Comments on: Save the Nile #saveadventuretourisminUganda – can you help? https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/conservation/save-the-nile/ Uganda & East Africa Travel blog Tue, 05 Sep 2023 05:58:28 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 By: Charlotte Beauvoisin https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/conservation/save-the-nile/#comment-72583 Mon, 13 Sep 2021 12:28:43 +0000 https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/?p=4209#comment-72583 “Uganda Hydro Dams: New Tourism Reach”
Tony Ofungi writes:
“The Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) has made overtures with the energy sector in a bid to diversify Destination Uganda’s tourism products beyond the dominant wildlife-based tourism through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL) to market the 600MW Karuma Hydro Power Dam and the 183MW Isimba Hydro Power Dams as infrastructure tourism products.”
How things have changed!
In 2007, the World Bank funded the Bujagali hydropower project, signalling “the disappearance of the first of the grade 5 rapids at Bujagali Falls,” a once-popular tourism spot that I visited many times during my first years in Uganda.
The Kalagala Offset (agreement between the International Development Association (World Bank) and the Ugandan Government) was designed to mitigate damages caused by the Bujagali Dam; it was also supposed to ensure the area (and its wildlife) would not be flooded by another hydro project. However, the construction of Isimba Dam below Bujagali Dam “trashed” that agreement, according to the author.
Uganda needs power but load shedding still exists, even after the latest dam has gone online.
Meanwhile, three quarters of the Nile once popular for white water rafting and kayaking has been submerged. Uganda’s white waters were legendary and still attract international visitors and competitors but let’s be honest, hydropower companies make an unlikely bedfellow for the tourism industry. The pandemic has fast-tracked the need to develop new products for domestic tourists.
Read the full article https://eturbonews.com/3002785/uganda-hydro-dams-new-tourism-reach/

]]> By: Charlotte Beauvoisin https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/conservation/save-the-nile/#comment-72582 Mon, 13 Sep 2021 12:13:27 +0000 https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/?p=4209#comment-72582 In reply to @CharlieBeau Diary of a Muzungu.

The dam has been constructed but Kampala residents still experience load shedding!

]]> By: Jinja Jan and a sneak preview of an amazing new lodge - Diary of a Muzungu | Uganda & East Africa Travel Blog - Diary of a Muzungu | Uganda & East Africa Travel Blog https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/conservation/save-the-nile/#comment-36034 Tue, 23 Oct 2018 16:19:24 +0000 https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/?p=4209#comment-36034 […] First stop Bujagali Falls. The power of Bujagali Falls is immense. Seeing them brought back thrilling memories of my white water rafting trip. […]

]]> By: the muzungu https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/conservation/save-the-nile/#comment-34259 Sat, 30 Jun 2018 20:28:36 +0000 https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/?p=4209#comment-34259 According to Kayak the Nile, “it is a common misconception that after completion of the Isimba Dam there will be no white water left on the Mighty White Nile.
While the Dam will sadly flood some of the rapids on this stretch of the river, there will still be plenty of white water, and Kayak the Nile, Nile SUP and the Nile River Festival will all adjust slightly and carry on.
There will be plenty of white water remaining!”

]]> By: @CharlieBeau Diary of a Muzungu https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/conservation/save-the-nile/#comment-15184 Thu, 05 Mar 2015 05:40:13 +0000 https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/?p=4209#comment-15184 ‘Isimba Dam to End Load Shedding in Uganda’ …. apparently…. a project update:
http://chimpreports.com/isimba-dam-to-end-load-shedding-in-uganda/

]]> By: Charlotte Beauvoisin Diary of a Muzungu Uganda travel blog https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/conservation/save-the-nile/#comment-15082 Fri, 20 Feb 2015 04:44:41 +0000 https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/?p=4209#comment-15082 I contacted the World Bank representative in Uganda and got a standard acknowledgement letter.
Asking around town, my understanding is that the dam is definitely going ahead – the land is being cleared. However there is some kind of delay.
I’m still not sure which of the three proposed options is going ahead. If Uganda goes for the maximum ‘highest’ option, then its bye bye to rafting in Uganda and thousands of jobs… Rafting and related tourism industries understand the need to invest in power and have agreed that if the minimum option is built – meaning the river doesn’t rise to submerge the exposed rocks crucial for white water – there will still be enough new power generated to make the dam worth constructing + tourism (and 1000s of related jobs) are protected.
Let’s remember that the Ugandan government has noted that income generated by tourism is now the number one foreign exchange earner for the country. The percentage of GDP this influx of money represents is bound to increase even further over the next few years.
Another point that I find very interesting is that Uganda and Zimbabwe are the only two African countries that have grade 5 white water rafting. Expert rafters will travel the whole world looking for the right kind of white water. Zimbabwe has plans that will mean they will lose much (all?) of their grade 5 white water rafting. What does that mean? It means that would put Uganda in a league of its own: having the best grade 5 white water rafting in the whole of Africa. And we want to throw that away?

]]> By: the muzungu https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/conservation/save-the-nile/#comment-13772 Fri, 07 Nov 2014 18:02:24 +0000 https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/?p=4209#comment-13772 Save adventure tourism in Uganda shared a link on 8 October – “A fantastic new article published in the Daily Monitor highlighting the challenges the Jinja and Bujagali community faces with the proposed Isimba dam. Take note Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development – a compromise is possible!

Save adventure tourism in Uganda are NOT opposed to the Isimba dam entirely; we are promoting a scaling back of the dam to the smallest option that was originally proposed during feasibility studies.
The smaller option would still generate a great amount of power whilst maintaining the rapids for the tourism industry! A tourism industry that is Uganda’s top export earner and draws in US $1.4 billion (Shs3.7 trillion) annually!
You can still help by contacting your local World Bank representative today – details in the blog above. Thanks for supporting Uganda!

]]> By: PK https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/conservation/save-the-nile/#comment-10071 Fri, 05 Sep 2014 06:59:54 +0000 https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/?p=4209#comment-10071 Fantastic report and advice Charlotte – thank you very much.
So far the only option being considered is the highest one which although will generate a bit more power it is very debatable how worthwhile that will be as because of the size and cost of construction, this will make for very expensive hydro-power and is insignificant when matched to the returns from a big dam such as Karuma Falls one. AND this does not even take into consideration the cost to Uganda’s tourism offerings and potential for the future, the loss of a beautiful part of the River Nile for future generations and the thousands of people who will lose jobs / income / tax revenue / etc. while also breaching a covenant made with the World Bank when they funded the construction of the Bujagali Dam.

]]> By: Charlotte https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/conservation/save-the-nile/#comment-9905 Sun, 31 Aug 2014 12:56:07 +0000 https://www.muzungubloguganda.com/?p=4209#comment-9905 I see construction has started, but which option? Does anyone know? Small, medium or large?
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/658477-isimba-dam-construction-commences.html
And what will be the impact of this particular option on Jinja tourism and local communities?

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