Why Jewel Safaris prefers dealing with women

The first thing I noticed when the safari vehicle arrived at the rendezvous is that it was driven by a woman. Female drivers are as rare in the tourism sector as they are in the public transport sector. The fact that this huge 4X4 manual transmission vehicle was manned by a woman got me curious.

After quick introductions from which I learnt that her name was Rachael Aheebwa, we set off from Kampala, westward. Aheebwa had just come back from a two-week trip, driving tourists through Murchison Falls National Park.

The new year’s day found her on the road, away from her husband and two children, one of whom is merely nine months. She had just returned home the previous day only to embark on a new trip.

“When I returned home on Sunday, there was a job waiting for me from Jewel Safaris. Goretti [the co-proprietor for Jewel Safaris] wanted me to take some Australian tourists to Bwindi. But I did not take it because I have a training of women tour guides for three weeks,” she says.

Tourists challenges

Aheebwa says many of the jobs she has done over the last few years have come from Jewel Safaris. Asked why she thinks the company chooses her, she says it is not just her but several other women in the industry.

Goretti Bashemereirwe, the Jewel Safaris co-proprietor says her company is committed to working with women in the tourism industry partly because of complaints from foreign tourists.

 “A few years ago, Jewel Safaris made a decision to work more with women in tourism because foreign tourists were always asking us why women are not more involved in the tourism industry,” Bashemereirwe says.

Bashemereirwe says that the fact that the industry is dominated by men does not sit well with some foreign tourists.

“They observe safari vehicles being driven by men, hotel managers are mostly men, the rangers and tour operators are mostly men. Even as they tour different parks, the same tourists see women doing all the farming. In areas such as Kabale, it is the women quarrying stones,” she says.

She realised that in many western countries where most tourists come from, equity between the genders is taken very seriously and started looking out for women in the industry.

The souvenir shopkeeper

Two hours later, Aheebwa suggested that we make stopover at Kayabwe (Equator) for breakfast. The eatery, which doubles as a crafts and souvenirs shop, was operated by a Anne Nakaye. Like old friends, the two women instantly started catching up about tourism.

Nakaye reveals that in the last 17 years she has been in the tourism industry, the last three years have been the worst. They thought that the number of tourists would normalize after Covid-19, but that never was.

“They want to pay Shs3,000 for a souvenir item worth Shs10,000. You show him a fridge magnet worth Shs15,000 and they are only willing to part with Shs5,000. The Equator can fill up with so many tourists and if you are an outsider, you will think we are making a killing. But most times, they do not make a sale,” she says.

She adds that without people like Aheebwa and Goretti and a few others who bring tourists to her eatery, she would be struggling terribly. “Without selling food, I would run out of business. The souvenirs market is dead,” Nakaye declares.

Women more trustworthy

Bashemereirwe says while it is not easy to always employ women in all facets of the industry, she always gives women a chance whenever possible. For instance, the designer that makes company uniforms is also a woman based in Mbarara.

“I have discovered that women are trustworthy. A woman driver is more likely to be on time than a male counterpart and she is less likely to steal fuel. I would not have found this out if I did not listen to the complaints of the tourists in the first place,” she says.

Non-aggressive driving

On the way towards Lake Mburo, it slowly dawned on us that a less aggressive style of driving may be particularly welcomed by foreign tourists who find our roads too unpredictable. Which might explain why women are slowly taking over the tour driving segment of the industry.

Thirty-year old Aheebwa has been a tour guide driver for seven years now. When she started out, she knew one other woman driver. But now they are about seven women drivers and counting.

Women ranger in Mburo

We arrived at the park gate of Lake Mburo National Park three hours after departing from the Equator. Aheebwa made sure we wasted no time at all. She entered the UWA offices and returned with a woman ranger named Susan Etaremwa, ready to hit the tracks. She was the first woman ranger I ever saw.

Encountering lions

We made it to Queen Elizabeth National before dark. Before going to bed, Aheebwa informed us that we would depart for the park at 7am the next morning, if we are to see lions on the game drive. She made it clear that this was not an option.

At 7:30am, we arrived at the Uganda Wild Life Authority (UWA) offices near Kasenyi. There were dozens of tourists paying their park fees and making preparations for their game drives. Aheebwa went in and paid for us.

After a few minutes, all the cars left through a northwards track, but Aheebwa went eastwards. I was slightly disappointed that we took a lone road instead of joining the rest.

In less than 30 minutes, I was thankful because we found lions lying in the middle of our track. Her female intuition had been right.

The three lions, two males and one female, were lying in the shed of another tourist vehicle. Aheebwa could not be happier for me.

She inched as close to the lions as possible without even bothering about her open window. I was furious but she was not. She understood that lions cannot attack a car to target the occupants.

Support for women in tourism

Bashemereirwe believes women are particularly gifted in hospitality because of their natural affinity to feel for others.

“There is a reason women make better nurses; because naturally, they are tender and caring. Tourists need a bit of that. This is why I have chosen this path. This is why Private Sector Foundation Uganda is offering support tour companies such as Jewel Safaris to attract more women in the tourism business,” he says. 

Last year, PSFU launched a project that supports tour companies through grants and trainings, aimed at up-scaling women involvement in tourism business.

The project dubbed Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW), will run for five years and Jewel safaris and many other tour operators are already feeling the positive impact of of the project.