Blogs Archives - Ruboni Community Tourism Camp

The Bakonzo are the indigenous tribe on the foothills of Rwenzori Mountains. try the traditional cooking tour and you will understand alot about this unique culture. It is an ethnic tribe that extends up to Congo, with the majority of their tribesmen living across the boarder; called the Banande.

The Bakonzo people have a custom of living on the hills. They do all their works up there from farming, grazing, building and some times hunting in those old days.

Visitors to Ruboni always wonder how the people build houses, farm or climb these mountains throughout their life. If you ever wondered how the Bakonzo people cook their daily meals, then this Traditional cooking tour is an opportunity for you to learn and even participate in cooking one or several of their meals. It is all organized in this out-of-the-world cooking experience with the indigenous tribe members.

The Bakonzo being more attached to Congo than to Uganda, their food, dances, language and all other life aspects differ a lot from those of other tribes in Uganda. Their food is unique too. You will understand why doing this cooking experience and other activities. In this 2-5 hour coming experience, the guest will learn how to grow harvest, prepare, cook and eat one local meal. The prices for the experience includes eating on the meal for your lunch/ dinner

So you know, I want to give you the following hints, so that you have an idea on the Bakonzo foods before participating in the tour.

As the culture has evolved and there has been exchange between other cultures, the Bakonzo now eat all other foods including the rice, Irish potatoes, maize, G-nuts, other fruits and vegetables. As you interact with the local people during the experience, you will also learn that the Bakonzo used to have original varieties of these other foods that were accustomed to growing in the hills without application of chemicals. However, these varieties are no longer common. The local people now depend on growing improved varieties.

None the less, the Bakonzo still attempt to grow most of their food ingredients. With the effects of climate change, some ingredients that cant grow locally at the homes are bought from the next villages or local markets. very little on their daily menu is imported from other countries.

How to join the traditional cooking tour

this tour is suited for guests staying in the Ruboni village. it can be done in full or in different levels, the levels include; harvesting, food preparation, cooking or serving the food. all stages are dine in the traditional way including serving the food.

For those willing to participate, it is easy to book this tour. Contact the community visitors center through this website, specifying that you want to participate in the cooking experience. at booking time, it is important to say any specific interest you have in the cooking tour. you can also specify the kind of sauce or ingredients you like to cook. otherwise the chef will select the meal to be cooked based on availability and the information they will have got from you.

what is included in the cooking tour?

the payment made for the tour includes purchase of the ingredients, the experience, participating in the activity, the interpretation and a meal for the person participating. all the inputs of this tour are sourced locally. The money spent on food ingredients, and the services all stay within the community making this experience very sustainable.

If you have been wondering how you can plant a tree during your travel around Uganda, this post answers all your doubts. Yes, it is possible and you can physically plant trees in Ruboni village without any complication.

If you have any time starting from 30 minutes, and 20 US dollars, you can plant up to 50 trees. Besides, campers can get free camping in a secure and clean ground with toilets and showers as part of the price, just to pay for meals. This enables you to come and visit or stay to plant trees at only 20USD, per person

The campground where tree planters stay has a local restaurant where you can buy local food. for those who want to comfort accommodation, you can stay at Ruboni community Camp, or choose from the many lodges in Ruboni village, ranging from luxury to shoe string.

This hands-on tree planting experience is your ultimate way to contribute to offset the carbon footprint of travel and other human activities. It has been well organized, that anybody can plant trees. The seedlings are ready, the guide waiting to take you and the garden already prepared by the farmers. No forms need to be filled or any bureaucracy.

Even the shortest time available on your trip schedule will allow you to participate in tree planting. Yes, this is a rural community way and yet the most successful way of planting trees. We are restoring the degraded landscapes, and you will have a chance to contribute to this restoration movement. Besides the planting of trees, you will definitely learn a lot, from the conservation experience Ruboni Village has acquired over 20 years.

For us to succeed in restoring mother earth, We just need to go out and plant trees, and this is your opportunity. The only requirement you have is, adding Ruboni village-Rwenzori Mountains, on your trip, and sparing at least 20$ for this activity.

Adding Rwenzori and Ruboni village on your trip is simple. The village is located on your way to Queen Elizabeth National Park from Kibale National park or the other way round. Spare a minimum of 30 minutes in Ruboni village and the hardest part is done.

after adding Ruboni on your trip, Join the community today or when you visit Ruboni village. It is simple, visit, get the tree and plant it on the land that needs it now. Since trees are planted outdoors, you will need to trek during the activity. This walk is covered in the activity price and you wont need any other entrance fees. The distance you trek will depend on your choice. Long or short, high or low.

