Tourvest East Africa, a member of integrated tourism group Tourvest’s Accommodation and Activities division, said today it has officially broken ground at the new site of its Kalagala Falls tented and overland camp, situated on the Uganda Nile near the town of Jinja.
Scheduled to open for the 2019 season, the new camp will comprise six dedicated overland truck bays with services, 64 dorm beds of various configurations, 10 safari tents, 14 riverfront en-suite tents and three two-bedroom family units.
Once completed, the site will have two restaurants, two swimming pools, a spa, a shop and a sports bar with a big screen television. Complete with a viewing deck overlooking the Nile, it also has river access for activities and an activity centre, which will include an array of tourism and adventure activities including rafting, bungee jumping, kayaking, horse riding and quad biking.
Leanne Haigh, chief executive of Tourvest East Africa, says the move was necessitated by a recent earthquake which rendered the old location of the camps unsafe. “The new site is located within the Kalagala Falls Offset Area, a very important Ugandan conservation area, and we’ve been very busy navigating the regulatory roadmap to obtain the necessary approvals for development in such a highly sensitive ecological area,” says Haigh.
“Among the conditions for the construction of the camps is to ensure a minimal impact on the area’s flora and, to this effect, we have partnered with the National Forestry Association to reforest and return the site to its natural habitat,” she says, adding that this is now possible thanks to the fencing-off of the concession area.
According to Haigh, further damming of the Nile is imminent. “The Kalagala Falls development is in the perfect location to maximise the best section of the Nile post-flooding with plenty of white water at Itunda Falls and Kalagala Falls, both of which are visible and directly accessible from the new camps.”
Tourvest East Africa operates the Lemala Luxury Collection comprising Kuria Hills Lodge in the Serengeti National Park, Mpingo Ridge in the Tarangire National Park, Lemala Kili Villas in Arusha and the Lemala seasonal camps in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. A further luxury camp in the Serengeti, called Lemala Nanyukie, is opening on 10 November to a full house with bookings available again from the following week.
Meanwhile, its Lemala Wildwaters Lodge, situated on an island in the Uganda Nile River, is in the process of undergoing a major refurbishment, expected to be completed in time for next year’s season.