News Update

Will Smith Flies with Regional Air

Regional Air a sister company to Airkenya Express and Aerolink Uganda recently flew Will Smith, world renowned American actor and rapper from Hollywood. Smith has won four Grammy Awards and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards and two Academy Awards.

Will Smith was on holiday in Tanzania’s world renowned wildlife sanctuary, the Serengeti National Park.

The Serengeti is miles of savannah housing 500 bird species, crocodile and hippo populated rivers that are crossed by the wildebeest during the great migration; and the biggest population of lions in Africa.

The Sarit Tourism Expo

Enjoy discounted tickets sale at the new Sarit Expo Centre, Stand No. 22. See you there on

25th-29th March

10th- 13th April – The Easter Weekend – Flights are open for bookings

Airkenya Overhauls one of its Three Twin Otters (The de Havilland Canada DHC-6)

We are proud to update our customers, and our Partners on one of our success stories – upgrading the condition of our equipment.

Last year we embarked on a journey to recondition one of our Twin Otter equipments – 5Y PJP, a journey that took our dedicated Engineering, Maintenance, Safety and Quality team about 3.5 months to complete.

We would like to commend our members of staff from various departments on the job well done, to see this project through.

For you our customers, we want to thank you for your continued support and we promise to endeavour to deliver quality and safe transportation between the various destinations that you need going to.

The remodelled Twin otter now offers you, comfortable and luxurious feel, check it out!

World’s urban mining to go greener

For decades, industrialised countries have disposed of huge quantities of e-waste by exporting it to developing regions such as West Africa. Agbogbloshie in Ghana used to be an area of wildlife and natural beauty. Today, it is the world’s largest dumpsite for used electronic goods from Europe and beyond. Impoverished families work in toxic and hazardous conditions to recycle e-waste materials manually, which is inefficient and often dangerous.

E-waste is a surprisingly rich alternative to traditional mining – just one tonne of e-waste contains more gold than 17 tonnes of ore – and is achieving rapid cost reductions through improvement of technologies, collection systems and growing economies of scale. As many as 17 different metals can be extracted from e-waste, including silver, platinum, copper, tin and antimony[4]. There is also plenty of it, with the United Nations University estimating that annual e-waste is set to more than double by 2050[5].

Volkswagen is building a battery recycling plant that will support the carmaker’s goal of recycling 97 per cent of raw materials in end-of-life EV battery packs – up from 53 per cent today.

Apple has a goal of making all of its products from recycled materials. The California technology company has even piloted robotic tools to help disassemble iPhones.

Virus postpones biodiversity meeting

This year all eyes will be on China’s conservation leadership. In October 2020, the city of Kunming in southwest China will host the UN Biodiversity Conference. This particular conference is especially important as the 196 countries that have signed the international treaty will evaluate the last 10-year strategic plan and agree on a new global framework for the next decade. Themed “Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth,” the conference will set out priorities for global investment in biodiversity for 2020-2030.

China is expected to showcase the impact of nature-based solutions to address global challenges.

However, a preparatory meeting due to convene in Yunnan province in February, has been relocated to Rome as the coronavirus epidemic grips China.

There’s something ironic in the coronavirus derailing a talk on biodiversity. The new virus—much like its sister diseases, SARS and MERS—is suspected of originating in animals and crossing over to humans as we encroach further on wild ecosystems. "We are coming into contact with species of wildlife and their habitats that we were not with before," Dr. Ben Embarek of the WHO's department of nutrition and food safety said.

Temperature testing of travellers is taking place at many ports, including Wilson airport to enable early detection.

Locust plague in East Africa

Swarms of deadly desert locusts entered Uganda on Sunday after having ravaged several parts of Kenya, causing food shortages. Locust plagues occur intermittently in the Horn of Africa, but this invasion is the worst in 25 years, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

If unchecked, locust numbers could grow 500 times by June.

There have been six major desert locust plagues in the 1900s, the last of which was in 1987-89. The last major upsurge was in 2003-05.

The invasion had come after a year of extremes which included eight cyclones off East Africa, the most in a single year since 1976.

