Becoming a tour guide in his native Uganda wasn’t a huge stretch for long-time agricultural journalist Moses Hategeka, who founded Traccar Safaris two years ago.
Hategeka says the research, observation and storytelling skills he developed as a print and social media journalist have served him well in establishing a tourism business with a strong bent toward agriculture and wildlife.
In fact, Hategeka credits the IFAJ/Corteva Master Class he attended at the 2016 IFAJ Congress in Bonn, Germany, with inspiring him to create Traccar Safaris.
“Owen Roberts gave a presentation about sustainable agriculture that got me thinking deeper about agriculture,” he recalls. “It was Master Class that broadened my mind to see agriculture in a broader sense, and I was able to relate it to so many other factors and see how agriculture and tourism are connected.
“If you are talking about sustainable agriculture, you are talking about tourism,” Hategeka explains. “When you are talking about agritourism, you are talking about sustainable tourism, responsible tourism, green tourism.”
Hategeka—who had already earned a degree in journalism from Makarere University in Uganda’s capital, Kampala—began studying tourism in Uganda and Tanzania. He also enrolled in an online sustainable tourism program from Cornell University in the U.S.
“The training gives you a global perspective on tourism,” he notes.
Through Traccar Safaris, Hategeka conducts wildlife tours, including trips to visit Uganda’s famous gorillas and chimpanzees and other notable havns. But he also offers agricultural tours at farms like Kaynela Farm, a sustainable fruit and vegetable operation whose guests learn about tropical crops and Ugandan culture. Hategeka says agritourism is still new to Uganda.
“Most guys are into wildlife, but none of them can explain the concept of agritourism,” he says. “But when you broaden it, you can see that tourism and agriculture are interdependent. It’s all about the observation of nature.”
To contact Moses or learn more about his tourism business, visit https://www.traccarsafaris.com/.
Farm manager feeds fish at Uganda’s Kaynela Farm.
Moses Hatageka tapped into his journalist skills to build a tourism business—he notes both rely on skillful research, observation and storytelling.