Breathtaking Uganda announces expeditions into DRC, Somalia and South Sudan

January 4, 2024 in Travel & Tourism by Editor

Ugandan adventure tourism pioneer Breathtaking Uganda, has unveiled its 2024 events calendar, which in addition to the regular Uganda tours, includes regional excursions into uncharted parts of the East African Community.

Somalia, DRC and South Sudan are the new drawcards for the bold and adventurous, who might want to see the human side of these countries beyond what they consume through new headlines. Delivered in partnership with Uganda Airlines, Rwandair and Air Tanzania, the new tours form part of Breathtaking Uganda’s east African regional tourism events that also include signature trips to Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar.

“People are going into and out of Somalia every day,” says Breathtaking Uganda chief executive Isaiah Jobs Rwanyekiro adding; “they are not any less human than we are. If they can do it why not us?”

Contrary to popular perception, Mogadishu is a vibrant metropolis bustling with commercial activity and lots of sight-seeing opportunities. Juba has also greatly improved its visitor amenities with international hotel brands setting. The country also witnesses the second-largest migration of wildlife globally, when more than a million white-eared kob move from the Sudd and Bandingilo National Park, to Boma National Park on the border with Ethiopia.

Somalia became the eighth member of the East African Community December, opening the way for seamless travel and business interaction across a bloc whose territory starts on the eastern seaboard of Africa, to the Atlantic in the west.

Rwanyekiro says besides fun and discovery, the tours to Mogadishu, Kinshasa and Juba, are also intended to add meaning to regional integration beyond officialdom.

The calendar will roll out with Wild heartbeat Love in the Wilderness tours to Lake Mburo, weaved around the Valentine season, followed by the Wild heartbeat Gorillas in the mist experience in Kisoro over the Labour Day holiday. Next will be Wild the heartbeat West Nile Edition at the end of July, Ssese Islands Edition in October the Pian Upe, Lokichar, Bokora-Matheniko Karamoja Edition in early December.

The Intra East African tours will kick off with safaris to Entebbe, Kigali, Dar, Nairobi and Zanzibar over the Easter weekend. The 4 days 3 nights Entebbe, Juba and Mogadishu tours will run between 25-29th July 2024 while similarly timed excursions to Bujumbura and Kinshasa will run 5-9th September 2024. An exclusive luxury trip to the Maldives is also slated for 22-27th October.

“Overall, we believe 2024 will be an action-packed year that offers every Ugandan and East African travel an opportunity to travel with like-minded people in groups of on average 20-30pax thereby enabling members to enjoy the economies of scale that come with group visas access, subsidised airline tickets on Rwandair, Air Tanzania and Uganda Airlines,” says Steven Mayanja veteran tour and travel operator and board chairman for Breathtaking Uganda Fleetline Tours.

According to Mayanja, hotel and activity booking are done at scale, with the result that an experience that would have been too expensive for one or two persons ends up being significantly cheaper, more affordable and safer to do since travellers move and do activities in groups hence safety in big numbers.