Africans are probably tired of the age-long axiom – See Paris and Die. Well, Africans do not only prefer to see Paris and live, but they also like to see newer versions of Paris in Africa. That is why African tourists cheer the Modern Media Centre, being constructed with the support of South Korea at the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. It will be completed any time after February, that is, next month.
The new facility will offer crucial information on wildlife and its attractions through digital platforms. The Principal Tourism Promotion Officer, Susuma Kusekwa, is emphatic, “There is a gap of information to visitors, for instance, on wildlife migration”.
The multi-media facility is specially for providing information electronically and will be fitted with film projectors, screens and associated equipment. As Mr. Kusekwa told reporters, “The aim is to expose our visitors to the wildlife splendour of Serengeti through digital platforms and will complement the visitors’ centre”.
The tourism official said that with modern technologies, the park authorities felt there was a need to set up the media centre, where most of the briefings would be made electronically.
Besides the tourists, beneficiaries will include wildlife researchers, stakeholders in the tourism sector and students. The official stated that there were plans also to expand the visitors’ building at Seronera Airstrip to cope with increasing number of visitors.
Between January and September last year alone, the airstrip handled over three thousand seven hundred flights with June, July and August alone bringing in about 485, 000 tourists and 664 aircraft. Although it was opened about two years ago, the departure lounge and other facilities have proved to be inadequate to handle the increasing number of passengers.
