HOW TO TELL IF A TOUR COMPANY IS SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE

 

The following questions, which a responsible tour operator should be willing to answer,

can assist in choosing a tour operator and/or destination.

• What pre-departure educational materials or forums are provided to participants?

• Is the group size small enough to allow nonintrusive interaction with host peoples and environments?

• What are the qualifications and role of guides in preparing visitors for and interpreting cultures and ecosystems visited?

• Are local people and cultures portrayed realistically or are they merely being marketed?

What seems to be the company’s attitude toward the culture?

• Who will benefit from the cost of your trip?

• What opportunities are provided to interact with local people and organizations?

• Are any post-trip mechanisms in place or advice given on how to maintain your involvement with the country by sharing knowledge with others, lobbying governments and NGOs, staying in touch with local

organizations, and keeping informed on current issues?

Mountain Gorilla Population on the increase

A census of the world’s largest mountain gorilla population has counted 480 animals, an increase of 100 - more than a quarter - since the last count in 2003. 
The gorillas surveyed live in Central Africa’s Virunga Massif region, a volcanic mountain ecosystem consisting of three adjacent national parks spanning parts of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda and Rwanda.

A fourth park, southwestern Uganda’s Bwindi, is home to an additional 302 mountain gorillas, the only other remaining wild population, which together with four orphaned mountain gorillas in a sanctuary in the DRC brings the wild population to 786.

The Virunga census was conducted in March and April 2010 by local authorities with the support of the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP), a coalition of several conservation organizations, including WWF.

‘’This is vivid testimony to the commitment of the Rwanda, Uganda and DRC governments, in addition to their supporting partners including IGCP, to ensuring the sustained protection of this charismatic species,” said David Greer, African Great Ape Coordinator at WWF.  “The survey results provide us with an excellent demonstration of how strong law enforcement efforts put in place to safeguard flagship species can advance species conservation, benefit local communities, and provide important revenue to governments.” 

The current figure represents an annual growth rate of 3.7% in Virunga despite the illegal killing of no less than nine mountain gorillas in the area over the past seven years, according to IGCP.  Of the gorillas surveyed, 352 have been habituated to human presence, 349 living in groups and three solitary silverback males.  Habituated mountain gorillas have been the basis of a sustainable eco-tourism programme since the late 1970s.

“Unfortunately, as we continue efforts to replicate the successful mountain gorilla eco-tourism model elsewhere in Central Africa, weak government support for wildlife protection, rampant corruption and an uninviting tourism culture make for a much more challenging environment,” said Greer.  “To date, no gorilla tourism programmes west of the Virungas have achieved fiscal success.”

“The mountain gorilla is the only one of the nine subspecies of African great apes experiencing a population increase.  While we celebrate this collective achievement, we must also increase efforts to safeguard the remaining eight subspecies of great apes,” said Greer.  “Elsewhere in African great ape range states, government support of wildlife law enforcement efforts is shockingly weak and great apes continue to be poached in an environment of pervasive, legal impunity.”

To conduct the Virunga census, over 1,000 kilometres were systematically walked by six mixed teams of seventy-two people from DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda. Teams covered the entire range and meticulously documented fresh signs of gorilla groups.  Mountain gorillas make a new nest each night.  Genetic analysis of fecal samples were collected and analyzed to identify and correct for any double-counting of individuals or groups, ensuring the most accurate estimate for the population.

 
''While the results of the survey are encouraging, many imminent threats continue to loom over great ape populations throughout Central Africa including commercial poaching to supply bushmeat to wealthy urbanites, habitat destruction through illegal logging and land conversion, and the spread of highly infectious diseases such as Ebola hemorrhagic fever," said Greer.  "Moreover, the recent decision by the DRC government to open the Virunga National Park, Africa’s first National Park, a UN World Heritage Site, and DRC’s only home to the mountain gorilla, to oil exploration, is extremely disappointing and reveals that there is much progress to be made in balancing the need to maintain critical biodiversity regions in the face of competing government interests.''


The Virunga Massif mountain gorilla census was conducted by the protected area authorities in three countries: L’Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, the Rwanda Development Board and the Uganda Wildlife Authority. The census was supported by the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (a coalition of WWF, the African Wildlife Foundation, and Fauna & Flora International), the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund – International and the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project. The census was funded by WWF, Fair Play Foundation, and the Netherlands Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIS) through the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration.

Pleasant news today for travelers and tourists comming to East Africa will soon use single visa

With two moves happening at the same time – the recent commencement of the EAC Common market freedoms of movement of people, capital and trade, and the envisioned single visa provision for tourists coming to the EAC countries of  Uganda Kenya , Rwanda Tanzania and Burundi. This achievement is definitely a welcome plus to tourists coming to do east african safaris.

Both EAC travelers and foreigners will be able to plan and budget for their travel expenses based on room rates and quality of services provided wherever they may be.
This evaluating and awarding of ‘stars’ protects the consumers of hotels services, and also provides an incentive to hotel owners and management to improve their quality into to raise the rates of its services and attract visitors. This stars awarding exercise comes on the heels of another categorization of EAC game parks to provide tourists a choice of quality destinations and know the same classification applies in the whole EAC. Prior to this EAC realization and effecting of this hospitality measure many hotels self-awarded stars, generously, some as five-star hotels.

The grading process is in line with the November 2006, the EAC Council of Ministers’ approval for classification and standardization in the EAC partner states to lure more capital in the region by ensuring high quality tourism facilities and better management of the hospitality industry.
According to 2008 hotels’ inventory Tanzania has 339 hotels with 10,790 rooms. Dar City has only 66 qualified for star categories, whilst in Rwanda, Kigali has 21 hotels which are recommended for travelers. However, it is only the Kigali Serena Hotel which is rated at five-star level. Bujumbura, Burundi, where 12 hotels are recommended for travelers and tourists, it’s only the Novotel Bujumbura which has been rated at four-star level.

Kampala, with 36 hotels suitable for tourists and travelers, and Entebbe – 16 hotels, only Kampala Serena Hotel has been rated at five-star level, while in Kenya, Nairobi city has 59 hotels recommended for business tourists and travelers. Categorized as five-star tells in Nairobi are Nairobi Serena Hotel, Fairmont, The Norfolk, Intercontinental Nairobi and LAICO Regency Hotel. This timely move deserves to be applauded by travelers and tourists because it puts the EAC on world tourism map, although posing a challenge to hotels owners to keep improving their hospitality facilities.

Mountain gorilla tourism benefits national economy

The mountain gorilla has become to be one important item in the lives of communities near their habitat.
In Uganda, gorillas are only found in two national parks - Bwindi Impetrable forest National Park and Mgahinga National Park.

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is home to approximately 340 mountain gorillas and inhabits 4 different gorilla groups for trekking such as Nkuringo group with 19 gorillas and 2 silverbacks, Rushegura with 10 gorillas and 1 silverback, Mubare with 16 gorillas and 1 silverback and Habinyanja with 23 gorillas and 2 silver backs.  Renowned for gorilla tours, this park is also attractive to birders and nature lovers. Other notable animal species including the Colubus monkey, chimpanzee, elephant, antelope species: bushbuck and forest duiker, buffalo, golden cat, civet, bush pig, giant forest hog, black-fronted duiker, clawless otter, genet and many species of bats and rodents.

Tourism is currently tightly controlled at the park. Although the demand for viewing the
mountain gorillas is increasing, the mountain gorilla population is too small and too fragile to make it possible to expand the number of daily visitors. Yet, tourism can, if managed carefully, create a win-win situation for all parties: the mountain gorillas, the surrounding communities, the park authorities, the national government, the scientific community and the tourists. After all, gorilla tourism was in the first place introduced as a means ‘to make the gorillas pay for themselves’. Tourists currently pay US$500,-
to spend an hour with mountain gorillas. The revenues can help the park authorities to cover
salaries and operating costs in all the protected areas of the country. Tourism creates not only direct
revenues, but also enhances international awareness and concern for the plight of gorillas. It therefore
generates funds for conservation activities and research.

Gorilla tourism attracts many visitors to the region, who should be encouraged to prolong their
stay. This can be done by developing other tourist attractions and investing in existing attractions. In
Uganda other attractions in that region include the Rwenzori mountains, Fort Portal and Queen Elizabeth
National Park. Rwanda is already developing its shore at Lake Kivu for tourism and offers the
magnificent Nyungwe National Park, and Akagera National Park. Extending tourism facilities would therefore be beneficial for the wider region and can potentially attract a lot of foreign currency.
Gorilla ecotourism can be a way to help local communities generate income. People can work
as a ranger for the park authorities or offer tourism-related activities, such as accommodation, making
and selling souvenirs, restaurants, expositions, organize boat trips on Lake Bulera and Lake Ruhondo,
or facilitate hikes through the region outside of the parks. Both UWA and ORTPN invest a part of the revenues in local development projects

Uganda last year earned Shs 6.6 billion (about 3 million US Dollars) from the sale of gorilla permits alone –accounting for 50.4% revenue for Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA).
According to UWA, the figures are bound to rise this year to Shs10 billion (about 4.5 million US Dollars) with the addition of Nshongi.

“There has been a chronic shortage of permits. Only 7.3% of the total number of tourists coming to Uganda have a chance to view gorillas. We expect the gorilla business to boom,” said Lillian Nsubuga, the Public Relations manager, UWA.
Gorillas are by no means the only regional tourist attraction. A wealth of stunning wildlife, breathtaking scenery, challenging hikes and fascinating culture are, in themselves, persuasive arguments for visiting the region.
“We fundamentally depend on natural systems and resources for our existence and development. Our efforts to defeat poverty and pursue sustainable development will be in vain if environmental degradation and natural resource depletion continue unabated." Kofi Annan, In Larger Freedom.
Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All, 2005.
.

Strategic plan to conserve chimps drafted

An ambitious plan to save one of mankind’s closest relatives – the chimpanzee – has been hatched by East and Central African nations along with conservation groups.

The 10-year plan would aim to protect chimps from hunting, habitat loss, disease and other threats.

"The conservation of wild populations is important not only for conservation, but also for the survival of chimpanzee cultures in the region that are invaluable to helping us define our own place within the natural realm," said James Deutsch of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Africa Program.

The eastern chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii), which is known to use tools, is currently classified as "Endangered" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List of endangered species and occurs in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Zambia.

Threats to the subspecies include: hunting for bushmeat; the capture of infant chimpanzees for the pet trade; the loss and fragmentation of habitat due to agriculture; mining and other forms of human development; and disease.

In one of the most far-reaching efforts to assess the status and conservation threats to eastern chimpanzees, conservation practitioners and researchers with experience from all seven states where the chimps are found contributed data on sightings, nests, feeding signs, and vocalizations from the past decade.

"This effort to assess the status of eastern chimpanzees will help us to focus our conservation actions more effectively," said Andrew Plumptre, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Albertine Rift Program and the plan's lead author. "In the next decade, we hope to minimize the threats to these populations and the ecological and cultural diversity they support."

During an August 2009 workshop, more than 30 experts from seven countries traveled to Kampala, Uganda, to identify priorities for the conservation of the subspecies, and to develop an action plan with specific projects for their conservation.

Gaps had to be filled in for some areas off-limits to research because of conflicts.

Participants in the workshop identified 16 chimpanzee units that if successfully protected, would safeguard 96 percent of known chimpanzee populations (estimated to total some 50,000 individual animals).

Eastern chimpanzees are among the best studied of the great apes, due in large part to the work of researchers such as Jane Goodall, who started her fieldwork in Gombe Stream National Park in western Tanzania 50 years ago.

However, the total numbers of eastern chimpanzees across their whole range is poorly known and the models used by the researchers revealed the total population may number as many as 200,000 (almost double the estimates that had been made previously).

"It is clear that we know about the distribution and abundance of only a quarter of the world population of the eastern chimpanzee," said Liz Williamson, the Species Survival Commission Great Ape Coordinator for the IUCN. "There are large areas of the Congo basin where we know very little about this ape."

The plan also targets two of the greatest threats to the species — illegal hunting and trafficking — with a goal of reducing both to half of current levels across most of the animal's range.

Other objectives include: reducing the rate of forest loss in chimpanzee habitats; filling in knowledge gaps in chimpanzee distribution, status and threats; improving the understanding of health risks to chimpanzee populations, including human-transmitted diseases; increasing community support for chimpanzee conservation; and securing sustainable financing for chimpanzee conservation units.

Another gorilla group prepared for tourism





THE Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has started habituating another group of gorillas in a bid to expand tourism in the southern part of the Bwindi National Park in south-western Uganda.

Habituation is the process through which gorillas get used to human presence without changing their wild character.

The director of conservation, Sam Mwandha advised that habituation of the Bikingi gorilla group begun recently. “It is too early to say when they will be able to accept human presence. We will probably be able to establish this in the next few months,” Mwandha said.

Bikingi is the eighth group to be habituated out of the 34 found in Bwindi Forest in 20 years.

Recently, Nsongi, another gorilla group in the southern part of Bwindi, was habituated.
Other habituated groups include Bitukura, Mubare, Habinyanja, Nkuringo, Rushegura and Kyaguriro.
Gorilla tracking contributes between 40% and 50% of the tourism revenue.
Mwandha said after Bikingi, no more gorillas will be habituated until 2012.
More than half the 760 gorillas in the world are found in Bwindi.
The rest roam the mountains that straddle the DR Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.