BUKOBA town, situated on shores of Lake Victoria, in Kagera Region, Northwest of Tanzania is said to be a beautiful city by nature of itself, endowed with attracting beaches, and pointy hills with extensive forests that is compared to Rio de Janeiro city in Brazil whose attractive sites including beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema are famous worldwide.
The beauty of Bukoba town was emphasized recently by Prof. Anna Tibaijuka, former Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, and first woman to be elected by the UN General Assembly as Under Secretary of UN programme and who also in 2005, served as the Secretary General Special Envoy on Human Settlements issues in Zimbabwe, and former Tanzania Minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development.
Prof. Tibaijuka issued the statement of Bukoba town beauty, aptly dubbed it minor Rio de Janeiro.
She was appearing at a one-on-one interview by Salama Jabir, an Executive producer and presenter-Yah Stone Town You tube Channel.
The town, which is 1,400 km from Dar es salaam, experiences sunny and mild climate throughout the year and frequented by tourists year around.
Some of the attractive sites to visit are Eco, Maruku Paradise and Kabuhara beaches full of white sands with casual cheerful breezes, Kiroyera Teemba heritage centre, and the famous Bukoba Senene Festival.
Prof. Tibaijuka comparison of Bukoba town to almost equaling Rio de Janeiro brought about hot debate from town dwellers, in social media and local coffee bars, some supporting her, recognising she has travelled widely that she knows what she was saying.
Others think that Bukoba town though it is naturally beautiful, needs heavy investment to modernise the recreational spaces and parks as well as the infrastructures that degrades it status, such as the poor and unfriendly bus stop, which has been a long-time obstacle to passengers and transporters.
Luckily, according to Adv. Stephen Byabato, Bukoba urban Member of Parliament and Deputy Minister of Energy, the poor infrastructure of the town is soon to become a thing of the past as the government has started the rehabilitation and building of tarmac roads with traffic and street lights been installed.
About the new and modern bus stop at Kyakairabwa at the outskirts of town centre, Byabato is happy the government has already dished out TSh. One billion, for the bus stand estimated at Tsh.18b.
He is appealing for residents of his constituency to support the government projects and remain together without being divided by politics, which is said to be a barrier in town development as at times, there has been a ‘tug of war’ between two political parties which dominate politics in the municipal, ruling party CCM and opposition party CHADEMA which once led the Bukoba municipal council, and it is eyeing it once more in 2025 general elections.
As Prof. Tibaijuka said in the interview, that Haya tribe of Kagera Region are smart and intelligent, but not boastful people as they are mistakenly regarded, it’s because they originate from royal family.
So, the town should also be smarter than it looks today.
William Rutta, Managing Director Bukoba Travel and Tours is optimistic the tourism industry will get to a higher height following the current rehabilitation and construction of infrastructures, both by the government and private sector, saying the number of tourists in Kagera will rise to 80pc from the current number.
According to Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics,the number of tourists to Tanzania in January-May 2022 increased to 458,048, compared to the same period in 2021 with 317,270 tourists.
He says Kagera region is full of adventures: traditional dances, traditional ‘mshonge’ houses, Chiefdoms’ palaces, and gigantic trees used to be traditional ritual holies and other traditional architecture and crafts, and Nyakijoga-a Shrine of Lady of Lourdes(pilgrimage at Catholic Parish of Mugana).
There also Burugi-Chato, Ibanda-Kyerwa and Rumanyika National Parks, Rusumo, Bugonzi and Kyamunene waterfalls, and Bwanjai, Kanyigo cave paintings, Kamachumu plateau.
By Mutayoba Arbogast
1 comment
Good idea, let the world know it