Filming in the national parks
Uganda is a landlocked country with a population of 48,598,667 and sharing the biggest water body of Victoria with Kenya and Tanzania but Uganda is blessed with a diversified tourism industry where the climate is good, landscapes are favorable in the different national parks giving both the journalists and filmmakers an opportunity to produce a variety of documentaries on the Ugandan national parks. Before getting access to the national park to do the filming, you have to get media cards which are got from the media center for the different filming crews you will be going with, and a permit to the national parks.
Uganda Wildlife Authority manages the 10 national parks in order to get access to the parks, you will have to get a contract from the Authority and also pay some fees to access the national parks. These 10 natural parks include;
- Murchison Falls National Park
- Queen Elizabeth National Park
- Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
- Rwenzori National Park
- Kidepo Valley National Park
- Lake Mburo National Park
- Semuliki Valley National Park
- Mount Elgon National Park
- Kibale Forest National Park
- Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Vibrant Holiday Safari can assist in organizing your filming exercise fees and permission to film in the National park. We can also organize all the pre-production activities like filming permits, accommodation, transport, media cards, assigning the right fixers for your shoot, and also clearing the shooting equipment into the country.
Media cards/press accreditation cards
All the media crews that will be doing the filming must have since it is a gate pass to the different national parks in order to do the filming. These cards are valid about 30 days to two years from the date they were issued.
The card is given to a member after filling in a form given to him/her by the media center along with the passport and passport photos. The group will have to send a piece of detailed information on the intended film shot in Uganda for a given period of time.
The fee for the media cards for each crew member is as follows;
- US$175 per person is paid for a period not exceeding 30 days of the journalist’s stay.
- US$225 Per person is paid for a period beyond 30 days for six months of the stay.
- US$325 per person is paid for the period of two years,
After approval by the Uganda media center, we will send the necessary requirements and also secure the permits for all the crew members allowing you to carry out filming in Uganda National parks and this must be done before you start carrying out the filming.
Location Permit
This must be acquired before the filming starts though it is hard since it requires a lot of paperwork Vibrant Holiday Safaris is here to assist you to get the permits to go and shoot in the national parks.
The crew members are allowed to film in the national parks with the locational permits given to them since the parks are managed by the Uganda Wildlife Authority so after paying the 40% filming fee, and the 10% monitoring fee, which are all payable at the Uganda Wildlife offices that is when you will be given a contract in order to append your signature in agreement on the terms and conditions governing the shooting of films in the national parks.
Once all the documentation and payments are done, the crew will go ahead to do the filming in the park and there is a refundable fee which the crew is to pay of US$1000 to the Uganda Wildlife Authority which is later given back to the filmmakers after two copies of the film shot are given to UWA for educational and non-profit making purpose.
When you need an aerial view of the national parks, you will contact Civil Aviation Authority and the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Force to give you the legally binding contract to sign and also give permits.
The UWA officials will be happy if feedback will be given after the filming process is done and the quality of service provided so that the report can also be sent to the communication center manager.