Good Safari Guide Awards now just weeks away

GOOD SAFARI GUIDE SET TO HONOUR AFRICA’S VERY BEST

On the eve of the annual INDABA tourism trade fair in South Africa, to be held this year on the 06^th of May in Durban, the winners of Africa’s best resorts, beach hotels, boutique hotels, safari lodges and safari camps will be announced again, after the 2011 nomination exercise closed on 31^st of March.

The ‘finalists’ will be announced on April 15^th, setting the stage for an exciting run in to the gala dinner at one of Durban’s finest venues, where over 300 travel media journalists, tour and hospitality operators are expected to attend and cheer on the winning nominees.

The past years established a trend that nominees, finalists and the eventual winners alike generated added interest from travelers and the travel media, and those walking off stage with a prize in their hands can almost be assured that it will translate into added business for their establishments and most certainly added free PR and media exposure, on which the owners then can build a targeted campaign.

Visit www.safariawards.com or www.goodsafariguide.com for more details about the history of the awards, the Good Safari Guide itself, and importantly how to participate in the nomination of your favourite beachside hangout or most exclusive safari camp next year.

Find the winners’ announcement the day after the ceremony also on these websites and of course here.

Uganda news update – Loan approvals for Nile bridge and new Entebbe Highway rushed to parliament

‘NEW ENTEBBE HIGHWAY’ FUNDING GOES BEFORE PARLIAMENT

The rush is now on to get as much work still done in parliament before its term expires and the ministry of works and transport handed the house a request to be permitted to borrow 350 million US Dollars from China for the financing of the new planned Entebbe highway yesterday.

However, as the request first has to be passed by the respective committees, and verbal storms been raised already in parliament about the massive demands by government for additional supplementary budget allocations, this matter may not see the light of day and be re-tabled when the new parliament has been sworn in. At the same time did the ministry also request to borrow over 100 million US Dollars from Japan towards the construction of the second Nile bridge in Jinja. Both projects are urgently required to ensure transportation safety and combat the growing traffic jams on Entebbe road during rush hour, when the bottle neck entrance point at the Clock Tower into the central business district delays traffic at times by hours, occasionally even making travelers miss flights out of Entebbe as they are stuck in long queues of vehicles trying to get out of the city.

The new highway, and very likely also the new bridge, will be ‘toll roads’ where users have to dish out money to be able to drive on, but few will mind a few bob a day considering the time which can be saved in the process. With Kampala City now under a Chief Executive, and a new cabinet position being created to oversee the city politically, new momentum is expected to propel the city’s traffic management into the 21^st century so that visitors arriving in and departing from the capital will get better impressions than the current traffic jams.

Aviation news update – Air Seychelles promotes two as B767 captains

AIR SEYCHELLES PROMOTES TWO MORE FIRST OFFICERS TO CAPTAIN’S RANKS

The national airline of the Seychelles has earlier in the week promoted two long serving Seychellois first officers to the status of captains on their B767 fleet, an occasion marked by a congratulatory message from President James Michel himself. The pair, Ronnie Ah-Shung and Paul Belle, had joined the airline in 1998 and 1997 respectively and successfully completed their company ‘command upgrade programme’ last month. The ceremony, when they were awarded their ‘four stripes’ was witnessed by their families and senior staff from the airline, civil aviation authority and government officials.

Both captains started their career with HM on the inter island services flying Twin Otters, and moved on to the B767’s in 2001, where they accumulated experience and the required hours to ‘graduate’ into captain’s ranks.

It is understood from sources close to the airline that only 7 expatriate pilots now remain with Air Seychelles as the programme to recruit and train young Seychellois citizens has been hugely successful in recent years.

Happy landings to Capts. Belle and Ah-Shung as they now fly in the captain’s left seat.