You may trek to the high hills, short hills or on the plains. This all depends on your ability, time and interest. The price for the experience remains the same even when you choose to do the most challenging tree planting adventure. On arrival, our staff will brief you about everything to help you decide on what to do.

You will realize that it is actually very easy to plant trees than you thought when you follow the farmers and plant trees with them in a short time. We have the seedlings ready. You can choose either a tree species that is indigenous to Rwenzori or fruit trees.

Planting trees is a process. This process can be fully done by nature or partially by people and animals. The process starts from the seed, to the seedling, to the garden and to the mature tree. The households and community members involvement determines how successful or unsuccessful the seed will turn into a tree.

Alongside with the visitors buying this tour, many community members are involved in the tree planting project with or without the visitors. The day to day activities of the tree planting activity include seed collection, nursery preparation, seedlings rising, Transportation of seedlings, tree planting, and tending to the trees for at least three years until they suppress the weeds. You can pay for all these by a single small fee; the price of this tour.

You will meet the community tree planter, who will explain how the people are impacting the environment thought their daily life, and what Ruboni community is doing to mobilize community contributions to the process of tree planting.

As you enjoy the Rwenzori climate and landscapes during the tour, the guide will explain how the landscapes have changed over time. Finally, you will reach the selected garden plant the seedlings and return to your lodge.

The benefits from this tour go back to the local community. All the money paid for this experience is used to facilitate the tree planting activities by paying the labor, transportation, seed collection, buying/ rising seedlings, paying the farmers who have scarified their land for tree planting.

The digital trend in tourism is becoming a real movement. It is taking the show everywhere in the world. This is deep, especially as experienced and young travelers have taken a long leap into technology. As everyone in the tourism world goes digital, Ruboni could not wait to join the movement, by adding her tourist attractions on open Street map.

It was an insightful step of the journey, as Ruboni village members saw the mapping process unfolding for their village, on the Open Street Map. Most tourism stakeholders have been active for a full year, finding, exploring, and posting Ruboni tourism features and attractions on this digital map.

Ruboni is a small village located in the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains, in Kasese district, Western Uganda. This village is drained by River Mubuku as it flows from the Rwenzori Mountains on its journey to Lake George in Queen Elizabeth National Park then heads to join the Kazinga channel, lake Edward, and Semuliki River heading to join the Albert Nile.

Before the idea of mapping came up, the local tourism players struggled in different directions, trying to increase the visibility of their village in the tourism market. Over the years, road signs have been planted, brochures printed, and websites made. These yielded but only a small margin of guest numbers. The story of Ruboni didn’t get to the world as much as it should.

We know where the reason for none visibility could be coming from. lack of proper pulicity and promotion, that is well answered by the mapping project in several ways. Originally, Ruboni was only known for being The Base Camp for tourists trekking the Rwenzori Mountains through the Nyakalengijo central circuit trail leading to Margarita Peak.

Ruboni Community Camp is the pioneer of community tourism in this area, and most tourism enterprises look up to it for leads in the market and service provision. This is either by sharing its staff, trainees, products, or initiatives. You could tell by learning that most of the other tourism enterprises that have formed have a linkage to Ruboni Community Camp in one way or the other.

In the year 2005, Ruboni village residents started community tourism initiatives. This was to lure tourists to stay longer in the village before and after trekking the Rwenzori Mountains. This local community tourism initiative started with one campground, and one village walk. 15 years down the road, Ruboni village was boasting over ten lodges, five village tours, and other tourist centers and offices. This has all been done with the main stakeholder being Rwenzori Mountains National Park, The major attraction in the area.

At one point, It was necessary that all other tourism businesses and enterprises should be able to fetch visitors directly from outside the village rather than depending on Ruboni Community Camp efforts. This is the point when the idea of mapping started forming in the minds of the local tourism players. This was a mission to change the old tune to ensure that there is more inclusiveness and full community involvement in community tourism. This team of thinkers chose to consolidate the entire village’s tourism potential and to sell it as one. Ruboni Community Conservation and Development Program (RCCDP), the founder of Ruboni Community Camp has been the leader in nurturing this idea for one year since May 2022.

