Rwanda to re-open airports on 1st August “get ready to tour again
Rwanda to re-open airports on 1st August “get ready to tour agan: Following the pandemic of Corona virus COVID 19 which struck the world many business and travels where put on a stand still worldwide, in easy words the world was put on a lock down in a sense that movement from regions to regions or countries to countries was restricted as a way of combating the spread of the virus.
According to New York Times (nytimes.com) the Corona Virus pandemic started in Wuhan city of China surfacing in a Chinese sea food and poultry market in the late 2019, by December the medical authorities and the government of china in Wuhan city confirmed treating dozens of cases with unknown virus. After days of research, a new virus was indentified in China and at that time there was no indication that the virus was spread by the people. According to the health report from the Chinese medical team dozens of people were already affected by the virus and they were under monitoring so as to prevent the virus from developing into something severe. On January 11th china reported its first death of COVID19 which at that time the cause of the death was refered to as an illness caused by the virus, the first case was a 61 year old man who was said to be a regular customer in the Wuhan market where the virus started from. The rest is history as the virus spread to millions of people infecting and killing many of them worldwide.
In Rwanda the amazing land of a thousand hills, the first case of Corona virus (COVID19) was registered on March 14th 2020 which made the country to go in panic state. As way of combating the spread of the virus to the people, Rwanda declared a total lock down making to become the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to impose total shutdown. At time of the total local down Rwanda had 17 cases of the novel COVID-19 virus, the total lock down affected every one and every sort of transaction in Rwanda since movement was restricted and business was put on stand. People were ordered to work from home expect essential works that is the health workers, administrators, those working in grocery stores and supermarkets.
In the awake of total lock down tourism was greatly affected as the airports in Rwanda were shut down from receiving an passenger flight, as it very known Rwanda is one of the top tourist destination in the world but because of the pandemic all national parks and other tourist destinations were closed down and tourists were not allowed into the country. The most critical aspect of closing out the tourists was to stop the spread of the Corona virus from the international tourists to the locals and from the tourists to animals most especially the mountain gorillas who share 97% of their DNA with humans.
After a long time of about 2-3 months Rwanda starting easing down on the lockdown from May 4th with opening of both public and private businesses, the easing down on the lockdown was music to the ears of many Rwandese but most people in tourism and tourists had millions questions running through their heads.
On June 17 good news befell the whole world of tourism and tourists as Rwanda announced the re-opening of national parks and touring activities in Rwanda. As per the statement issued by Belise Kariza the chief tourism officer of Rwanda Development Board (RDB), only tourists two categories of tourists were allowed to take part in safari activities that is the local tourists and international tourists using charter flights to get into Rwanda . These tourists were to followed Corona Virus measures as per the Rwanda health organization while on the safari experiences as a way of creating a safe environment for travelers and tour operators.
On 4th July 2020 Rwanda ministry of Infrastructure announced to reopening of Rwanda’s airports on 1st August 2020 for scheduled commercial flight operations, the opening of the airports means that international tourists will have access to Rwanda and be able to participate in safari activities in Rwanda. This announcement was followed by guidelines to ensure the safety of the tourists (passengers), flight crew, staff and airport operating staff. These guidelines were developed by the ministry of health with recommendations from the ICAO (Council on Aviation Recovery Taskforce), the guidelines include
- All tourists in transit are required to show proof a COVID-19 PCR negative test from a certified laboratory, the test has be taken within 72 hours of arriving in Rwanda.
- When tourists arrive in Rwanda a second PCR test has to be conducted on them, the results will be delivered within 24 hours and in the 24 hours all tourists will remain at their designated hotels at their own cost.
After a long time which seemed like forever, the wait is soon to be over with the opening of the airports on 1st August 2020. As tourists be ready to visit Rwanda the land of thousand hills and get to interact with the precious mountain gorillas, take a swim and enjoy the feel of cool breeze on Lake Kivu and tour through Kigali city the cleanliest city in Africa and enjoy sights of numerous hills and visit cultural and historical site.
Visit Rwanda and enjoy an amazing safari experience when the airport opens by sending your safari inquiries to www.focuseastafricatours.com to book for your safari.
