Plans to set up a community eco-lodge in Kisoro near the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park were rather cloudy. It has taken close to eight years for the sky to clear and Uganda’s first eco-lodge is now reaping big from its leap of faith. On January 16, Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge won the first runner-up investor award. The investors, Uganda Safari Company, won not just for the high-end lodge that they built next to Bwindi National Park, but more especially for their involvement with the local community. 

Clouds Lodge was built as a partnership between The Uganda Safari Company and the Africa Wildlife Foundation through the International Gorilla Conservation Programme. The ultimate goal of the project is to protect the natural habitat of the mountain gorilla and also directly benefit the community of Nkuringo. Today, the nearby communities of Nteko and Rubugiri are running income generating projects with support from this gorilla eco-tourism lodge.

Long before the idea of an eco-lodge was born, Nkuringo residents thought of their ape neighbours as a nuisance because the gorillas spent 60 percent of the time outside the park raiding gardens. The people hated the gorillas and plotted ways to kill them off. Good neighbourliness is crucial for the conservation of the mountain gorilla and its habitat and this was not the case in Nkuringo. There was an increased risk of disease transmission and indeed the gorillas contracted scabies in mid 2000. That same year, a committee was set up to focus and recommend the best option on how to enhance tourism for the Nkuringo gorillas. Negotiations between Uganda Wildlife Authority and the landowners near the forest actually resulted into availability of more land. The landowners offered 350 metres from their park boundary into their land for the gorillas. In return, they would benefit from gorilla tourism. A total of 160 families were affected and these were compensated over $500,000.

All that was remaining after that was a tourism development plan. UWA, a team of local leaders and other conservationist organizations recommended that a community eco-lodge for up-market tourists be built.  They planned to get an experienced private partner to manage the lodge under a community-private partner joint venture. The communities of Nteko and Rubugiri, with support, formed a company known as Nkuringo Conservation and Development Foundation (NCDF). NCDF secured a partnership with UWA to have a concession for gorilla tracking permits in Nkuringo gorillas group. A 10-year concession was granted by UWA to NCDF for the right to six gorilla tracking permits and an agreement was signed in August 2004. With support from the International Gorilla Conservation Project and African Wildlife Foundation, funds to set up the lodge were raised. NCDF advertised for a private partner to co-fund construction and manage the lodge on their behalf. Through a competitive process, Uganda Safaris Company Limited (USCL) won the award to develop and manage the eco-lodge. USCL injected in $1.3 dollars into the construction of the lodge which took one year. In August 2008, Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge, a 10-bedroomed lodge, opened for business. “It’s probably among the top five wildlife products in Africa and possibly the world,” said Jonathan Wright, Managing Director, USCL.

Clouds lodge is outstanding for its privacy, stone cottages and fireplaces. There is a lush botanical garden, a cozy library, and great views of the Virungas in Rwanda and on clear nights, the glow of Nyiragongo Volcano in Congo.

Besides gorilla tracking and the raw beauty of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, guests can go mountain biking along the ridge, take forest walks and meet the forests guardians - the Batwa. Bwindi Forest, a UNESCO world heritage site also has duikers, elephants, bushbuck, bush pig, giant forest hog and the elusive golden cat. More than 35 species of birds have been recorded.

Uganda Safaris has a 10 year concession to market the permits and manage the lodge.

Previously, tourists would visit the gorillas and leave on the same day to spend a night in Kisoro town or other lodges. Now there is a lodge in Nkuringo and tourists stay longer and visit craft shops, take village walks and spend some money and donate to the community. Community benefits from the lodge are already impressive just five months after the lodge got operational. For every guest, the community gets $30 dollars.

The lodge has 70 local staff.  Pigs are being distributed to all the people. One Asian family left $1,000 dollars to buy clothes for orphans, four tourists have offered education to four orphans up to university. Uganda Safaris is in the process of setting up a chicken farm for the Batwa. “This money is used to start commercial projects, everybody was skeptical about it but community tourism can work and is working,” said Mike Rourke, group general manager, USCL.

“This has transformed the most impoverished communities,” said Wright. “We can’t be the entire solution but we can change mindsets and work attitudes and how people progress and go forward.”

There are no more fights between the gorillas and the people of Nkuringo, and they are living in harmony as nature had intended it to be.

Clockwise from top left: Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge; the lodge’s site in Nkuringo; the interior; the patio; Nkuringo residents.

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