Bunyoro region, popular for its endowments including natural beauty and wildlife, is hosted this year’s World Tourism Day on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, at Boma Grounds in Hoima City, under the theme, Tourism and Green Investments graced by Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja.
However, the Tourism Ministry’s campaign named Explore Bunyoro which started Tuesday, September 26 to October 1, 2023, with an extensive series of activities tagged unforgettable memories in the mind of tourism enthusiasts as the program exposed them to various endowments in the region.
The week-long activities started with the WorldTourismDay23 Explore Uganda Corporate Football Tournament organized by the Ministry of Tourism Wildlife and Antiquities, on September 26, 2023, at Boma Grounds which supplemented the various activities for the celebrations.
In the Explore Bunyoro campaign week, tourism stakeholders visited Bwendero Agro tourism farm, Butiaba Escapement and rift valley, Kibiro hot springs and salt mines, Bunyoro Kingdom palace, Itohya forest, Lake Albert and Murchison Falls National Park among others.
Leading the delegation, the Minister of State for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiques Hon. Martin Mugarra Bahinduka said Itohya forest has a huge number of primates including chimpanzees, over 1000 baboons, black and white colobus monkeys, mangabees and red-tailed monkeys etc.
‘’Itohya is also rich in birds and insects – a good number of butterfly species. The forest reserve is managed by St. Joseph’s Vocational and Training College Munteme and used by the students for their study and research needs. Tourists can do activities like birding, nature walks among other’’, he noted.
The Government has invested billions of shillings into the development of Hoima’s road network, including the 190-km Hoima-Kampala road, Hoima-Butiaba-Wanseko road, and Kyenjojo-Hoima-Masindi-Kigumba road, among others.
Tourism lovers also visited Bunyoro Kingdom,the Omukicaica also known as ‘Orukanga rwa Akaraca’, where Omukama Kabalega passed while heading to Bugangaizi, where the legend has it that at this point, he walked on water.
At Bwendero Agro-Tourism farm, activities range from dairy farming,Hass avocado grafting & growing, a sugar processing and production plant which employs over 600 Ugandans.