Africa has for long been synomous with wilderness and thus wildlife attractions. However, the major tour destinations on the continent were those countries fairly stable politically and those that had better road networks and good infrastructure especially in terms of hotels, safari lodges and other accommodation facilities. This meant that only a few countries among the so many African countries could reap from tourism because virtually almost all African countries were facing civil strive or wars of some kind. In addition to hampering tourists, these wars meant many of the wildlife that should have been protected were either being killed for food by the rebels or being driven to extinction as their habitats were being destroyed by the war.

It was only countries like Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe in the south and Egypt (Cultural and historical sites), Morocco and Tunisia in the north that were reaping from tourism.

However, this is changing as there are other countries that are emerging and playing a playing an important role as far as world tourism is concerned. This is due to a number of factors most notable of which is the increase in political stability in many regions of Africa. Among these countries are Uganda; which is known for having a high concentration of Wildlife with over 10 protected areas in an area the size of the British Isle. It also has over half the number of recorded bird species in Africa, that is about 1000 bird species making it a birders paradise. Another of these countries is Rwanda which used to be a added on destination for those visiting Kenya and Tanzania. This is due mainly to the fact that mountain gorillas are endemic only to Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic republic of Congo. Mountain gorilla tracking tours are a major tourism activity in uganda, Rwanda and Congo. This fetches Rwanda millions of dollars annually ranking among the top three traditional foreign exchange earners such as coffee and cotton. These two countries are seeing an increased number of tourists annually and with the increase in the number of hotels and safari lodges in the national parks coupled with increased marketing by the respective governments this is bound to continue.

The marketing of tourism is not only being done by the government, both local and international tour operators such as African Secrets offering Uganda safari, gorilla tour and wildlife tours and market the tourism potential of these countries. It is not uncommon to find these tour operators in many of the world travel markets marketing their tourism products from wildlife to adventure tour activities. These companies pay top dollars to get a stand in these travel markets and their products are varied. For a good, well planned travel package to these destinations it is important to book through any of these tour operators who can easily be found on the internet so as to maximize on the different tour attractions in the region.

And for those interested in doing a tour of the whole of Africa, there are a number of companies willing to arrange these travel packages. For a start, for those willing to visit Uganda and Rwanda  there are tour operators offering Uganda Safari, gorilla safari, and Rwanda Safari

other major attractions to East Africa include

1. Serengeti safari
2. Ngorongoro safari
3. Lake Manyara national park
4. Wilde beest migration