Uganda Wildlife Authority’s newly introduced Visitor card system has reportedly been a huge success making the authority save lots of money. Recently UWA decided to gradually change from issuing paper entry permits and gorilla permits to plastic cards which act like ATM cards. The cards are loaded with a certain amount of money which the visitor can spend on any activity in the parks.
Jossy Muhangi, the acting Public Relations Manager Uganda Wildlife Authority says the Wildlife Card has been a huge success. He says they expect to roll out the wildlife card to cover all parks across the country, after the successful pilot project in Mgahinga Park last year.
The wildlife card system allows UWA to capture the details of the activities a tourist intends to carry out in the park after payment. On arrival, the card is loaded on a computer to check the details, after which the visitor is granted permission to proceed with his intended activities. Muhangi says with the card in place, those who used to dupe tourists into paying extra money cannot now succeed. He says criminals who forge UWA receipts and other documents can now easily be detected.
Muhangi says the system will also protect both tourists and wildlife officials from criminals who have been targeting with hopes of getting cash.
Muhangi says once paid, the card entitles a tourist to all the activities they have paid for. He says a visitor who wants to increase the number of activities within the park pays additional money to park officials who in turn will load all the details onto the card so that the visitor can enjoy his or her preferences.
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