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Rwanda to Maintain Nyungwe Forest Conservation Effort

The land of primates and wild adventures, Nyungwe forest tops as one of the prime reasons for Rwanda’s tourism development in the past years. Looking at the most done Rwanda tours every year, the country receives 80% tourists for gorilla & chimpanzee tracking holidays to Nyungwe and volcanoes national park. The forest isn’t just a home to several primate species but the world’s most beautiful mountain rain forest and the oldest in Africa.

Nature and wildlife experiences in the park each day continues to draw thousands of guests to Rwanda to engage in different park activities: the canopy walk, hiking & biking in the terrain, tracking chimpanzees, viewing adorable birds and also chilling close the park water falls. The same natural beauty attracted the current President and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society Dr Cristián Samper to visit Rwanda and advised the country to remain committed to conservation especially the Nyungwe Forest ecosystem converting over 1000 square kilometers.This was said during his brief meeting with a selection of travel journalists in Rwanda accompanied by some of the trustees of WCS while on his visit.

He also added that more conservation effort for Nyungwe Forest will keep and maintain the park treasures for ages because losing it would be a huge loss to the country. The forest is of a great importance to Rwanda as it provides more than 40 per cent of the water used all around the country and it’s also a home to lots of biodiversity hence discouraging agriculture for tourism development as quoted saying. “You cannot do agriculture, you can’t have tourism or development if you destroy Nyungwe,”

Dr Samper lauded the Rwandan government for ensuring peace in the country, which he said was vital in ensuring conservation of tourism facilities. Due to this, unlike other countries, Rwanda suffers less from poaching and smuggling of ivory. “The Rwanda Development Board does a very good job at managing the parks here,” he added. However, Rwanda should have good infrastructure and build a strong capacity to manage the parks and other attractions in order to have a Rwanda growing tourism sector.

But Samper tackled poaching in three ways since it’s a general tourism threat which can’t phase out completely in a country’s. He said “We have to stop the killings of animals through better law enforcement in the parks, stop the trafficking of ivory and other illegal wildlife activities and also stop the demand for these products”. In his closure observations, he pointed out the need for countries to be aware of the carrying capacity of their tourism facilities. He wondered, “At what point do you say this is enough or else we are going to lose the tourism product?”

Above all he acknowledged the great effort Rwanda has put in the tourism industry to become a reality model to other countries in the region. In his conclusion, he stated that the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) will continue to support and stand in conservation partnership which started back then since 1959 but became more serious in the last 25 years that have seen Wildlife Conservation Society support Nyungwe forest.

To take you back, the Wildlife conservation society manages the wold’s largest collection of urban parks in USA and also monitors a global conservation program in over 60 nations in the world. The organization also partners with NGOs, foundations, governments, botanical gardens, and zoos and aquariums in the United States and across the world to address a range of conservation issues the reason for its presence in Rwanda.

Travelers to Africa for sustainable travel, Nyungwe Forest is open year round for amazing Africa primate safaris that create unique wildlife experience as one explores through the forest in green mountain lushes and the cooling mist in the landscape which is found only here in Rwanda. Sounds and views give travelers company as they become more curious of whom to meet next in the forest. Chimpanzee trekking is the most famous park activity done in either Cyandungu or Uwinka but interesting this fast moving animals move in groups and can be easily seen when fig trees fruits ripen especially during march- May when Rwanda experiences some rain showers.

Safaricom Leads in Call Costs Increases in Kenya

The low call costs that Kenyans have enjoyed since August last year are coming to an end in the next three months as Airtel and Telkom Kenya follow in Safaricom’s footsteps with higher calling tariffs.

Friday, Safaricom announced the new rates as earlier promised, reversing the call cost trend for the first time in the 11- year history of mobile telephony in Kenya.

The telecoms market leader increased the cost of calls originating and terminating within its own network by 30 per cent and those ending in rival networks by 25 per cent.

Calls within Safaricom network are now being billed at the rate of Sh 4 per minute up from Sh 3 per minute last month while call that originate from the Safaricom network and end with rival are now being charged at the rate of Sh 5 per minute.

The cost of data services and text messages remained unchanged. Calls to the United States, Canada and India are now being charged at the rate of Sh 10 a minute while calls to other East African countries will now cost Sh 18 up from Sh 15.

