Murchison Falls National Park Tsetse Flies Eradication

Uganda has over 13 national parks and game reserves attracting an increasing number to tourists to the Country. The Tourism industry in Uganda is growing rapidly and is expected to double in the next few years. Tourist arrivals has significantly increased with Lonely Planet voting Uganda as the best travel destination for 2012.

Uganda national parks had in the past seen a drastic decline in the number of tourists and wildlife. The leading national parks in Uganda visited by tourists is Murchison falls national park and Queen Elizabeth national park. However, the leading tour attraction in Uganda is the mountain gorillas. Mountain gorilla trekking in Uganda is carried out in Bwindi national park as well as Mgahinga national park occasionally.

However like any industry, tourism has also got its hurdles and setbacks in Uganda. The recent Al-shabab attacks on Kenya’s tourists has helped see an increase in the number of tourists visiting Uganda. The governments of UK and USA have warned their citizens about traveling to Kenya. However, most of these warning are not warranted given the hard work the Kenyan government has put into ensuring the safety of the tourists coming to Kenya. The leading Kenya travel packages which is Masai Mara safaris is also in a region far from the Somali border where most of the insecurity had taken place.

In Uganda, the Country is enjoying good political stability and the number of tourists is increasing steadily. However there was bad tourism publicity recent from a tourist who visited the Murchison falls national park. A visit to Murchison falls national park is probably is however one of the most romantic Uganda safari packages.

Tsetse flies have affected the areas around Murchison falls national park and this has been worrying stakeholders in the tourism industry. However the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries has now embarked on the process of eradicating tsetse flies in the region.

Mr. Luyimbazi Fredrick the Assistant Commissioner for Entomology has said that this will help boost tourist confidence in the area. Mr. Luyimbazi Fredrick visited the region recently during a Murchison falls safari and found that the number of tsetse flies in the region had greatly reduced.

The Assistant Commissioner toured Red Chilli rest house, Sambiya River lodge and the Uganda Wildlife Authority offices all which are located in the Murchison falls national park. He urged government to invest in the eradication of tsetse flies in the region.

There was an incident where a tourist provided negative publicity about the tourism in the Country. A tourist visited Murchison Falls national park in August 2011 and posted bad reviews about the place saying it swarmed with tsetse which is actually not true. The tourist was telling other tourists not to visit the region.

The entomologist said one other solution to the tsetse flies is spraying with environmentally friendly pesticides.

Apart from gorilla safaris in Bwindi, the other top Uganda travel package is a Murchison falls safari.