Originating at the India-Pakistan border, the locusts migrated into Somalia and Ethiopia and destroyed nearly 71,000 hectares of farmland in the two countries. Hundreds of millions of the voracious insects have swept across Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya in what the U.N. has called the worst outbreak in a quarter of a century, with Uganda, Eritrea and Djibouti also affected.

Desert locusts can live for up to five months, depending on the weather and local conditions. They can lay eggs that hatch after two weeks, with the locusts maturing to adulthood in two to four months on average.

Ugandan Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda held an emergency meeting which resolved to deploy 2,000 soldiers to the region on Monday. The state will also provide manual and motorised spray pumps to fight the locusts.

The locusts migrated from Kenya's Turkana and Samburu areas, entering Uganda via northwest Pokot district in Kenya, where they had destroyed hundreds of acres of vegetation and have started destroying vegetation in Uganda.

Meanwhile Tanzanian authorities on Sunday refuted rumours that swarms of desert locusts have invaded the northern region of Kilimanjaro close to the border with Kenya.

Japhet Hasunga, the Minister for Agriculture, said agricultural experts have been dispatched on the Tanzania-Kenya border to monitor any invasion of the locusts that have devastated farm crops and vegetation in the neighbouring country.

This was due to a warmer western Indian Ocean, a climate condition known as the Indian Ocean Dipole which has conversely led to severe drought in Australia that is experiencing its own extremes: bushfires, hail and dust storms.

One expert at the press conference in Nairobi had to reassure attendees that the locust invasion following the drought and floods was not a portent of the biblical "end of times".

However, if the locusts are not brought under control by the start of the next planting and rainy season -- typically around March -- farmers could see their crops decimated.

While farmers were relatively lucky as their crops had already matured or been harvested by the time they arrived, herders face another heavy blow as vegetation for their animals is consumed by the voracious locusts.

Pastoralists were just emerging from three years of drought, recovery from a dry spell usually takes them up to five years.

Now, the United Nations is to test drones equipped with mapping sensors and atomisers to spray pesticides in parts of east Africa battling an invasion of desert locusts that are ravaging crops and exacerbating a hunger crisis.

Experts say the scale of the infestation is beyond local capacity as desert locusts can travel up to 150 km (95 miles) in a day.

Lionscapes

The lion is an indicator species: Those in healthy populations often correlate to healthy landscapes, which typically provide a range of benefits not only to human communities but to other species of flora and fauna. Healthy landscapes maintain essential water sources, support food security, mitigate climate change, and create resilience to flooding and other weatherrelated events.

Lionscapes or areas in which lions are thriving offer a larger than average share of: • direct benefits such as water and food security • supporting services such as photosynthesis, soil formation, and nutrient cycling • regulating services such as soil stability and carbon storage • cultural value in the recreational, historical, aesthetic, and even spiritual realms

Threats to lions include habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict (as people kill lions that attack their livestock), and poaching — including hunting for a growing lion-bone trade driven by demand for traditional-medicine products in Asia.

In Manyara and Kenya's LUMO Conservancy, we have worked with communities to protect livestock from lion attacks. Our model is based on simple technology: predator-proof, metal, portable corrals known as bomas. By protecting livestock from predation through the use of these bomas, we are preventing incidents of the human-wildlife conflict that poses such a severe threat to lions. In tandem with community outreach to sensitize communities to lions as critical to healthy landscapes, these efforts are changing minds and helping shift historical narratives about lions.

Solar energy to drive Africa’s economic growth

Recognising that traditional grid infrastructure is not a viable solution in rural and peri-urban areas and the enormity of the solar opportunity, lights the way for Africa’s growth. The DRC is the latest country to invest big with BBoxx . BBoxx designs, manufactures, distributes and finances innovative plug & play solar systems to improve access to energy across Africa and the developing world.

The investment potential is currently estimated at $24bn by a report unveiled recently at the UK’s African Investment Forum.

