05/13/17

A fabulous Honeymoon – Queen Elizabeth National Park

At the beginning of this year, my longtime friends I and my husband took a honeymoon trip to a place we had never been before. This actually still remains my memorable day ever in my life. I had never been to an African country before and I did not know how beautiful Africa was but Uganda truly gave me a true portrait of Africa. It really proves that Africa is the most blessed continents on the globe.

On the day when our friends surprised us with the good news about the package, we really had to hit the internet to look for a good tour company in Uganda that would organize our trip at affordable prices and other benefits and also to hire a car in Uganda that we would use to travel to our destination.

As we were in Uganda, we took an expedition to Queen Elizabeth national park in Western Park the home of animals and birds. I had never seen such playful and friendly creatures like elephants, hippos as well as antelopes before. As which reached the Mweya sector, we went down through large expanse of savanna grassland in search of these animals and rare bird species. Hiking through the some of the rain forest was very tiresome but this was a thriller and adventurous as we spent 5 hours searching for the bird species. We were very excited to see birds like Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-rumped Buttonquail, Shoebill, African Skimmer, Lesser plus Greater Flamingo, Chapin’s Flycatcher, White-tailed Lark, Corncrake, Pinkbacked Pelican, Verreaux’s Eagle Owl, Papyrus Canary, White-winged Warbler, African Broadbill which are very rare in our home country.

After three days at Mweya, we proceeded to kyambula where we spent one hour with amazing elephants and red eyed monkeys but this was not all about looking at these animals, this went beyond as we learnt a lot of things about elephants as well as Uganda cobs. These are animals behave like humans in the way they associate with each other and the silver back is the leader and the protector of the family. Everything done within the family revolves around the silver back. It was a life time experience that I can never forget in my entire life. I saw things that I had never seen before an animal well organized like humans, having a head animal that directs them where to go and what to do.

After finishing a long conversation with these amazing animals, we headed to the most amazing part of Uganda with wonderful physical features. What amazing lake is Lake Nyungu! A lake that has a shape of map of Africa, Lake Kigere that has a human foot like shape, I really recall it was a fantastic experience one can never forget. I remember my husband confusing me with identical twin lakes around Lake Nyungu. Those lakes explain exactly how twins look like.

Later in the evening, Kichwamba cultural site where my husband participated in amazing culture dances with local people. We could even here amazing voices of hissing sounds of small insects and tinny reptiles while feeling warmth from the camp fire. In the following morning, we took a canoe ride Kazinga channel as we popped some champagne while on the ride. In my opinion, Queen Elizabeth National park Uganda is the best place for the lovers to spend their honeymoon due to its natural setup.

Ishasha Tree Climbing Lions

 

The Ishasha Sector of Queen Elizabeth National park is a home to tree climbing lions. Once you visit the is park, don’t ever miss out a game drive in Ishasha sector for tree climbing lions along side other animals like Elephants, Buffalo, Antelopes and many Savannah bird species. We stayed at Ishasha wilderness camp where we had a fantastic guided nature walk through the park.

The park can be accessed by road from Kampala via Masaka-Mbarara and this Journey takes 6-8 hrs drive. You can book an all-inclusive tour to the park through tour companies, or if you want to drive your own adventure, you will hire a car in Kampala or Entebbe. The park can also be accessed by air to Kihihi or Kasese airstip. It is about 50 minute flight.

05/10/17

How Local Communities benefit from Uganda Tourism?

Traveling around the world is a great honor but not every one of us can travel to encounter the earth’s most interesting and attractive destination. Travel is out of access to most of the people in the world due to inadequate financial resources, family commitments or other obligations.

However for those few who travel, it is essential to have that philanthropist nature in you to give hand to the local communities you come across while on a safari. If one gives back to these local communities, one always brings a smile on those people. Do you know how blessed you will be by bring a smile on someone’s face.

So here are some of the ways on how to give back to the local communities on a Uganda a wildlife safari
By becoming a volunteer for the cause of conservation, educating the illiterate local community and also being part of the community projects that can promote local community livelihood and tourism at large. There are very many voluntary community based organization around the wildlife destinations in Uganda and also international conservation organization. These include
One can also give back to the local communities by supporting the local ventures/ businesses by purchasing their commodities like stay in a local guesthouse other than a big hotel/ lodge, , try local foods in the local restaurant other than in a fancy restaurant. Normally here in Uganda, these local communities have craft shops where one can buy curios and they have traditional entertainment so while on a wildlife safari in Uganda include the a village walk around the local communities in your itinerary.

When you purchasing commodities from the locals like food in the restaurants, curios at the craft shops pay a moderate price. Although there might be need for bargaining on the prices of the commodities you are purchasing from the locals but go over board that reduction of a dollar you may bargain for may not mean that much to you but it means a lot to the locals in Uganda. Furthermore when the locals offer good services to you endeavor to give them a tip most especially to those people who work in the hospitality industry like guides and hotel personnel. This means a lot to them you will always leave a very good mark in their lives.

Be environment conscious while on a Uganda wildlife safari: do not litter anyhow while you are in their fragile destinations, dispose your rubbish in places designated for littering, stay in eco lodge that are above environment conservation and preservation. When taking short trips always use 4×4 safari vehicles instead of taking a plane that greatly affect the ozone layer by emitting carbonic gases in the air. While in the real destination take an example of gorilla trekking in Bwindi impenetrable national park take the directives give to you while hiking through the fragile jungle, walk on the trail demarcated for the visitors. By being environment conscious leads to steady conservation and preservation which promotes sustainable tourism.

Donate to local organizations and the international ones that are established to help the needy at large. Donation can be done through giving in funds to help them, giving them commodities like clothes, shoes and other accessories and also scholastic materials like books, pens, pencils, colours among the common ones. Instead of giving something to a beggar child found along the way, look for an organization responsible for the needy to donate so that all the people can benefit wholly. In Uganda when have organizations like world vision, Sanyu babies’ home, USAID and many more.

By engaging in the above, you will have given back to the local communities on a Uganda wildlife safari and your contribution will be highly recognized and appreciated by these humble people around the tourism destinations in Uganda.