UGANDA: Another Tour Operator Detained For Conning Tourists

The Chief Executive Director of Gatatu Safaris Limited, Richard Tusasibwe has been arrested for allegedly obtaining money by false pretence from tourists.

Tusasiibwe who runs the tour company based in Kigezi sub region was arrested on Monday at around 10:00AM by heavily armed tourist police officers led by Tourism Police Commander-in-charge of Kigezi Region, Emmanuel Tinka.

He was detained at Kabale police station before being paraded before the Kigezi region police detectives later in the afternoon for about three hours.

Police say Tusasibwe is alleged to have signed a contract worth 2150 US dollars equivalent to about shillings 7.9 million with a tourist identified as Dr. Lentschig Markus Gunter, a German national to facilitate a tour with his four family members in Uganda.

Tusasibwe received the whole amount after signing the contract with Gunter.

The contract also required Tusasibwe to pick the tourists from Entebbe International Airport and drive them to Kisoro town as well as booking them accommodation, trekking permits, Park fees, Gorilla and chimpanzee tracking permit, game and boat drive fees, rhino sanctuaries and taxes among others.

Marcus paid a deposit of USD2000 equivalent to Uganda Shillings 7.4million to Tusasibwe to help him on bookings and cleared the balance on July 25, 2019 when he arrived in Uganda.

However, when the tourists reached Kisoro town, Tusasibwe reportedly abandoned them at Chameleon Hill Hotel, switched off his phones and disappeared.

The tourists were shocked to find that Tusasibwe did not book for them accommodation, despite having received full payment. It is when they reported the matter to police for help that Tusasibwe was tracked.

Elly Maate, police spokesperson for Kigezi region says that Tusasibwe had been on the run until Monday when he was arrested while hiding in Lake Bunyonyi.

Maate says that the suspect will face the law after investigations into the matter are complete.

The case is registered at Kabale Police station under file number CRB 1180/2019.

On July 31, 2019, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni during a press conference on operation wealth creation held at State Lodge Makanga in Kabale district ordered for the the arrest of tour operators who cheat tourists and described them as enemies of the country.

Tusasibwe had earlier said refuting all the allegations saying that they had agreed that he is paid shillings 7.3 million but was paid only shillings 5.5 million after the tourists said that they would book the accommodation themselves.

Tusasibwe also denied abandoning the tourists, but says he separated with them after failing to agree on contract terms and conditions.

In February, Didan Atukunda a resident of Kabale district and a tour operator from Mamba Gorilla Safari was arrested after he failed to refund 99 million shillings that was mistakenly sent to his account by a Dutch tourist for a gorilla trekking trip.

Peter Nickilin from the Netherlands paid 110 million shillings instead of 11 million shillings for a trip to trek Gorillas in October 2017.

Tourism Observer

East African Legislative Assembly Calls For Stronger Wildlife Laws Against Poaching

East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is calling on East African Community Partner States to enact new wildlife legislation with enhanced penalties and improve strategies and protection measures in a bid to save the region's wildlife.

Findings by EALA's committee on agriculture, tourism and natural resources indicate that elephants and rhinoceros are the animals most vulnerable to poaching but other species including leopards, pythons, marine turtles and others are also endangered.

The committee's oversight activity report says that contributing factors include persistent weaknesses in the legislation governing wildlife crime, along with poor administration and low levels of compliance.

"The Committee recommends the EAC Secretariat to expedite the ongoing anti-poaching strategy to combat poaching, illegal trade and trafficking of wildlife and wildlife products to foster regional coordination," said committee chairperson MP Christophe Bazivamo (Rwanda).

"We recommend the EAC Secretariat to develop common strategies, standards, and guidelines for conservation of shared natural resources. The Committee also urges East African elephant range countries, and those through which ivory transits, to create national anti-poaching multi-agency security task force."

The report was presented Tuesday as the Assembly begun its ordinary sitting in Arusha, Tanzania.

Other measures called for include forming specialised units to combat poaching and illegal wildlife trade, enhancing inter-agency collaboration, and increasing international cooperation.

Wildlife crime is one of the most lucrative forms of illegal activities worldwide and it hurts people, communities and economies.

Besides urging EAC Partner States to reinvest part of the revenue collected from wildlife tourism into the communities living around national parks to promote conservation, Bazivamo also highlighted home the importance of regional governments "addressing issues of militias, corruption and governance in general."

Kenya reportedly continues to be a transit route for ivory in Africa, majorly through its port of Mombasa, which "accounted for the largest volumes of ivory seizures in Africa," with over 10 tonnes of illegal ivory intercepted between January and October 2013.

Bazivamo noted that, in the region, some of the statutes and associated regulations relevant to wildlife management have not been revised to deal with modern wildlife threats.