What is the opportunity in real terms? • Economic growth: Access to electricity is an important trigger for creating jobs and promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth. • Digital inclusion: The provision of affordable financing combined with technology, then using the internet to remotely monitor solar home systems and tracking millions of mobile payments. • Climate action: Clean solar energy is integral to combatting climate change. Offsetting substantial CO2 emissions and stepping up from a flashlight, kerosene lamp, or candle. • Driving demand: Closing the energy gap creates demand in other areas including – gas, water, finance and internet. over one billion data points

Technology to aid small scale farming

Gilbert F. Houngbo is President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialist agency at the United Nations.

As a new decade dawns, it seems that the world is truly at a tipping point: Australia scorched by fire; cropland ravaged by floods in Britain and Europe; locusts swarming East Africa’s farms; and a record 45 million people facing food crisis in southern Africa.

Extreme weather events are becoming the new normal hope lies in the rural small-scale farmers who generate income and food for the world’s poorest people.

Half the world’s food calories are produced by small-scale farmers on just 30 per cent of the world’s agricultural land. These farmers have a strong personal incentive to get the most from their land and from their own labour. They also tend to grow a wider range of crop varieties that are adapted to local conditions.

Greater agricultural diversity makes cropping systems less vulnerable to epidemics caused by pests and diseases, it improves soil fertility, and strengthens resilience to floods and droughts.

Climate-smart practices reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance carbon sequestration; they can recharge the water tables and prevent landslides and dust storms. In short, they protect the natural capital that is the foundation of life, livelihoods and economies in rural areas.

Prosperous small farms not only provide food but also create jobs, and raise demand for locally produced goods and services. This in turn spurs opportunity, economic growth and more stable societies

Deep in rural western Zimbabwe, where tarred roads are nonexistent, Japhet Ngwenya used to spend every season worrying that the people who advise him on how to protect his crops from dry spells and pest invasions would not be able to reach him. officers from the consortium Turning Matabeleland Green (TMG) managed to make their way to Ngwenya's farm to show him their solution: climate and crop information collected by satellite and sent to farmers' phones.

More than 7 million people work as communal or small-scale farmers, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Many still rely on traditional weather-predicting systems and occasional visits by on-the-ground extension officers to get crucial information and advice.

But using satellite data, groups like TMG can access weather information that is more accurate than the general forecasts supplied by the meteorological department, said Lwazi Mlilo, an agronomist working with TMG.

And with mobile phone technology, they can get that information to farmers faster than they would by sending people out to hard-to-reach farms, he added.

Mlilo showed Ngwenya how extension officers can look at the farmer's 27-hectare (67-acre) holding on Google Maps and combine that with satellite data available online to track everything from weather patterns to the health of crops. "I can monitor the activity on your farm from my office. We do not need to come here to check the progress of your crops," he explained to the visibly awed farmer.

Experts might then advise farmers in the low-rainfall Matabeleland region on what seeds to plant and which techniques to use to keep their crops thriving, Mlilo said.

Because most rural farmers in Zimbabwe have no internet connection - many have no electricity at all - TMG communicates with them via SMS, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The organisation can quickly tell farmers if a plot in their area has suffered a pest invasion or send out warnings about sudden changes in climate conditions to all the farmers in a particular area at once, he explained.

VIA KISUMU

Experience a wildlife safari through the savannah of Kenya & Uganda

Daily Flight Schedule

Mara - Entebbe - Minimum 2 pax

From To Depart Arrive

Mara Entebbe 0845 1130 Entebbe Mara 1215 1430approx Mara Kisumu 0845 0950 Kisumu Mara 1355 1430 approx Kisumu Entebbe 1030 1130 Entebbe Kisumu 1215 1315

• Routes via Kisumu for immigration.