The new charges have left Safaricom as the most expensive operator in the local voice segment. Rival Airtel charges Sh 3 across all networks while Telkom Kenya’s Orange charges Sh 1 per minute for on-net calls and Sh 4 for off-net.

“This is the first time in Safaricom’s 11-year history that we have had to effect a price increase on retail voice tariffs,” said Mr Bob Collymore, the Safaricom chief executive, as he announced the new tariffs.

Mr Collymore said Safaricom’s operation costs had continued to escalate month-on-month “to unsustainable levels in the context of the operating environment.”

The new tariffs have left those making international calls with the heaviest burden. Safaricom more than tripled the cost of calling to key destinations such US, Canada and India.

The three countries combined make more than 60 per cent of all international calls that Kenyans make every month.

Airtel recently made call cost increments in a number of markets and is looking forward to doing the same in Kenya.

Telkom Kenya, which owns the Orange brand, welcomed Safaricom’s move and promised to make similar increments to cut losses it has suffered in the wake of a vicious price war that cut calling rates by more than half last year.

“It is a good step that Orange is studying and hopes to follow,” Mr Mickael Ghossein, the CEO of Telkom Kenya, said.

“This will be done in one to three weeks time,” added Mr Ghossein without disclosing the exact margins of the planned tariff increments.

Mobile phone operators say the increase in voice call tariffs are meant to cover the steep rise in operational costs.

Mr Collymore blamed expensive energy and weak shilling—which has lost more than 20 per cent of its value since January, for the steep rise in the cost of imported network materials and ultimately operational costs.

Some analysts however said the price increments also offer telecoms operators a window to boost sales and profits that have been grossly affected by the recent price wars.

Safaricom reported Sh13.1 billion in net profits in March, a 13.2 per cent drop from Sh15.1 billion the previous year. Safaricom subscribers are now paying one shilling more than they did for calls lasting one minute.

Analysts said the tariff increments could lift Safaricom’s second half earnings even as they warned that its impact on the operator’s full year results could be diluted by the less robust performance in the half year ended September.

“Going forward it will boost Safaricom’s earnings, but it’s a pointer that first half performance was not impressive,” said Mr Erick Musau, an analyst at Standard Investment Bank, adding that the news could fresh impetus to the mobile operators stock at the NSE.

Its share dropped to Sh 2.95 on Friday from Thursday’s close of Sh 3, and has shed more than 25 per cent in the past three months on its bleak earnings outlook and bearish Nairobi bourse.

Kenya’s call rates came down by more than 50 per cent in August last year after Safaricom’s rival, Airtel, halved its call rates to Sh 3 with the drop in Mobile Termination Rates — the fee that telecoms operators charge each other for calls terminated on their rivals network to Sh 2.21 from Sh 4.42.

That move saw Safaricom’s market share drop to 69.9 per cent from 75.9 per cent last year as rivals Airtel and Orange increased their stake to 15.2 per cent from 13.5 per cent and to 8.5 per cent from 4.0 per cent, respectively.

Safaricom and Telkom’s Kenya Orange followed suit with similar cuts, but loudly protested that the low tariffs were risking future investments in the industry and sought the President’s intervention.

“We are watching industry developments very keenly will announce if we deem it necessary to review our tariffs,” said a press notice from Airtel Kenya Friday.

Tanzania: Nation Donates Maize to Somalia

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete on 9 August said his country was donating 300MT of maize to drought-affected Somalis.

“We are deeply concerned with reports of severe famine in the Horn of Africa, where Somalia is hardest hit,” Kikwete said in a statement issued after he met Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, President of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government. Ahmed was in Tanzania for a two-day state visit. Kikwete said he would support Somalia in solving political, security, social and economic challenges facing the country.

Kikwete said: “We wish we could have given you more because we understand the magnitude of the problem and your needs. At present that is what we can manage since the harvesting season has just started. We are going to look at the possibility of giving more food support in the future.”

He said he would lead the campaign to mobilize relief supplies to Somalia from international organizations, other governments and the private sector in his country. “We will ask various friendly countries, organizations and local firms engaged in bottling water to deliver relief supplies to Somalia,” Kikwete said.