Uganda Safaris and tours-Uganda gorilla trekking safaris The mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park…
American woman who was kidnapped on Uganda safari
American woman who was kidnapped on Uganda safari
Uganda safari woman kidnapping
It was such flashy news around the world when they kidnapped an American citizen woman during an Uganda safari. On 2nd April 2019 the southern part of Queen Elizabeth National Park and as well as famous for its tree-climbing lions. Kimberly Endicott is the name of the kidnapped, female citizen of America who had made bookings with one of the safari companies to engage in both a Gorilla and Wildlife safari in Uganda. But then in one of the frequently toured National Parks-Queen Elizabeth, on the 3rd day of her safari, the cheery safari tale took totally a wrong turn when this tourist and her tour guide were kidnapped by a gang /group of armed men. Several playwrights and writers wrote about the incident and others made daring headlines of safari news all across the world for this happenstance of kidnapping Kimberly Endicott the American female citizen and the Ugandan tour guide -Mierenge). However still in the vehicle that Kimberly Endicott and Mierenge took kidnapped still another elderly Canadian couple who were left in the park with the vehicle closed with no keys.
Based on a number of facts written by writers/playwrights, they all pointed at these kidnappers wanting a ransom of about $5000.But then the release of the 2-(Kimberly Endicott & Mierenge) a closet total of $3000 was paid /given as negotiated after the lengthened time. It’s funny that the bill that was given to the kidnappers was basically used to take care of their costs for 5 days that they had held these people- hostages in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Bases inform that those who kidnapped could probably not have been Ugandan citizens but instead planned it well and had Kimberly Endicott followed up straight from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park where she engaged in trekking of Gorillas.
Later on (Sunday) these 2 were liberated (Kimberly Endicott &Mierenge) by the Uganda Police and transferred by a Helicopter back to Kampala, whereas Kimberly Endicott was handed over to the American ambassador at the American embassy in Kampala. But still, these kidnappers left with some of what belonged to their victims like their phone, little money, cameras, and other things and to make matters even worse these kidnappers used one of the victim’s phones to make calls demanding a ransom from the police. The bright side is that it was money that stirred/inspired the kidnap, and Kimberly Endicott was uninjured but then Mierenge was bruised implying he might have been mistreated by kicking by the rude & frightened kidnappers.
Words coming out of the tourist- Kimberly Endicott was with a lot of good intentions claiming that she still believed that Uganda is a beautiful country and with this incidence of Kidnap was just a hapless tour experience. Kimberly Endicott did re-count the full story to Gayle King of CBS, and that morning, on Friday when she headed back to her country America. Kimberly still recounted the whole story and was astonished by the mountain Gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park as the 2 young gorillas even came close and touched her, that way I realized that it was good luck for me even before the guides alerted me. Kimberly happily enlightens the interviewer that in the first place, she thought the four men with guns were park rangers and later on realized they were simply rag tags, and until then when they (her and others) were forced to sit down on the ground. Kimberly Endicott then keenly discovered that her abductor’s hand was shaking implying he was also scared of what he was about to do and then this is when she tried to humanize the abductor.
Successfully these people were liberated and this incident of kidnapping Kimberly Endicott and Mierenge became a blessing to Uganda’s Tourism Industry and a bad experience for the wild frontier tour operator company and Mierenge. One of the writers paves it that kidnapping incidence made Uganda & mountain gorilla trekking popular and known worldwide. The kidnap also rushed up tourists’ arrivals to Uganda because of the top openings/slits it won in one of the best media podiums in the whole world. However, whichever country authenticated the transfer of their citizens to Uganda safaris just alerted them to exercise a high level of carefulness to avoid theft mainly in Urban places.
Still, this incident of kidnapping did open the eyes of all those who did not know the 67-year-old Queen Elizabeth National park. Several media houses on the international scene went ahead to define Queen Elizabeth National Park as one of the most attractive destinations in Africa among the rest of the National Parks in Uganda and several on the African continent. Eventually, the media also become welcoming to Uganda as it picked the better comments by Indigi Ellis, a United Nations bases research firm dedicated at global risk analysis, who remarked that tourist kidnaps are not known in Uganda, and are very infrequent. This somehow made Uganda cherished and opened doors for more international tourists into the country, therefore all thanks to this Kidnap because disclosure of Uganda and the combined media coverage was such an infrequent incident in Uganda.