Photo: Yoweri K Museveni @KagutaMuseveni Kampala — In months leading to Kanye and Kim's visit to Uganda, a number of options had been tabled before the couple eventually settled for Uganda.
South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda in that order had been tossed in the mix as first choice countries. However, the scouts found something or two to cancel them out.
If it was not about the overly booked hotels, it was about certain features that the rapper wanted to have in his video
Finally, the dice which had lastly cancelled out Rwanda, fell on Uganda as the last option.
Indeed unlike, Rwanda, the couple's scouts and a marketing agency found all the features they wanted for a music video that Kenye West is currently working on.
The rapper wanted to feature animals in the wild, an equatorial forest, a fresh mass of water and real black people in a true African environment.
According to sources familiar with the matter at Uganda Tourism Board Kanye and Kim Kadeshian's visit to Uganda had been known for over a month but it was kept a top secret until his team landed in the country.
Pictures of the rapper and his reality TV celebrity wife were first shared through government sources including State House, Uganda Tourism Board and Security.
Actually, many Ugandans had thought it was a bad rumour spread by agents of fake news.
"We knew about the coming of Kanye [for] more than a month. But we kept it a top secret until the couple arrived here," a source at UTB, who asked not be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media, told Daily Monitor.
Kanye West, the source said, had been destined for South Africa but could not get a hotel to accommodate his entourage.
"The next option was to come to East Africa - and Kenya was chosen - but also hotels and lodges that could accommodate him were all booked. The scouts tried Tanzania and Rwanda but could not find the features they wanted," the source added.
Finally, Uganda was chosen, ushering in one of the country's top dollar tourism exploit in more than five years.
His visit was only known to a few people but arrangements had been made silently to accommodate his crew of about 45 people.
The crew comprised of air flight assistants, media, film crew and a line of other assistants.
Kanye and Kim are a big brand and undoubtably, Uganda milked and will continue to milk from the duo's fame for years to come.
Uganda, which hosted the couple for about four days, must have been the biggest achiever in terms of tourism publicity but Chobe, tour operators, media, filming crews and transporters, among others were the real top dollar earners in this case.
The couple toured around and spent nearly a week here, which attracted the attention of both local and international media.
Ending up in Uganda
Whereas many have claimed that the First Family had a hand in Kanye and Kim's visit, it there is no information to show that the duo were here on anyone's invitation.
Kanye, sources at UTB say, was here to shoot his video and visit around where possible.
It is believed the presence of exceptional features attracted Kanye to Uganda and no amount of invitations would have done better.
Therefore, unless otherwise, there is no proof that anyone invited Kanye.
The tour was captured widely and their moments at Chobe Lodge, a resort setting on River Nile, must have received some of the largest publicity in Uganda in recent years.
The American rapper has promised to build a tourism school that will likely boost tourism in Uganda.
In a media briefing, Steven Asiimwe, the UTB chief executive officer, said Uganda does not match other countries in East Africa in terms of tourism investment, which relegates it to hiring expertise from other countries.
Therefore, he said, a tourism school would be the ultimate knockout to rented expertise from other countries.
