Nyundo Community Eco Trails

Cultural Tours always complement most wildlife safaris in Uganda and a tourist visiting Buhoma sector for a gorilla trekking tour can make the trip complete by participating in cultural encounters within the Nyundo Community Eco Trails. Tourists that take their time to visit Nyundo Village get the chance to participate in this Trail where a number of activities such as visiting the traditional healer, preparing local dishes and visiting the village blacksmith are expected to be enjoyed.

Nyundo residents are one of the first people to experience the effects of climate Change whereby most of the locals in this area practiced farming on the steep hillsides of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest much as they had suffered changes in rain patterns, forest mist and severe soil erosion  making plants to begin failing.

It is for this reason that the local community members decided to develop a Project to enable them conserve and preserve the land to respond to the challenges that were faced. One of the initiatives was to allow the forest to re-grow and from that time, the trees have grown back and the mist that used to be with Nyundo also returned.

When you visit the local community, you will discover how the residents go by their daily activities. Also, tourists have the opportunity of learning a number of local skills such as making of yoghurt locally, ghee making, millet bread (kalo) preparation and craft making. Guided village walks in the area also lead tourists to the traditional herbalist (local doctor) that treats people with mainly herbal medicine in addition to the traditional midwife (birth attendant). Tourists take part in grinding the millet (using local stones) and mingling into fine millet bread (kalo) as well as preparing the sauce that will eventually be enjoyed for lunch.

preparation of Kalo

The walk allows tourists to encounter and interact with the local community members and also learn about their way of life and probably share some ideas. Also, you will hike along the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo to relish the breathtaking views of the nearby waterfalls and the famous King’s bath place. You next stop will be at the workshop of the blacksmiths who makes different tools or objects like saucepans, spears, knives and others by heating metals in local furnaces. These walks also involve visiting the cattle farms to learn about how these animals are grazed and milked but also get the chance to visit the beekeepers and be amazed by how honey is harvested. Also, tourists explore the banana and waragi distillery as well as the vast well tilled banana plantations.

This community-based project also puts a lot of emphasis on the development and use of sustainable Agriculture, mitigating poaching and logging in addition to increasing income of the locals which will in the long run contribute to the conservation of the ancient Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. It is very obvious that the tourism sector has improved the livelihood of the locals and provided alternative sources of income for abandoned farmlands so as to allow the forest to re-grow and also contribute to the conservation of the local environment. You will discover that all the local community members are direct beneficiaries of the Nyundo Community Eco-Trail thus majority of the revenues derived from the activities are retained by the locals. Besides that, cultural practices of the people are maintained through the songs and dance performances, preparation of traditional cuisines and traditional healing.

In addition to the exhilarating activities offered to tourists, the project funds and manages an adult-literacy program that also owns a well-stocked Library and offers adult literacy classes for the locals. This means that income of more than 30 members have increased but also benefited more than 200 people within the village