Uganda aviation news – Qatar Airways flights to Madrid now use Terminal 4

QATAR AIRWAYS SWITCHES TERMINALS IN MADRID

Travellers to Spain have been notified that Qatar Airways, the 5 star airline, will be switching terminals at Madrids Baraja International Airport, from presently Terminal 1 to their new location in Terminal 4. The move will be effective Monday 16th January and is aimed to improve service levels. Ground handling for the flights will also shift to Iberia Airport Services, again for the purpose of optimizing handling performance in Madrid.
Terminal 4 offers superior facilities, like restaurants, shops and in particular the Iberia VIP Lounge, a key ingredient for premium passengers as is a fast track facility for them, bypassing any queues. The terminal is also directly connect to the Spanish capital’s public transport system using busses, metro and rail. Additionally can passengers with onward connections to a final destination in Spain connect to Iberia flights in the same terminal, eliminating any need to change terminals.
Qatar Airways operates daily B777 flights from Doha to Madrid and also to Barcelona to which travelers from Uganda, and in fact the other East African destinations of Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, and soon Mombasa, Zanzibar and Kigali can connect. Watch this space.

Uganda conservation breaking news – Another rhino baby is born at Ziwa

 

Rhino mother and child are well / Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE – NEW RHINO BABY CONFIRMED TO BE ANOTHER GIRL!

MOTHER IS KORI, ORIGINALLY FROM THE SOLIO GAME RESERVE IN KENYA AND FATHER IS TALEO, ALSO ORIGINALLY FROM SOLIO. 

IT IS A RHINO FEST AT ZIWA

 

 

Within a week after reporting that Bella had a baby girl on the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, did news just break that Kori, the third adult female, has also given birth last night in a surprise development not expected so soon.
Angie Genade, Executive Director of the Rhino Fund Uganda and of the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, broke the news just minutes ago when she herself had received confirmation from her ranger team assigned to look after Kori, that she had given birth during the night.
Ziwa came into being through the generous donation of land use rights by Capt. Joe Roy and was put together by the Rhino Fund Uganda, which then raised nearly a million US Dollars in funding to put up a secure electric fence and rehabilitate the former ranch head quarters, after Capt. Roy had moved over 2.000 cattle to his neighbouring second ranch.
Ziwa now has 12 rhinos to show for visitors, 3 adult males, 3 adult females, 3 adolescent males, 2 baby girls and the latest arrival with the sex not yet confirmed until later, when a closer inspection with binoculars will be possible.
The double birth within the first half of January is a resounding endorsement of what once was described as a mad unattainable dream, turned into reality by YvonneVerkaik, Ugandas erstwhile Rhino Lady, before Angie Genade then took over from her to see the second phase of Ziwa go underway, the breeding.
The four purchased, from Solio in Kenya and two donated rhinos, from Disneys Animal Kingdom in Florida, now have produced 6 offspring and is more than enough evidence that the RFUs breeding programme is working and producing superb results with the initial population now already doubled.
Again, congratulations to Angie and her dedicated staff at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, and watch this space to learn if we have another girl or boy rhino. Visit www.rhinofund.org for more details on the Ugandan rhino re-introduction and breeding programme.

New talks on the use of the Nile waters raise hope on lasting agreement

MULTILATERAL TALKS ON NILE WATERS UNDERWAY

(Map source by WikiMedia)

Egypt and the Sudan (Khartoum) have reportedly started talks with the government in Addis Ababa over a planned major dam and power station on the Blue Nile near the border between Ethiopia and Sudan.
The project, fiercely opposed by the former Mubarak regime, had raised tensions and clouded diplomatic relations at the time, and while Khartoum and Cairo often did not see eye to eye on a range of issues, whenever it came and comes to the Nile waters, the two are joined at the hip and present an almost unbreakable alliance..
News received therefore during the week, that the three countries were about to hold formal talks on the dam project, were welcomed as was the announcement that a tripartite commission was to be set up, comprising two experts from each country plus an additional four international experts, tasked to study the impact of the proposed dam on the flow of the Nile waters, more than 70 percent are contributed by the Blue Nile from Ethiopia.
The Blue and White Nile, the latter originating in Uganda, meet at Khartoum and both downstream consumer countries depend on the waters of the river for irrigation, industrial and domestic use almost entirely.
The new military led government in Egypt has, at least for now, shown greater readiness to talk to the water producers upstream, although there is suspicion that the principle policy of Egypt, to treat the Nile waters as a matter of national survival and therefore national security, has not changed and that only the present political transition in Egypt prevents a more hardline stand, perhaps however returning sooner rather than later.
In the meantime has Egypt also commenced talks with Tanzania over the use of water from contributory rivers to Lake Victoria and the lake waters for a range of irrigation projects and related uses, following a visit by Egypts foreign minister to Dar es Salaam. Tanzania in fact has called for a meeting of the Nile Basin Initiative countries, which include Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Southern Sudan and Ethiopia, besides Khartoum Sudan and Egypt. The two downstream countries last year failed to sign on to the new Nile treaty, which nevertheless is now binding following the required majority signatures from the other countries, and the next round of talks will undoubtedly show if the previous cast in concrete position by Egypt and Khartoum has changed in any way. Watch this space to get future updates of how this long running saga continues to play out.

Kenya news – Briatore’s luxury resort expansion raises controvery

BRIATORES RESORT PLANS MEET LOCAL OPPOSITION
Flavio Briatores plans for expanding his billionaires resort in Malindi met with local opposition when boat and beach business operators protested at the public beach of the construction site, preventing contractors to put up a fence which could have cut off access to the beach in contravention of existing regulations. Rules require that a distance between any wall or fence of at least 60 metres from the high water mark has to be kept but the contractors appear to have attempted to erect a fence way into that zone.
The locals also made an argument of how the land, apparently given by Kenya Wildlife Service under a 20 year concession being inside the demarcated area of the marine park was given to the investor without a public hearing or competitive bidding, leaving local KWS officials overwhelmed and according to a report from a source in Malindi unable to defuse the situation.
Briatore, former team chief of the Renault Formula 1 team, fell into disgrace when the FIA banned him from any participation in racing, then turning his attention to other ventures, one of them being the construction of a top end resort in Malindi with all the trimmings, winning him awards already for the Spa.
The source in Malindi also mentioned that the fence could have been to seal off the construction site until the new portion of the resort was ready to open, to prevent trespassing and potential theft of materials. It is understood that government officials have called for a meeting early in the week to discuss the situation and find a solution which can meet the requirements of all parties now facing off in the dispute.