Even where modern statutes exist, he said, there are often shortfalls in their administration and enforcement.

Article 116 of the EAC Treaty stipulates that Partner States undertake to develop a collective and coordinated policy for conservation and sustainable use of wildlife and other tourist sites in the six-nation bloc.

It calls on Partner States to, among others, harmonise policies for conservation of wildlife within and outside protected areas, and co-ordinate efforts in controlling and monitoring encroachment and poaching.

"Poaching activities have evolved from individual poachers or ad hoc gangs to increasing recurrences of attacks by well-resourced and organised groups, including transnational criminal networks, Bazivamo said."

Poaching, Bazivamo said, is organised by rich people using poor people.

He pointed to the case, in January, when elephant poachers in Tanzania shot dead British helicopter pilot, Roger Gower, 37, who was fighting poaching in Serengeti National Park.

Lawmakers concluded that commercial poaching is done by rich people who own guns, vehicles and can corrupt rangers.

One of the areas scrutinised was Serengeti National Park, the best-known wildlife sanctuary in the world, and Tanzania's oldest and most popular national park which is a world heritage site.

The lawmakers observed that illegal wildlife trade robs the EAC and East Africans of natural capital and cultural heritage, with serious economic and social consequences.

Besides the lack of harmonised laws, regulations and guidelines on wildlife conservation, rising demand and prices for wildlife trophies in the illicit markets is another burden.

EALA's Kenyan MP Abubakar Ogle, in August 2013, initiated a Resolution: "Escalating problem on Poaching and Illegal Wildlife trafficking in EAC."

During debate on the report, Ogle pointed to China as having "the biggest magnitude" links to poaching and illegal ivory trade to the region.

Asian criminal gangs conspire with corrupt regional officials to traffic vast quantities of ivory and, the trading is reportedly so pervasive it even involves high-level diplomatic visits.

MP Martin Ngoga (EALA-Rwanda) said he was surprised last week on reading reports that Police in Kigali were holding 10 people, including foreigners, arrested while attempting to traffic elephant tusks through Rwanda.

"This is something surprising, in the Rwandan jurisdiction," Ngoga said.

He also said that sentences handed to criminals are not deterrent enough. In March, Rwandan courts sentenced three Guineans and a Rwandan to six years in jail after they pleaded guilty to trafficking about 88kgs of ivory.

To adequately confront such crimes, Ngoga suggested, the punishment should be much higher to deter criminals.

Rwanda's Penal Code (Article 417) stipulates that anyone who poaches, sells, injures or kills a gorilla or any other protected endangered animal species is liable to a term of imprisonment of more than five years to 10 years and a fine of Rwf500, 000 to Rwf 5,000,000.

The former Rwandan prosecutor general also suggested that more attention and funds be put in regional capacity building efforts.

"What's the formula in terms of capacity building for conservation management? How much percentage of tourism revenues is spent to improve capacity in those areas?" Ngoga posed, underlining the importance of political will in curbing poaching.

CONGO: Congo Designates Three Wetland Areas As Ramsar Sites

The Government of Congo has recently designated three wetland areas, which provide essential habitat to a range of notable and threatened species, as Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites). These are the Loubetsi-Nyanga biological reserve, the Leketi-Mbama floodplains, and the biodiversity-rich Tchikapika-Owando wetland.

With these new designations Congo now has 13 Ramsar Sites within its territory, with the total surface of all the Sites covering nearly 137,000 km2. These zones make a significant contribution to the local economies by supporting water supply, fishing and agriculture. They are also of exceptional value to the region’s biodiversity.

Characterized by a range of habitats including dryland gallery forests, swamp forests and river bodies, the Loubetsi-Nyanga is an important biological reserve which supports varied flora, macroinvertebrates, fish, reptiles, birds and terrestrial mammals, and provides refuge for several notable species including the forest elephant, gorilla, chimpanzee, hippopotamus, hyena, leopard, and the giant ground pangolin.

The Site is also home to the Nile crocodile, African dwarf crocodile and the critically endangered slender-snouted crocodile. The local communities, estimated at 12,500 inhabitants, are highly dependent on the numerous resources of the Site for food, medicine, transportation and goods for trading with nearby towns.

The Leketi-Mbama is a unique inland wetland with a mixture of varied habitats including lakes, marshes and floodplains. It supports a wide range of animals including the critically endangered western lowland gorilla, the endangered chimpanzee, the vulnerable hippopotamus and the African elephant. Its floating meadows, savannah and swamp forests also provide a safe haven for migratory bird species, the African darter and the woolly-necked stork. Traditional agriculture, fishing, hunting and collection of non-timber forest products are some of the activities in the Site.

