Should it be the source of the Nile Adventure Park or Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Cultural Center

What should it be? The source of the Nile Adventure Park or Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Cultural Center

Uganda is blessed to be the source of the world’s longest river; River Nile and we all know that the source is only found in Jinja. Because of its uniqueness and the special position, it holds in the world heritage, this Source of the Nile is recognized as a significant natural feature that must be protected and sustainably conserved. This is why it doesn’t belong to any particular person, group or organization but to the whole country. Anything done around the Nile must be of benefit to all Ugandans or the whole country. Because of what it is, it has attracted tourists for safaris in Uganda especially those interested in Uganda adventure safaris like rafting, boat cruise, quad biking, and many more.

The source of the Nile as an Adventure Park

The Source of the Nile is one of the tourism destinations Uganda is proud of and is being run by the Jinja Municipal Council as the administrative body. They have been collecting the park entry fees, rental fees from the craft shops, and corporate companies that have been using this site to promote their products like the Beer companies. Despite all the collections that have been collected from this site, renovation and maintenance at the Source of the Nile has been very minimal leading to the fall of the number of visitors at the site because there is no full utilization of the site and the treat for visitors there is not good.

As a result, the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife & Antiquities has discussed about the need to redevelop the Source of the Nile to create appropriate activities that will make the site a preferred visitor’s destination as well as give it a look it deserves. The Ministry of Tourism consulted the Chinese and these have gone ahead to produce pro borno preliminary drawings of the designs of the development area. What has probably stalled the process is the Ministry of Tourism that has to secure government funding or government guarantee for the feasibility study and designs to be made by the Chinese.

 Basing on the drafted designs, the Source of the Nile Development Master Plan, has the following developments; Green belt, Source of the Nile monument, modern hotels, theme restaurants, cable car, leisure park, modern entrance, a visitor’s information center and a modern boat docking area. Others include a mini zoo, sports arena, modern car parking and an observation deck. All these are planned to be demarcated in the three zones in plan; Zone 1- The Source of the Nile itself Zone 2- Other infrastructures Zone 3- A mini zoo

The Source of the Nile as the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Cultural Center

Of recent, the Prime Minister of India while on his State visit to Uganda pledged to offer the Uganda’s government a grant to establish a Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Cultural Center at the Source of the Nile and that it will be christened the Mahatma Gandhi Heritage Park. This Heritage Park will comprise an observation deck, a swimming pool, conference rooms, a yoga center and an entrance gate to the site. We appreciate the good heart of the Indian government of developing this tourism site however, the Source of the Nile is NOT the right place for the proposed Indian Heritage Park. This park can be well suited at a different site in Jinja other than at the source of the Nile. We need to protect and transform the Source of the Nile into a first-class tourism site other than changing it to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Cultural Center. We can vote about this! What should it be?      

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