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An important international tourism conference will be held on the African continent later this year. Partly financed by the World Bank, the meeting with the title "Africa – the 21st Century Destination" will run for five days in October 2003 in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. President Yoweri Museveni will officially open the conference on 3 October. Over one thousand delegates are expected to discuss fresh ideas how to lure more tourists to African countries. Already over 40 national, multi-national, and private institutions expressed interest to participate as well as leading tour operators, airlines and financial institutions. The aim of the summit is to prevent Africa from losing out in the competitive yet lucrative international tourism industry. A delegation from the Namibian government and the private tourism sector is expected to attend the summit.

New Sossus shuttle raises eyebrows

An exclusive shuttle service for tourists from the parking place near Sossus Vley to the highest dunes of the world some five kilometres away was given to a company based in Rehoboth, according to a local daily. To their surprise tourists who wanted to drive there themselves were stopped from doing so and now must pay a fee of minimum 35 N$ (for Namibians) and foreigners must fork out 80 N$ for that short stretch. Apparently, the ministry of environment and tourism published an invitation for a tender last year, but tourism organisations from the private sector said they were unaware of this and were also not consulted about the issue.

Vulture study group meets in April

The Namibian Vulture Study Group will host a regional workshop on the farm Aandster near the private conservancy NamibRand from 13 to 16 April 2003. Experts from other SADC countries and the US are expected to attend. The protection of vultures, some species being endangered and strategies for their protection will be discussed. Farmers who are under the impression often poison vultures, vultures kill their small livestock. The Namibia Vulture Study Group was founded 30 years ago and a member of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), which is based in South Africa.