The Tchikapika-Owando is a biodiversity-rich wetland which supports fish, reptiles, birds, mammals, and invertebrate species and plays an important role in the hydrological regulation of the Congo river basin. The Site is known to support a multitude of species of fauna and flora, with its grassy savannah, rainforest and rural complexes particularly characteristic of the Guinean-Congolese/Zambezian biogeographic region.

Notable species include the leopard, water chevrotain, forest elephant, hippopotamus, African civet, side-striped jackal, the critically endangered western gorilla, crocodiles, tortoises and reptiles. The local population depends on the resources of the Site for its livelihoods, such as traditional fishing, hunting, subsistence farming, livestock rearing, collection of non-timber forest products and medicinal plants.

DR CONGO: Tourism Hope In DR Congo

Tourists perch perilously on a volcano's edge as swirling smoke belches from the fiery cauldron of lava below, the latest unlikely visitors holidaying in war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.

Below, sounding like a roaring sea, spurts of molten rock fly high into the air, as one of the world's largest lava lakes and most active volcanos puts on its mesmerising show.

Eastern DR Congo has been mired for decades in rebel battles, but such sights are helping bring tourists back to Virunga National Park, which reopened last year after the battle lines shifted in its favour.

Surrounding misty forests in green hills of the vast park -- stretching for 7,800 square kilometres (3,010 square miles) -- are home to a quarter of the world's critically endangered mountain gorillas.

The tourists are vital: the income they bring funds the park's survival.

"The frontlines, they were down there," one porter says, peering down from the volcano through the jungles towards the lights of the lakeside city of Goma, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) southwards, referring to a rebel force who briefly took control in late 2012.

Nyiragongo, a 3470 metre (11,384 feet) peak and a steep and stiff five-hour hike from lush rain forests, is part of a chain of volcanoes in one of the world's most active regions.

- Tourism 'vital' to Virunga's future -

"Holiday on Mount Doom," said Fabian, a teenage Belgian tourist visiting with his mother, referring to the volcano in the fantasy world of British author J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" epic.

"Some things can only be believed by seeing," he added quietly, peering down from the cliff's edge in hushed awe at the raging fire below, the night sky turned red from the glowing lava.

The tourist industry in the region -- needed to keep the UNESCO world heritage site running and its animal inhabitants safe -- collapsed in 2012.

Militia forces remain active, and Virunga's chief warden Emmanuel de Merode was himself wounded by gunmen by 2014.

But the well-trained and armed guides say it is now safe, and visitors are coming back. For tourists, an hour with a gorilla family costs $400, while a night on the volcano costs $250.

Tourism revenue is "vital" to the future of Virunga, helping to benefit some four million people in and around the vast park, as well as "peace and prosperity" in general.

It gives people an alternative income than cutting down the forests for charcoal, and a motivation to protect the park.

"Every tourist that visits Virunga is contributing," Merode said.

In 2011, over 3,000 visitors came to Virunga, but violence forced the park shut the next year, and only fully reopening in late 2014.

But tourist numbers have bounced back, with almost 3,000 visiting already so far this year, bringing in much needed revenues to pay rangers.

A total of 16 tourists can hike up the mountain a day - on a recent trip in torrential rain and hail storms up the peak made by a dozen tourists took part, with nationalities including Americans, Belgians, British and Israelis.

The last major eruption in 2002 saw fast flowing lava devastate the Goma, covering the city of around a million in a river of molten rock flowing as fast as 100 kilometres (60 miles) per hour.

Oscar-nominated 2014 documentary "Virunga" -- which showed the efforts to protect Africa's oldest national park from war, poachers and oil companies -- has also brought back tourists.

"We saw the film, and said, we have to see that," said Jacques, a Belgian businessman working in Congo, after trekking into the steamy jungles to see the gorillas, the symbol of the park.

Rangers communicate with the gorillas, exchanging heavy grunts to reassure the groups, including the massive male "silverback" weighing an estimated 160 kilos (350 pounds).

"With each person coming to visit Virunga, there is a little bit more hope that things will get better," said Mélanie Gouby, a French investigative journalist, whose work to expose oil company expansion into the park is a key part of the film.

It's wonderful that so many tourists have come back in such a short time after the end of the conflict - to hear that the documentary is part of the reason why they are coming to Virunga is both incredibly exciting and humbling.

As night falls and temperatures drop below freezing, the warmth from the molten lava warms the hands of the tourists, dangling their legs over the sheer drop into the crater, watching plate tectonics in action.

"I saw how the Earth was born," one entry from an American couple read in the park's visitor's book. "How often can you climb a mountain and come back with an understanding of how we are all here?"