

An aerial view of the Stone Town and a collection of three towers, the middle one of modern age lined by a minaret and the twin spires of one of the island’s cathedrals, all in peaceful coexistence

Zanzibar, often referred to as the ‘Spice Island’ has always had a magic ring to its name and tourists from around the world in recent years, in part fueled by the challenges the Kenya coast faced, kept flocking in ever larger numbers to this island off the Tanzanian mainland.

The history of Zanzibar takes one back to the early days of civilization when coastal seafarers used the prevailing trade winds to sail their dhows from the Arabian peninsula along the African coast, establishing trade routes where the trade winds took them and beyond.

Much of this history and heritage on the island is centered in and round the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Stone Town’. It is here that museums are found, where buildings have been turned in to monuments and where in the heart of it once a thriving slave market traded captured Africans from the mainland for either the currency of the day or by barters for merchandize brought in by the Arab dhows.

Names of buildings like ‘House of Wonders’ this one sadly in decay due to a partial collapse of the building and in urgent need to be restored, the Palace Museum, the Malindi Mosque and the Aga Khan Mosque, The Old Fort, the two Christian cathedrals, St. Joseph for the Catholics and Christ Church for the Anglicans, both built in the last decade of the 19th Century are part of every organized tour.

So of course is the house where Livingstone stayed before his last expedition into the interior of Africa. The Forodhani Gardens are providing the background for many snapshots taken, selfies too of course these days and the Jafferi House’s rooftop is once again open after a recent refurbishment.

Stone Town is an architectural treasure chest for those interested who will find the influence of Persian, Arabic, Indian and European styles most intriguing. Streets are narrow, walls are thick and ventilation is ingenious to keep the buildings cool at the inside during the often oppressive heat of the day.

If there is one downside it is the rise in traffic levels seen since my last visit a couple of years ago. Tourists need to be nimble on their feet to jump out of the way of scooters, tuk-tuks and cars and are at times more likely to get hit by a car, even if only feeling a gentle touch, than catching one good picture when, lost in thought and trying to get the right angle, they step back into the road just by a foot or two.

As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the core area of Stone Town should be kept free of vehicles with restricted access for deliveries perhaps once or twice a day and no doubt would tourists be ready to pay a fee to enter the pedestrian area as long as that part of the old town is well maintained and shows itself as the ancient historical treasure it could and should be.

A range of hotels await visitors, some very small and others larger, and the Zanzibar Serena Hotel is on the waterfront offering spectacular sunsets from the wide terrace overlooking the ocean. This is arguably the best place to see classic artifacts and collectors’ items assembled while the rooms are furnished with the traditional Swahili beds and chests.

Opposite the Serena across the square has a Doubletree by Hilton sprung up, without however offering that priceless waterfront and sunset views while a Park Hyatt opened near the Serena in 2014 – as reported here at the time.

Views over the harbour and out across the Indian Ocean and rooftop vistas across the Stone Town are the hotel’s main plus points. Well-appointed rooms – TV’s in the bathroom above the free standing baths included – and still sparkling from bottom to top, will this modern hotel with an exterior blending into the water front, given some time, no doubt also add a venerable patina which provides the touristy flair and sought after ambience in the more established hotels.

Traveling to Zanzibar with Fastjet, the flight has a short stopover along the way in Kilimanjaro / Arusha and from there take Coastal Aviation which offers almost hourly services on their Cessna C208B Grand Caravans between Terminal 1 of Julius Nyerere International Airport and Zanzibar.

Fastjet will launch Zanzibar flights from the 11th of January from Terminal 2 but the very short processing time of the smaller airlines from Terminal 1 remain a strong incentive to fly with them. Of course, as mentioned, is there the ferry option and many visitors do take the trip out to the island across the ocean before then flying back to the mainland.

Transport on Zanzibar can and should be prebooked , for airport transfers as well as for excursions to the spice farms, the slave caves, the almost mandatory guided tour through the Stone Town and of course when visiting the Butterfly Centre and the forest national park in the middle of the island.

In fact, Zanzibaris came across as a happy and friendly people, inspite of a contentious election which was cancelled half way through at the end of October. It is to be re-staged at a time still to be announced by the Electoral Commission and while the tourism industry feels it should be after the Christmas and New Year holidays, no one is certain when it will take place.

