How death robbed Jinja of tourism enthusiast

The family of the late Rob Davies, a United Kingdom national and tourism enthusiast, has lifted the lid on a turbulent month they endured before he passed away last Thursday.

Rob, 57, as was fondly referred to, was on Sunday laid to rest in Bugolo Village, Njeru Municipality, Buikwe District. He was the proprietor of Jinja-based Bungee Uganda and Quad Biking.

Ms Marcia Nankanja, the deceased’s sister in-law, says Rob on December 13, returned to Jinja from a trip to Murchison Falls National Park, which straddles the districts of Nwoya, Buliisa, Kiryandongo, and Masindi.

“On December 13, he complained of stomach and back pain, and we took him to Nile Hospital in Jinja City, before being referred to Case Hospital in Kampala on December 15,” Ms Nankanja told the Monitor on Tuesday.

She added: “At Case Hospital, it was revealed that he had an intestinal blockage, and underwent surgery on December 21. The days following the surgery were hopeful, and by January 18, a full recovery was beckoning.”

“We went to check on him on that day in the Intensive Care Unit, we had the best doctors and they gave us hope; his son came, they talked and it was emotional,” she said.

Hell breaks loose

According to Ms Nankanja, all expectations of a discharge turned tragic when Rob coughed a bit and went into cardiac arrest.

“Because of that cough, a blood clot went into his lungs, he was rushed back to theatre for another operation, but unfortunately, didn’t make it after two hours of trying to resuscitate him.”

Immediately after Rob’s death reverberated through Jinja’s tourism fraternity, tributes have been pouring in for a man many say transformed the sector of a country he only got to learn about in 2016 through social media (Facebook), and visited a year later.

Wanted to be buried in Uganda

Ms Deborah Kulwenjiri, a worker at Bungee Uganda, says the deceased, whom she first met in 2017, wanted to be buried in Uganda.

“He always said he wanted to be buried here,” Ms Kulwenjiri said.

Ms Kulwenjiri, who described the deceased as “good and happy”, added: “I am not saying good things about him because he is dead, but that is what he was.”

Mr Noah Birumi (Wapera), a journalist and communications expert, says he met Rob while working with a local radio station in Jinja City, and describes him as “the liveliest person I ever met”.

“He was so inquisitive, listening and willing to learn from people. I asked him if I could support his companies with communication, and he offered me a job and I became the Communications Manager without even interviews,” Mr Birumi said.

As a businessman, Mr Birumi says the deceased was always concerned with finance and understood the value for money. “In other words, he did not just invest for the sake, but always wanted to know how he is getting profit and how it will benefit people.”

Mr Birumi adds that Rob was very passionate about tourism, which was the backbone of his business, saying he brought tourist operators together through different platforms and introduced him (Birumi) to several WhatsApp groups of tourist operators, where he (Rob) was the most active person.

In those groups, he freely advised and generated ideas, most of which were jokes about anything that elicited laughter.

According to Mr Birumi, Rob was a no-nonsense person who did not hold back telling someone off if they acted disrespectfully; he also did not entertain arrogance. “Sometimes, as a Public Relations of the brand, I had to ask him to go a little easy on some people, although some deserved some attitude.”

Wapera says he also protected his employees at all times, and would not allow a client to disrespect any of them. He also reportedly knew Uganda more than many citizens, while his entire business life rotated around tourism and vintage cars.

Facebook user Frank Thoresen wrote last Friday: “I really miss you Rob. You left so early.”

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