RUTANA October 20th (ABP) – At a time when many Burundians do not know the tourist places that Burundi has, they should visit these places to know about their wealth, and the administration should help in strengthening security of those places because they play an important role in providing foreign currency to our country, said Mr. Désiré Manirakiza, the head of tourist sites and protected areas in the eastern region of Burundi, on Tuesday, October 18, 2022, during an interview with a check in Rutana by ABP.
Mr. Manirakiza confessed that the number of tourists visiting those places has increased considerably this year, after a sharp drop in them had been recorded since the appearance of the Covid 19 pandemic in Burundi.
Mr. Manirakiza expressed a wish to see the number of visitors increase. To achieve this, he proposed to put labels on each of the trees that attract the attention of visitors, to show their names and make it easier for tourists to see and know for themselves. Signs should be placed next to each waterfall, showing its name and the reason for its choice, and the existing stairs should be rehabilitated to facilitate visitors to move around without difficulty.
Nevertheless, the personnel in charge of the protection of these areas encounter various problems, he pointed out. With the increase in population, many bushes near these places have been destroyed, including people seeking to obtain arable land.
Therefore, they come to look for firewood in those protected areas. While some craftsmen come to look for trees in those areas to make their art objects, there are others who enter to look for kinds of trees that serve them as medicine. Despite these observations, Mr. Manirakiza pointed out that the number of guardians of these spaces is very small, i.e., 6 over an area of 142 hectares.