KAMPALA
The government has rolled out plans to control tsetse flies in the country’s national parks to boost tourism after Uganda was voted the best tourism destination for this year by the world’s largest travel guide, Lonely Planet.
Mr Fredrick Luyimbazi, the assistant commissioner of livestock and entomology in the Ministry of Agriculture, said measures include setting traps and aerial spraying to ensure safety of tourists visiting the parks.
“National parks are some of the tsetse flies-infested areas with latest concerns coming from a guest who visited Murchison Falls National Game Park and commented about the flies in the park on tripadvisor.com,” Mr Luyimabazi said.
He said they have been putting traps at accommodation facilities around the parks to reduce the flies by the creating sustainable tsetse and trypanosomiasis free areas project although more is still needed to control the hazard.
“The parks are so large that it would necessitate aerial spraying with pyrethroids that are organic compounds similar to the natural pyrethrins produced by the flowers and have no effect on the environment,” Mr Luyimbazi added.
Dr Andrew Sseguya, the Uganda Wildlife Authority acting executive director, said the authority welcomed the idea partnering with the Ministry of Agriculture to control tsetse flies with methods subjected to an environment impact assessment to get scientific evidence of the impact of the chemicals on the environment and other insect species.
He, however, said the process is still at consultation level to ensure that it is carried out in the best way possible. “We have never recorded any sleeping sickness illness or Nagana at any park in Uganda. Controlling tsetse flies is a preventive measure because there could be some that are harmful to humans and animals,” he added.
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