TANZANIA: Etihad To Fly From Dar Es Salaam To Abu Dhabi

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, yesterday widened its presence in East Africa with the launch of new services between Dar es Salaam, the Tanzanian commercial capital and Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

On touching down at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, the inaugural flight was welcomed with a traditional water-cannon salute and guets, when disembarking were greeted by a troupe of traditional Tanzanian dancers.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to mark the auspicious occasion, which was attended by:

- Dr Shaaban Mwinjaka, Permanent Secretary, Tanzanian Ministry of Transport,

- Dr Adelhelm James Meru, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources,

- H.E. Mbarouk Nassor Mbarouk, Tanzanian Ambassador to the UAE,

- H.E. Abdullah Ibrahim Al Suwaidi, UAE Ambassador to Tanzania, and

- Daniel Barranger, Etihad Airways’ Senior Vice President - Global Sales,

- Engineer Thomas Haule, Director, ‎Julius Nyerere International Airport

Dar es Salaam is Etihad Airways’ third destination in East Africa, along with Nairobi and Entebbe, and its ninth destination overall on the African continent.

The daily service will be operated by a two-class Airbus A320 aircraft with 16 Business Class and 120 Economy Class seats, designed to provide business and leisure travellers with a direct daily connection between Dar es Salaam and Abu Dhabi. From there will travelers have convenient onward connections to key destinations in the GCC region, Europe, the Indian subcontinent, North Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia but also to North America.

Mr Barranger said when addressing guests: 't'.The launch of Etihad Airways’ flights to Dar es Salaam is consistent with our strategy of targeting areas of strong growth in emerging markets. Dar es Salaam is a wonderful destination for tourists seeking to experience the great culture and history of Tanzania, and provides the gateway to numerous national and international tourist attractions, including Mount Kilimanjaro, the wildlife-rich national parks of the Serengeti, and the spice island of Zanzibar.

The UAE is also a major trading partner with Tanzania and our new point-to-point services strengthen the two-way flow of trade and commerce between the two countries. The flight scheduling offers guests convenient onward connections, and caters for the strong traffic flows between Tanzania and key destinations across our global network, such as Ahmedabad and Mumbai in India or Beijing and Shanghai in China. Not only does this service provide our guests with direct access to an exciting new business and tourism destination, it also further strengthens our presence in East Africa and across the African continent'.

Etihad Airways has steadily grown its presence on the continent since the launch of its first service to Cairo in November 2004. Since then the airline has introduced services to Casablanca, Entebbe, Johannesburg, Khartoum, Lagos, Nairobi in codeshare with Kenya Airways, and Mahé in the Seychelles, and plans to launch to Rabat in Morocco, mid-January 2016.

TANZANIA: Tanzania Awarded With USD 100 Million By Friedkin Conservation Fund To Boost Tourism Sector

Friedkin Conservation Fund (FCF), a US based nonprofit corporation established for the purpose of conserving Tanzania’s protected wildlife areas, has recently awarded Tanzania with a USD 100 million investment aimed at improving its tourism sector.

The investment is meant to support job creation, wildlife conservation, rural growth and innovation in Tanzania’s Western Tourism Circuit which brings to the country the least quantity of tourist due to access constraints.

The proceed was catalogued as a strategic investment by the National Investment Steering Committee (NISC) which was formed by the Tanzanian Government to improve local business environment and that so far has approved 41 strategic investment projects.

According to Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), this strategic investment is product of the international campaign developed by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and launched by Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete in October, 2015.

The strategic investment together with the work of the NISC chaired by Prime Minister Mizengo Peter Pinda will soon bring more investments to Tanzania’s tourism sector, explained TIC Executive Director Juliet Kairuki.

FCF was established for the purpose of conserving more than 6.1 million acres of Tanzania’s protected wildlife areas. FCF also sponsors innovative community development projects and manages a Geographic Information System (GIS) for mapping and research to compliment the anti-poaching initiative.

The Tanzainan tourism sector is a notable source of income for the country with a constantly growing international tourist arrivals which in average currently stays 10 days in the country and spend a total of USD 1,691 per visitor, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

According to Bank of Tanzania’s latest statistics, tourism is the leading foreign exchange earner outperforming the gold industry and which in January, 2015 attracted USD 2.04 billion up from USD 1.90 billion in January, 2014.

Tanzania Tourism, Tanzania Attractions, Tanzania Travel, Flights To tanzania, Tanzania National Parks, Kilimanjaro, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater,