Uganda Safari Packages like Mountain Gorilla Trekk

Oil wealth should not herald a new era of bloodletting

We have lived through a generation of lost opportunities and a lot of promise. But there are always things to celebrate, that a core of intellectual honesty still exists and probably continues to grow. Oil in Uganda

Early this week, there was a cause for alarm that oil prospecting activities in Amuru District had begun in high gear away from the responsible eyes of local leaders. The sub-county in question, Purongo sits in Nwoya County, a large expanse of a county that stretches from the near side of Gulu District down into the Murchison falls National Game Park.

My memories of this part of the country are varied and rich. In 1992, I had a relatively long educational excursion in St. Joseph’s College Ombaci in Arua.

At the time, this trip was a day long effort that began very early in the morning before grounding to a halt at noon at the entrance of the game park. On those trips we took a break in the bus, at the end of the tarmac. Gulu was very close yet perilously dangerous. The road through the game park had shells of burnt out vehicles that hadn’t thought it wise to use the UPDF escort or were attacked on these convoys.

What was memorable on the northern frontier were the resilient locals who roasted some mean steaks, chicken, corn on the cob and other goodies. The fishermen from Lake Albert had another delicacy, Bambara, a salted fish, and if you asked me a native islander it looked tempting to the untrained eye.

On one of these trips, probably the first, in tow was Uganda’s Ambassador to Addis Ababa, Mull Sebujja Katende, who fastidiously kept his eye away from all the street offerings. Ahead of us in the bus was a young man who took in more than his fair share of Bambara.

In the late afternoon, the young man let out a sigh of horrified anguish. The Bambara was causing a revolution in his tummy. A question arose in the chain of command. A surprise because very far from the south-central part of the country, all communication was in Luganda.

Intercessions were made for the man to be given a chance to make a call of nature. Many things crossed our mind, the area was heavily mined; confused passengers had a terrible choice on the hands to allow the comfort and health of one man override the potential lives of many. These were days when Kony still enjoyed more support than the joke he has become today. Uganda tours

In 2008, we are on this road again after a day of field work in Omoro and Nwoya counties. It is remarkable what change peace has brought to this land. The level of energy in Gulu Town, an energy duplicated in the countryside: If Gulu were in North America, it would be the lush prairie. Elephant grass dwarfs most forms of human existence.

So do the canopies that shade coffee in some areas, food crops in others blocking out the extreme sunlight.

With such change in the front mirror, it would be the wrong reason to argue that the people of Acholi don’t deserve a legitimate or a fair share or even a majority slice of the royalties, government stands to earn from drilling for oil.

It is even worse that the excuse given is that the oil wells are in a national park. The title to the land, the history and blood should never be one for lengthy interpretation. Uganda safari packages

The soldiers of PGB cannot be used by private entities beyond legislative oversight to shield local leaders from legitimate oversight over their land.

Fortunately, this fiat or lapse of responsibility by the political leadership is not shared by advocates for wildlife. Uganda wildlife safari – Failing to manage oil drilling or over-development has consequences for wildlife and biodiversity.

The Uganda Wildlife Society in October 2008 published a very thoughtful report on Sharing Oil and Gas Revenue in Uganda. UWS is an advocacy group very different from the state run Uganda Wildlife Authority.

Authors Telly Muramira and Jacob Manyindo describe the global terrain on how oil producers manage their oil revenues. In Uganda, the share of Purongo Sub-county would be a percentage of 3 per cent of total royalties collected under the Mining Act.

Nigeria has a 13 per cent split and other local governments collect 17 per cent. Obviously, the bean counters here never had the honesty on who was owed what, the rest is history. Masai mara tour

Uganda’s new Mining Act was passed in 2003 in a period of political confusion, a sham constitutional reform process that preceded the 2005 lifting of term limits. MPs from the area should study the law carefully to make sure it protects their heritage and does not deprive them of God’s inheritance.

A burst in oil wealth especially if accompanied by investments in refining capacity stretching from Gulu to Bunyoro and the lake region has the potential to transform our country in our time. And let the historical owners of this wealth. Your can read more on Uganda travel guide or about the plight of lions in Queen Elizabeth national park Uganda

After he had read the Luganda Bukeddde (a local news paper written in the local dialect, April 21)  – http://www.bukedde.co.ug/ story of the two Rwandese prostitutes who reportedly murdered a man for failing to pay part of the agreed Shs50,000 for a night of pleasure, the man next to me (in a taxi) blurted out: “Naye bannange Abannyarwanda batemu nnyo!” (People of Rwandese extraction are very murderous!)

Now, almost daily, Bukedde prints pictures and stories of the most gruesome brutality, most of them involving Ugandans, and around issues just as petty as the Shs50,000 sex fee.

But after that Bukedde reader expressed a fairly common Ugandan prejudice about the Rwandese, it has occurred to me that there must be several Rwandese who have read this week’s Ugandan papers and wondered whether Uganda should not change its slogan from “Gifted …” to “Shifty by Nature”.

Collins’ English Dictionary defines shifty as contriving, crafty, deceitful, devious, duplicitous, evasive, scheming, slippery, underhand, unprincipled and wily, and so on.

Even without any substantial benefit in sight, it seems that Ugandans will try to rig or twist the facts, as if they instinctively suspect the truth to be at odds with their interests.

Take the page three report, ”Uganda earns big from gorilla tourism” (Daily Monitor, April 20). The story opens with the claim that in 1990 Uganda earned nothing, and in 2008 she earned $225 million (Shs438 billion) from gorilla tours in Uganda; thanks to the 380 mountain gorillas in Mgahinga and Bwindi National Park.

Wow! Did you cry? What a leap; from zero to Shs488 billion in 18 years! Well, sober up. A little further down the story, you discover that Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) actually earned only Shs6.6 billion from tourism, which was 50.4 per cent of the total earnings of the wildlife body.

Now, the article clearly has a huge input from UWA, and the authors reproduce the gorilla mathematics of Mr Moses Mapesa, the body’s Executive Director. That mathematics “hijacks” the income from all the other tourism sectors – $450 million (Shs977 billion) – and treats it as if it was exclusively from the wildlife sector. 50.4 per cent of this is $225 million. You would have to be very creative (or shifty) to conjure up a more weird reasoning just to enhance the wonder that gorilla tours is.

Directly below the gorilla story, you discover that if (in your folly) you thought all the fighting elements of the UPDF had left the DR Congo in March, then you must think again. And you may never have known that an infantry brigade had stayed behind, if Kony’s LRA had not claimed a couple of scalps from the force.

The following day (April 21), Daily Monitor reported that former IGG Faith Mwondha, had followed her deputy Raphael Baku on leave but in different circumstances. Falling in slow motion herself, the IGG may before her demise force the question (in court) whether President Museveni’s current Attorney General, Khiddu Makubuya, actually deserves his job.

Then, in the April 22, Daily Monitor, there is this cute little story of $63,000. It seems not to age. During the 2001 election period, Uganda Revenue Authority seized $63,000 from a businessman at Entebbe Airport, ostensibly to prevent the money from getting to its suspected destination, Dr Kizza Besigye’s campaign team – Uganda safari

Eight years later, it has been confirmed that the money had ended up in President Museveni’s campaign chest, and State House has pledged to refund the money (in instalments); not to the businessman, but to URA.

There is a rogue MP who insists that, in this transaction, “State House” should be replaced with “Mr Museveni”, and that instead of making good from the Treasury, the gentleman should sell some of his cows to settle the matter. Maybe the Rwandese, but as a Ugandan and a true patriot, I would never recommend this MP for the job of First Herdsman in a country so shifty by nature that gorilla tourism alone earns $250 million. For other blogs visit East African safari news and Africa Travel reviews

While in Uganda bird watching will be quite an experience that you will never forget, so when you decide to travel grab a pair of good binoculars and a camera to have a bigger picture of what Uganda has in store.

They are over 1500 bird species in East Africa and over 1000 species are found in Uganda; the picturesque spots that offer unique and incomparable species than any other in the region.
There are various places like forest and wildlife reserves, rain forests, rivers and other areas where you will have a breathtaking view of these beautiful gifts of nature. These include: Queen Elizabeth National Park, which boasts of 606 species of birds like the papyrus gonelek, African skimmer, shoebill stork, African fish eagle and many others. Twitters and non-twitters will love the pelican point on Kazinga Channel. Other places include Murchison Falls National Park within it in, Kaniyo Pabidi (within Budongo forest Reserve – here you will come across the white-thighed hornbill, purel’s illadopsis which is not found anywhere in East Africa, chocolate backed kingfisher etc), and Rabongo forest (south east of the protected area). Other birds include the herons, cormorants, bee-eaters, rare shoebill, ducks, herons and so many more that you will enjoy viewing especially with a good pair of binoculars, during the 3 hour-launch trip on the Nile.

BIRDS:

While visiting in Uganda and you love bird watching make sure you drop by any of these places and view these amazing creatures soaring up above!
Check list for top bird spots in Uganda.

Mabamba Swamp
Is a lush swamp situated on shores Lake Victoria is famous for the rare and charismatic species, Shoebill stork (also known as the Whale headed stork).
They are found in only nine African countries and places range from southern Sudan, through Uganda and western Tanzania to Southeast democratic republic of Congo (DRC) and Northwest Zambia. In Uganda, the Shoebill has become a major tourist attraction and is highly sought after by visiting ornithologists. The swamp is accessed opposite the Mpanga forest 30kmsouthwest of Kampala.

The Kazinga Channel
This is a channel which joins Lake Edward to Lake George with 33-35km. It acts as a breeding ground for a variety of birds, fish species as well as hippopotamus’s and buffaloes. Over 300 species of birds are recorded and these include: the African Jacana, Yellow ox-pecker, Black Crake, Little eaglet, the Grey heron, others

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Bwindi has a diversity of bird species and 346 species have been recorded. Birds viewed include the Great blue Turaco, the Grover’s, thrush wolber and the African green broad bill, Buhoma-Ruhija-Black bee eater, African Green Broad bill.

Budongo Forest Kaniyo Pabidi
This forest not only famous for the chimps and nature walks but also birds species and they include; the Purvels IIIdopsis, Shinning Blue Kingfisher, White Crested Turaco among others.
Mgahinga National Park
This park is located on the slopes of the Virunga Mountains, in the extreme corner south west of Uganda and around the camp ground is a bird sanctuary and species include; Ibis, Speckled mouse bird, Fire finch, Stone chart, Crowned horn bill, Rwenzori turaco, grey chapped warbler, the black kite, wax bills and yellow vented bulbul.

Murchison Falls National Park
Within the largest park in Uganda is a bird sanctuary and the famous species are, the rare shoebill stork, Denham’s bustard, and the Red fronted bee eaters.

Mabira Forest Reserve
This forest reserve stands at an altitude of 1070-1340m above sea level and harbors 46% of Uganda’s birds which include; blue swallow, papyrus gonolock, nahari’s franklin, bat hawk, hawk eagle and endemic titlogblia. With the help of a guide, try spotting these bird species and top up your list!! Uganda tours
Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary
Besides the nature walks this wetland sanctuary has to offer visitors, this lush papyrus swamp is famous for birds like the Black billed Turaco and White spotted crake among others.

Lake Mburo National Park
This park has a variety of vegetation ranging from grasslands to wetlands to acacia woodlands harbouring 357 bird species!!
Bird watching is usually done along the Kigambira loop and the most common birds are the Hawks, Marina’s trogn, crowned crane, Marabou stock Grey backed cameroptera, the double- toothed barbet and the green pigeon found in Rubanga forest. Gorilla tours
Rwenzori Mountains
These magnificent misted mountains famously called the mountains of the moon are the highest mountains in Africa and have unique bird species among which are the Rwenzori Turaco, francolin and olive pigeon.
Semiliki National Park
This is the only valley park in Uganda which consists of a tropical lowland forest and harbours 435 bird species which is approximately 34% of Uganda’s total recorded, 40 of these species are Congolese found nowhere else in Uganda.

Kibale Forest National Park
This rainforest lies in the northeast of Queen Elizabeth National Park and its vegetation consists of grassland, woodland and swamp. The park hosts over 325 species of birds which include; the great blue turaco, the great white heron, the crowned eagle, the little green bul, the yellow spotted nictator, Green Breasted Pitta and many others.

Please note that we also provide tailor made safaris and tours or expeditions to Africa involving cruises, visiting primates, sightseeing tours, adventure trails , mount trekking and trips to various safaris in Africa.
We can help you plan for your perfect voyage or holiday vacation in the uncrowded destinations of Africa. We make travelling and tours to Uganda and Rwanda memorable ! Get away with an expert Company! Kenya safari packages

For other travel blogs to Uganda such as birding safaris in Uganda

For a couple of months now, Heritage, an international oil company dealing with the government, has quietly been working at the recently discovered vast oilfields in Amuru District.

The oil fields have also been sealed off by elements from the Presidential Guard Brigade (PGB) and Saracen – a private security firm, Sunday Monitor can reveal – Uganda safari packages

On a recent visit to the site, this newspaper also found out that Heritage has already completed the first phase of the oil exploration and pipes have been sunk down to the underground water level.

Saracen is one of the many businesses, which have been linked to Gen. Salim Saleh, President Yoweri Museveni’s brother.

Access to the oil fields is restricted, taking of pictures prohibited in the area, our reporter was accosted by a Caucasian gentleman, probably an employee of Heritage Oil who said it “was a mistake for journalists to have been allowed” access. The reporter were asked to leave the premises – Uganda tours

A cloud of secrecy hangs over the oil exploration business at Amuru, a state-of-affairs which has prompted leaders in the district to complain.

When you travelled to Pakuba in Purongo Sub-county where the main oil well is located, security teams on the ground refused to allow access to the drilling site.

Local authorities are also distressed that contrary to expectation that their area would reap indirect benefits – through employment opportunities for locals — from the oil find, Heritage ferried in its own workers including casual labourers to do jobs like digging trenches and erecting grass-thatched cottages – Uganda gorilla tour

This contradicts earlier promises by the government that the oil exploration would immensely benefit the locals including offering them employment opportunity, Amuru LC5 vice chairman Patrick Oryema observed.

“No single person from the local community or from the district has been engaged or employed in the process so far,” Mr Oryema told this paper in an interview.

With this, the excitement that preceded the official disclosure by the oil explorer, Heritage Oil and Gas, that it had found the biggest oil well in Amuru, is fizzling out as suspicion creeps in.

“We have not got any official information on this oil and that makes us very suspicious why the government is behaving that way.

We expected the company (Heritage) or the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources to update us on the progress so far,” Mr Oryema said. Uganda travel guide

On January 13, Heritage announced that there were now sufficient reserves discovered in the Albert Basin located in the northern Ugandan district of Amuru to exceed the commercial threshold for development.

Based on current mapping, the company’s initial estimate of reserves for the Buffalo-Giraffe block is over 400 million barrels. The company called the discovery, at Giraffee-1 exploration well in block 1, “world-class”

But since then, nothing has been said about the discovery again. Local leaders now say the secretive approach the government has taken on the oil and its decision to deploy the PGB in the area is getting them more worried.

“We don’t want to go and block the programme but we want to be informed so that we also inform our community (about) what is happening. We are just hearing it from the media,” Mr Oryema who is also the area councillor of Purongo observed. Gorilla Trekking Rwanda

Mr Oryema is the only councillor to have had the opportunity to visit the oilfields in December last year and explains that the community is losing hope that something good is ever going to come out of the oil.

He said: “We are really worried of the intention of the government, because the whole process is not clear and what now worries us more is the deployment (of the PGB) there.”
Mr Oryema visited Pakuba with the district chairman, Mr Anthony Atube Omach, and the Resident District Commissioner, Mr Edwin Yakobo Komakech.

“What we saw was the sinking of the pipes and according to the person who explained (things) to us, the pipe had reached the water point. The person from Heritage said they were still in the first phase of the exploration,” Mr Oryema recalled.

The army confirmed their presence in the area describing it as a constitutional duty. Speaking in an interview with Sunday Monitor on Thursday, the 4th Division spokesman, Capt. Ronald Kakurungu, said the Uganda armed forces is one, be it PGB or military police, they are all UPDF under regular army – Uganda safari

“The UPDF has a constitutional mandate of cooperating with the civil society in maintaining security. In the Pakuba (where the oil is found) case, we have UPDF deployment,” Capt. Kakurungu said.

Defending their stay at the oil well, he said: “Considering that there is a viable economic activity there (which is) strategic for the country, our deployment is constitutional.”

“That is an installation where access must be restricted. There must be order, access to the place must be systematic; okay, we have a military deployment in Pakuba full stop,” Capt. Kakurungu said without elaborating.

The local leaders argue that without having representation in the process of exploring this oil, it will be very hard for them to know how the government will calculate the district’s expected percentage from the oil royalties.

The Amuru oil well is tucked right inside the Murchison National Park. The land is a gazetted area inhabited by wild animals.
It is about four hours’ drive from Gulu town and some 56 km west of the Karuma/Pakwach highway. The oil well in Pabit village sits adjacent to Albert Nile.

This suggests therefore that no individual household will directly receive the royalty of three per cent as provided for in the Petroleum Act, but Amuru says the three per cent should now go towards the development of Purongo Sub-county.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) wants to claim the three per cent royalty fee.

“We are hearing as rumours that UWA wants to take the percentage. And if it’s true then we are saying no,” Mr Oryema said.

He said other rumours trickling in say the government is planning to take the Amuru oil for ‘refining in Mbarara’, a position that will not go down well with the people in Acholi sub-region if confirmed.

The government, however, has not yet said where it will build any oil refinery to process the crude drilled oil from the Albertine Grabben – Murchison falls tour

“We have already informed our communities to be on high alert to find out whether the many tankers which have already entered there have started coming out (with oil),” Mr Oryema revealed, adding that so far they have no such reports. Murchison falls bird watching

He said the only way to stop this sort of speculation is for the government to open up and become transparent with the way it is handling the Amuru oil.

“If this kind of silence continues then our communities will conclude that the government has come to cheat them. As district leaders we will also say the government is not willing to help us develop but is out to exploit us.”

Not surprisingly, the chairman of the neighbouring Gulu District, Mr Nobert Mao, says he knows nothing about what is going on in Amuru. Asked to comment on the presence of the PGB at the oilfields, Mr Mao said: “I have been hearing about the PGB deployment at Pakuba but I have not been there to confirm the reports.”

While at Pakuba, about two km from where the actual drilling is taking place, a long perimeter electric-like wire fence can be seen. Inside the fence flies a black and white windsock-like flag similar to the kind used on airstips.

Then a huge military tent sits right opposite the fence where the PGB is based. Over 20 other army tents could be seen in the vicinity of a battle tank.

The fence encloses freshly completed permanent houses and about six unipots. But some two km close to the Nile runs another fence and a Caltex fuel oil tanker packed by the side.

Saracen has their base at this point and has erected several small wooden cottages fitted with air conditioners and tents are doted within the fence – Uganda tours

The LC1 chairperson for Purongo, Mr Francis Bongomin, said they are in the dark about the goings-on. “People don’t know what is going on there. For us we only see trucks carrying pipe,” he said.

While the community including their leaders both at the district and in Parliament have been in the dark, Mr Oryema said: “We hope that with the new cabinet reshuffle there will be changes in the way the issue of oil in Amuru is being handled. That is what we are hoping for.” – Uganda wildlife safaris

Mr Hilary Onek, formerly the Minister of Agriculture is now the new Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. He comes from Lamwo County, Kitgum District in Acholi sub-region and there is hope he might bring some transparency to the Amuru affair.

NOTE: for a safari blog follow this link Safaris Africa

The name Bwindi was derived from a Swahili word meaning “dark”. This name was given to the national park due to its original thickness. The national park is made up of a thick rain forest with very dense forest undergrowth thus the name Bwindi. Unlike other national parks, Bwindi national park is renown for mountain gorillas. Gorilla trekking tours are the main tourist attractions to this national park. With almost half the world’s population of mountain gorillas found in the wild. Mountain gorillas live in families of about 2 to 35 members with a dominant male silverback mountain gorilla. They are found in the jungles that run across the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, gorilla tours are only done in Uganda and Rwanda due to the political situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some of the other activities that are carried out in Bwindi impenetrable forest include birding safaris.  For those wishing to visit the national park there are a number of tour companies that offer gorilla trekking in Rwanda and Uganda at very affordable prices, or if you wish to do a gorilla tour on your own you need to know how to book a gorilla trekking permit by reading up on the rules and regulations including the terms and conditions from any of the Wildlife Authority sites of the respective countries.

Uganda has several safari attractions to offer those interested in wildlife, birding and adventure tour attractions. This includes; gorilla tours, birding tours and wildlife safaris. Some of the tour attractions include:

Murchison Falls National Park

A safari to this national park is best started and ended in Kampala. Murchison falls national park is the largest national park in Uganda which protects a a huge portion of untamed African savannah. Bisecting the Murchison falls is the great Nile River, the second longest river in the World. This explains how this national park gained its name. The part of the Nile river that crosses the park forms a great falls (the Murchison Falls); which explodes through the Eastern arm of the Great Rift valley dropping through over 43m to the bottom of the falls.

During the early 1980’s this park was heavily poached living a small population of game, however, the population has greatly increased due to wildlife conservation efforts and has helped the park become one of the most famous with tourists visiting Uganda for wildlife safaris.

There is a great diversity of wildlife in the park; with the northern section which is mainly made of borassus grassland consisting of herds of buffaloes, elephants, giraffes and a great diversity of antelopes. Budongo forest is found in the southeast of the park and is well known for primates safaris such as chimpanzee tracking.

The part of the River Nile that crosses the park consists of some of the densest population of hippos and crocodiles in the world with a plethora of waterbirds including the rare shoebill stork. The shoebill stork is quite easily accessible here in Murchison falls national park.

Some Murchison Falls Tour Packages Include:

: Popular online packages

1. 4 days Murchison falls safari
2. 3 days Murchison falls tour

For more information on Murchison falls national park.