The recognition of Ruboni tourism village potential by The Best Tourism Villages of UNWTO, in 2021 was the gateway to hatching the consolidation idea. This recognition was a result of the joint efforts by several stakeholders including; Ruboni Tourism Village, Uganda Community Tourism Association (UCOTA), Kasese District Local Government (KDLG), The Ministry of Tourism Wildlife and Antiquities (MTWA), and the local tourism players. Shortly after, as the village was participating in the UNWTO exchange programs with other like-villages around the world, Open Street Mapping came top on the list of priorities.

Ruboni Tourism Village has therefore had to go digital. The first step was taken in May 2022, when the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) and East and South African Hub (ESA HUB) provided technical and financial support under a one-year partnership. The project; Mapping Ruboni village tourism attractions; accommodations, tourist trails, and tourism centers, on Open Street map to enhance their visitation and competitiveness in regional tourism has been implemented under this partnership.

This addition of Ruboni on open street mapp has been a manifestation of small beginnings and innovations leading to changing the entire game. The results of mapping are already making life very easy for the whole lot of travelers, and village residents. The youth are now aware of their tourism development roles, all tourist businesses are able to add themselves to the map and other digital promotion tools, and the tourism players are now able to collectively solve their tourism marketing challenges. Travelers have started navigating this part of the region with ease and we anticipate that the numbers will grow with time. The inclusion on the Open street map is enabling travelers to find the travel goodies hidden in this Rwenzori foothills village, off the Kasese – fort portal road.

It cannot be overemphasized that Fort Portal – Kasese Road is the ideal route for travelers who want to explore a true Ugandan heritage in nature, scenery, and culture. It runs north and south of the Albertine rift valley. This makes it one of the leading tourist routes in Uganda and a key part of most trips running between Queen Elizabeth and Kibale National Parks. This Positions Ruboni Village in a strategic tourism location

The Albertine is a hotspot of Uganda’s key National parks. This road, therefore, connects Albertine’s tourism potential. It connects seven of ten of Uganda’s National Parks; Murchison falls, Kibale, Semuliki, Rwenzori, Queen Elizabeth, Bwindi, and to the far south, Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks. Besides the many wildlife parks, this route connects a whole lot of cultures in close to 20 tribes in three kingdoms/ regions of Kigezi, Rwenzori, Tooro, and Bunyoro.

It is evident that the digital inclusion of Ruboni Community Camp, tourism village and such a rich tourism mix was way overdue. By now, we can confirm that the addition of the village on the open street map has brought to light, another great holiday and livelihood opportunity making it easy and a great reason for every responsible traveler to visit this part of the country.

As you may be aware, the Ruboni tourism village was selected by UNWTO as one of the top 20 villages with the potential to become an outstanding top-tier rural tourism destination. UNWTO chose Ruboni to undergo an upgrade program to help the village achieve its full sustainability potential. We are currently working so hard to use this opportunity to make Ruboni a “Best tourism village” to the UNWTO standard.

Upon seeing the news, Many friends and supporters of Ruboni have been wondering or even asking us how they can support us to make it to the top. Now I have the answer, we need to join hands and work together as lovers, beneficiaries, and supporters of Ruboni Village. This is how each one of our friends and supporters can contribute to the success of Ruboni tourism village by enabling us to get to the top of the UNWTO criteria.

Introduction

Ruboni tourism village is excited to explore the opportunities provided by the UNWTO under the best tourism villages program. One of the ways the village is looking to focus on is by building local and international partnerships. This will enable the village to carry out product development, implement sustainable tourism, and increase visitor numbers and visitor satisfaction. When the visitor number to Ruboni village can increase, the village will be able to benefit from the resulting incomes; some of which will be reinvested in tourism, conservation, and local development initiatives.

Background

In 2021, Ruboni village was selected and recognized by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) as one of the top 20 villages with the potential to become an outstanding top-tier rural tourism destination. UNWTO chose Ruboni to undergo an upgrade program to help the village achieve its full sustainability potential.

As a result, Ruboni Village is currently participating in the UNWTO best tourism villages upgrade program, to be able to cover the gaps identified during the selection. After the successful completion of the upgrade, Ruboni village will be required to apply again with the hope that the village can get recognition as the best tourism village.

Ruboni tourism village recently attended the UNWTO general meeting. During this meeting, we also kick-started the mentorship program. This mentorship program conducted by Professor Joseph Mbaiwa and supported by UNWTO best tourism villages will see Ruboni set strategic goals and activities to cover the existing sustainability gaps as a way to meet the UNWTO sustainability standards of the best tourism villages initiative.

