Community holidays and volunteering, Uganda
| country: | Uganda |
| location: | Fort portal near Kibale Forest |
| departures: | This trip can be tailormade at a time to suit you and can be adapted to suit your interests, budget and requirements as necessary |
| price: | From US $10 (camp) - US $14 (homestead) per person per night accommodation only |
the amazing things you'll be doing
This is a community owned venture run by the youth but delivering and donating benefits to the entire local community, which consists of around one hundred families of the same tribe (Bakonzo people, speaking the Lhukonzo language). A range of activities are available, from walks, climbing over the hills and rolling down the valleys with views of the snow covered peaks of Rwenzori mountains, to traditional weaving and dance performances. You may also choose to spend time volunteering in the local community.
Activities include:
Village and forest tours Cultural experiences such as traditional dances & cultural nights Craft demonstrations & handicrafts in the craft making school Meet storytellers, our blacksmith & a traditional healer We have markets for agro produce & crafts Walks to other villages, over hills and down valleys, with views of the peaks
Volunteering: We also place community development volunteers and accommodate them for some time around the center to support other skills development programs at the center. You may choose to get involved in skills training and knowledge exchange or planting trees.
a homestead, where visitors stay with a local family a basic camp with small traditional huts and a tin roofed house
In the homestead, they have solar power and organic food. The facilities have mobile solar showers that are put out in the sun and then hung up in the bathroom at the time of showers.
Accommodation is camping in a level, fenced, secure garden. We are also in contact with other affordable lodges that accommodate people who want to visit but sleep in proper rooms. Two rooms are available for indoor dormitory. We have a restaurant, bar, a library and resource center. Choose between self catering or using our restaurant. Our showers are refilled with manually heated water and we have dry compost toilets. The nearest airport is Kasese Air strip. Most visitors land in Entebbe and travel by road through Kampala fort portal and then to the campsite in Kasese district. It is 400km from Kampala city.
Activities include:
Volunteering: We also place community development volunteers and accommodate them for some time around the center to support other skills development programs at the center. You may choose to get involved in skills training and knowledge exchange or planting trees.
accommodation
There are two accommodation options: In the homestead, they have solar power and organic food. The facilities have mobile solar showers that are put out in the sun and then hung up in the bathroom at the time of showers.
Accommodation is camping in a level, fenced, secure garden. We are also in contact with other affordable lodges that accommodate people who want to visit but sleep in proper rooms. Two rooms are available for indoor dormitory. We have a restaurant, bar, a library and resource center. Choose between self catering or using our restaurant. Our showers are refilled with manually heated water and we have dry compost toilets. The nearest airport is Kasese Air strip. Most visitors land in Entebbe and travel by road through Kampala fort portal and then to the campsite in Kasese district. It is 400km from Kampala city.
how this holiday makes a difference
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The land belongs to the youth group who run it. The youth who run the center are paid a salary by the youth group and the money saved is used to support such development activities of the group. All profits are used on community development projects including running a resource center, a tree nursery that donated trees to the community, donating scholastics and clothes to the children, women education and other skills trainings. The center plans to start a child scholarship project by the end of 2007.
We organise garbage collection and recycling, aimed at improving hygiene. The showers are refilled with manually heated water and dry compost toilets are used. Trees are planted for natural forest regeneration. Support comes in form of markets for the agro produce or crafts, skills training and knowledge exchange, employment, donation of clothes and other scholastic equipment to the children. Sometimes tourists donate to the children’s groups, some of whom perform the traditional dances. Guests provide voluntary labour such as training, planting a tree, exchange of useful skills with groups of the center during training or community meetings. Money from guests supports training skills and volunteers support the center. We also practise sustainable organic handicraft production for culture conservation. We employ local guides, dancers, craft makers and trainers, storytellers, blacksmith, traditional healer. Travellers are invited to participate in different cultural activities so that they can experience more than the ordinary tourists. The community has about one hundred families of the same tribe (Bakonzo people speaking Lhukonzo Language). Our walks also cross into other villages.  This holiday is part of the responsibletravel.com and Conservation International Community Based Tourism Programme to support and promote community based tourism ventures that offer significant conservation and development benefits to local communities. To see other community based tourism holidays and find out more about the programme click here. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |