Rwanda lures Dutch travel market
Rwanda’s ongoing promotional efforts have seen results: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines now flies from Amsterdan to Kigali tree times a week. Tourists are being promised more than the famous Gorilla safaris, and are being offered tours of Rwanda’s jungle attractions in the ‘Land of a Thousand Hills’. Travel industry is also talking about the possible introduction of flights to Rwanda by Qatar Airways.
Africa features in the 7 New Natural Wonders
Table Mountain, for centuries a major landmark for the world’s navigators and navies, has been named as one of the Seven New Wonders of the World. Cape Town tourism is expecting a boost to the number of visitors as a result. The entire mountain at the southern tip of South Africa is a precious botanical reserve as well as a magnificent national park. The other 6 finalists were The Amazon river (Brazil/South America) , Halong Bay (Vietnam), Iguazu Falls (Argentina), Jeju Island (South Korea), Komodo National Park (Indonesia), Puerto Princesa Underground River (Philippines).
The World Travel Market (7 – 10 November) in London
The Kenyan Minister of Tourism upbraided his fellow ministers in the region, saying that plans for a One-Region travel visa for tourists has dragged on for years, and implementation is long overdue. He accused Tanzania of dragging its feet in the matter of the closed border post between the Serengeti and the Masai Mara national parks. Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania all form part of the East African Community (EAC) and have pledged to cooperate to boost tourism in the region.
A major WTM sponsor, Virgin Holidays, awarded its annual Responsible Tourism Award to joint winners this year: luxury safari company Robin Pope Safaris, and a social enterprise operating walking tours of London by the homeless, Sockmob Events/Unseen Tours. Robin Pope specializes in ‘responsible tourism’ safaris in Zambia and Malawi, and the award was given for the company’s long-term work in uplifting local communities.
Malawi upgrades a major National Park
Majete Wildlife Reserve in Malawi’s lower Shire valley is on its way to becoming a ‘Big 5′ wildlife reserve, having undertaken a 10-year long wildlife reintroduction programme to restore the park to its former diversity. Several new lodges have also been built in and around the park. The 70 000ha reserve is currently home to over 2 550 head of wildlife introduce over the last eight years, including elephant, buffalo, sable and black rhino. The operation has so far cost over US$2,4m (R18,9m). With prey species now well represented, the wildlife management team has started to introduce apex predators back into the park. October saw the successful introduction of eight leopards relocated from the Kruger National Park in South Africa. The introduction of leopard is the penultimate step in the Majete restocking programme, which will culminate in the reintroduction of a small pride of lions in 2012.