From Entebbe - Minimum 2 pax

From To

Depart Arrive

Entebbe Kihihi (BINP) 1245 1355 Entebbe Kasese / Mweya (QENP) 1245 1435

From Entebbe - Minimum 4 pax

Entebbe Semiliki 1245 1435 Entebbe Bugungu 1200 1315 Entebbe Pakuba / Chobe (MFNP) 1200 1315 Entebbe Kidepo (KVNP) 1230 1445

Fares

Mara - Entebbe

Mara - Entebbe Entebbe - Mara

Mara - Kisumu Kisumu - Mara

Kisumu - Entebbe Entebbe - Kisumu Fare USD Taxes USD

One way 340 80 Return 565 160

One way 200 30 Return 340 60

One way 150 80 Return 300 160

From Entebbe

Fare USD

Taxes USD Mara-Kihihi (BINP) One way 613 90 Mara- Kasese / mweya (QENP) One way 613 90 Mara-Semiliki One way 613 90 Mara-Bugungu One way 592 90 Mara- Pakuba / Chobe (MFNP) One way 592 90 Mara-Kidepo (KVNP) One way 742 90

www.airkenya.com www.aerolinkuganda.com www.regionaltanzania.com

m-nomad.co.ke platform for small holder pastoralists

Driven by their childhood experience of nomadic lifestyle where they witnessed their parents lose livestock to drought and lack of drugs and vaccines, two young entrepreneurs from Wajir County are now leveraging on technology to provide market and veterinary services to smallholder pastoralists in rural Kenya.

Fed up with the situation, Ibrahim Ahmed, 28, and Abdirahman Abdullahi, 27, in 2018 started doing some research on how they could come up with a solution, which birthed Geljir Technologies Limited, a social enterprise firm that they founded in April 2019 to engineer innovative solutions in the livestock sector in sub-saharan Africa.

Users (seller and the buyer) engage in a transparent and free marketplace where sellers are matched with buyers who have reliable supplies and close deals faster without middlemen.

When all is done, Geljir through M-nomad facilitates the logistics and delivery which has been a problem in livestock marketing, and cuts a commission before paying the seller within 48 hours of the sale through their phone.

M-nomad is also enabling pastoralists to access vaccines and veterinary services. This reduces livestock disease and mortality rate and enables them to run sustainable livestock operations.

The producers also get alerts on weather, prices and animal husbandry through their phone for free, via sms, and they can notify stakeholders of any disease outbreaks and trigger a quick response.

Currently, the company is working with women livestock groups in Wajir and Isiolo and engaging with groups from other counties in the arid and semi-arid lands.

“Our goal is to empower women and integrate them into the livestock value chain,” said Abdirahman Abdullahi Co-founder, Director of Innovation and Business Development.

Fresh Kid - the 8 year old Ugandan who bought his parents a house

Ugandan rapper "Fresh Kid" has racked up hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube, won a U.S. music award and emerged victorious from a tussle with the government – all before his eighth birthday.

The rapper, real name Patrick Ssenyonjo, has become a household name in Uganda

Fresh Kid discovered his talent while growing up in Luwero, a coffee-growing area 60 km (37 miles) north of the capital Kampala. "He could listen to a song on radio and immediately memorise it and start singing it," said his father, Paul Mutabaazi, 40, an illiterate manicurist.

One day a singer he idolized held a show near their home. Fresh Kid asked to perform as a warm-up act, earning 500,000 shillings ($136) for his efforts – a month's salary for a teacher in Uganda.

Mutabaazi approached a talent spotter who started booking performances and producing his songs.

Ironically, the boy's career really took off when Uganda's minister for children's affairs sought to bar him last year from singing under laws prohibiting child labour.

Fresh Kid then wrote "Bambi", his plea to be allowed to sing. It became ubiquitous on the radio and in bars, and won the Best International Video from the U.S.-based Carolina Music Video Awards. "Don't send me back to the village where there's no help, I remember a time when money was scarce, Getting fees and food was so difficult," he sings in his hit single "Bambi", which means "Please" in the Luganda language and has had more than 200,000 YouTube views. "Children should work hard. If you have a talent, use it," Fresh Kid told Reuters.

Eventually his parents, his manager and the government struck a deal.

Fresh Kid now lives in Kampala with his family in an apartment he bought and he attends an elite school on a full bursary. His father has opened a beauty salon in Kampala.