Queen
Elizabeth National Park is generally regarded as a safe tourist destination,
and the most-visited national park in Uganda, with safaris offering then visitor
to see the opportunities like the tree-climbing lions, herds of buffalo,
elephants and hippos. But the National Park also shares a porous, forested
border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a number of rebel groups
and lawlessness are known to be active. Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park
shares a porous border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, where rebel and
criminal groups are active. Kidnappings of tourists are rare in Uganda but
they’re becoming more popular because of the instability in the DRC which
boarders Uganda and part of the Queen Elizabeth National.
While
on a tour guide of the Queen Elizabeth National Park a popular tourist
destination in Uganda on Tuesday evening, an American woman and a local guide were kidnapped
by unknown gunmen who have demanded a $500,000 ransom, according to
police.
The kidnapped woman was identified as
Kimberley Sue Endecott, 35 from Los Angeles. The TV stations quoted friends and
neighbors, who identified her as Kimberly Sue Endicott, from Costa Mesa in
California in the USA.
According to the Uganda Police Force she
was on a sightseeing tour around Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park on
Tuesday evening, along with a senior guide and an elderly tourist couple when
they were ambushed by four gun wielding men. The Police said she and
the guide, who was identified as Jean Paul Mirenge Remezo, were then taken hostage
leaving the two remaining elderly tourist couples to raise an alarm to the
Ugandan authorities.
What is the motive for the kidnap?
Kidnapping is becoming more viable and
with this case, the speed at which the kidnappers demanded the ransom has got
to be taken into account when looking at the motivations of the kidnappers. And
in this case the speed at which the $500,000 ransom was demanded using the
American victim’s cell phone indicates that the crime has an economic motive
according to experts. The kidnappings are becoming more and more popular as a
way of eking out as much financial gain as possible from the tourism sector.
And this trend is driven by poverty in the region because in North Kivu, a province
of Democratic Republic of Congo bordering the Queen Elizabeth National Park,
GDP per capita has barely risen.
How safe is Uganda for tourists?
Uganda is a safe tourist destination according
to most tourists who have visited the country, and they go ahead with their
activities without incident, authorities say. The Ugandan police say that the
kidnapping was the first incident of this kind ever registered in the park
since its inauguration. The killings of tourists are not unprecedented in
Uganda. But the Ugandan government is extra sensitive to perception that it
cannot protect international visitors which is a vital source of hard currency
According
to the State Department advisory to its tourists, it tells them to “reconsider
travel” to Congo, however North Kivu, the Congolese state bordering the Queen
Elizabeth National Park, is singled out as a location which tourists should
avoid due to severe outbreaks of violence targeting civilians.
Uganda
on average received some 1.4 million visitors in 2017 of which about 78,000 of
them where from the Americas, according to the World Tourism Organization.
1 Comments
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2days Queen Elizabeth National Park tour