Virtual tourism in Uganda

David Oguttu (R), the brainchild of Koikoi Instagrammers Kampala tour, shares the day’s roadmap with other photographers. PHOTO BY EDGAR R. BATTE

What you need to know:

Every time tourism is mentioned, many think about national parks and the like, however, a group of‘Instagrammers’ is determined to change this perception.

A new campaign codenamed Koikoiug has kicked off. It comprises a team of ‘Instagrammers’ who go out to capture sceneries of different towns.
They started with Kampala and with its pulsating urban culture.
One of the brains behind the Koikoiug idea, David Oguttu, of Kafunda Kreatrive, explained that this was just the first piece of a bigger picture, a campaign aimed at collecting one million photos in a period of 10 weeks in a bid to create a crowd sourced promotion about Uganda, by Ugandans for Ugandans.
“This campaign is aimed at changing the stereotypes about the country, and putting these pictures online via Instagram and by extension Facebook, is a good way to challenge these perceptions,” he added.

About Kafunda Kreative
Kafunda Kreative is a fellowship of creative professionals learning from one another, growing their skills and collaborating, working with existing and emerging brands to help build effective and relevant brands, products and services in Uganda and then the world.
The group comprises professional and amateur photographers as well as photo enthusiasts.
The group has managed to get 550 photos.
“With seven weeks to go and more Ugandans coming on board and tagging the photos of their country with hashtag #koikoiug, we can hit the one million target, in a bid to flood the Internet with photos of this, the Pearl of Africa,” Oguttu says.
Asked why the project was called Koikoi, Oguttu says, “Koikoi, is a phrase that signals the beginning of a riddle, the point was to make us a little wiser or teach us a lesson. Koikoiug in turn is a social media campaign to create awareness about Uganda, but also to teach Ugandans to appreciate the beauty in their country.”
The koikoi campaign is for all Ugandans with a smart phone camera, or camera and a social media account to tell the world about their country.
The team intend to roll out the campaign to other parts of the country.