Problem/ challenge

Ruboni is a remote mountain village where the majority of the people never travel outside their village. Lack of exposure affects this village’s awareness levels, mindset, and attitude about tourism, conservation, and community development. It also leads to an inability to meet guest expectations in relation to sustainability and customer satisfaction in many service areas ranging from product development, reservations management, guest services, and all other aspects.

We intend to explore exposure and training programs for a cross-section of community members including the service providers, local government leaders, and key village residents of Ruboni tourism village. This will best be done through local study trips, international partnerships, exchange programs, and technology enhancement through computer and internet access by the local residents.

On our goal of creating international partnerships, we have one opportunity we want to explore. We intend to attend an international event organized by the Municipality of San Ginesio, Italy – 14-16 July 2023 that will take place in Italy. This event will be attended by all the Best Tourism Villages network members across the world. These include the best tourism villages, tourism ministries of the countries where they come from and all villages under the upgrade program.

Solution:

We intend to send two people from Ruboni to attend the event; The Ruboni tourism village coordinator as the focal person and the village mayor. The event will involve local tours, networking sessions, and a B2B session aimed at creating synergies for global partnerships and exchange programs between the different Best Tourism Villages worldwide.

On this trip to attend the networking event in San Ginesio, Italy – 14-16 July 2023, We have so far acquired the invitation for the two participants from the municipality of San Ginesio. Local transportation, hotels, and event attendance are also already covered.

How you can help

We are lacking two return flight tickets for two village representatives to attend. It is in this particular area we need support from well-wishers and supporters to enable Ruboni Village to send the intended two representatives. The tickets and associated costs will be 2500$.

During the event, the Ruboni village representatives will participate in the tours, networking sessions, and a B2B event aimed at developing international partnerships and exchange programs between the different governments and tourism villages. We are particularly interested in creating a staff exchange program targeting the youth so that we can create learning and practicing opportunities in a cross-section of tourism, conservation, and development careers.

The last time we held a tree-planting event was in October 1919. By then, it was a culture to collectively plant some trees as a community every year. This initiative enabled the Ruboni community to reforest tens of acres in the Buraru forest landscape and other communities outside of Rwenzori Mountains National park.

In 2020, when covid19 set in, it shuttered our annual tree-planting dream. Like everything was closed for two years, convergence as a community was also banned. It was through collective community work that we used to plant trees. There was no way; we would plant trees without creating a crowd. 2020 was a candle of hope blown off for our conservation project through tree planting.

Along with closing crowds, our tourism business, the largest contributor to tree planting, was also closed for almost two years. This further disturbed us when we realized that we can’t even raise one coin to facilitate the tree-planting activity. When tourism started to open up in 2021, our hope woke up, that maybe one day; we shall have the joy of raising some money, getting partners and planting trees again.

In 2022, our dream got closer. We kept promising ourselves and the other community members that we will plant trees. This was even before we had the money and partners. Luckily, in the course of the year, we received some partnership opportunities. Along with that, we had started receiving guests and our debts were getting manageable, meaning our dream was getting closer. July and August 2022 were the wake-up months for our tree-planting dream. We got two partners willing to join hands on tree planting. these two important meetings were held at the Ruboni community camp. This meant that the time had come and we were set to resume our annual tree-planting event.

7^th October 2022 has been the first time to plant trees collectively again, since the emergence of covid19. It was a landmark day and a rare opportunity for the community to get together for the environment. This was the rebirth of the tree-planting events. It is a day worth celebrating and remembering in our story of tree planting and forest conservation. Indeed, this event opened a series of tree planting days that will take place through the month of November 2022 while we still receive the rains. We intend to plant up to 15000 trees in the Ruboni community forest by the end of the month.

This is how the tree planting day went;

We took mobilization through public places such as churches, trading centres and interpersonal word-of-mouth communication. A simple poster was developed and distributed in these channels. The poster was also shared on Facebook and several WhatsApp groups. In the end, 50 people attended the event. Of the 50, 19 were women, 31 were men and 39 were youth. In total 3800 trees were planted in a vanity of four indigenous species

Logistics:

The logistics were simply getting the team of locals to do the voluntary roles. We provided facilitation for some activities, but 90% of the organization work was done freely by the local youth tourist guides. We partnered with the community visitor centre to hold the seedlings, host us and prepare the meals.

During the tree planting event, we offered meals and refreshments. In reality, a special meal was offered to welcome the local community members from the long day of planting

Most of the trail is not motorable. The seedlings were carried on the back. Using gunny bags and traditional straw baskets, the men and women carried the seedlings to the planting site, on a rugged journey. From the community visitor centre where the trees were stored, the 3km trail was all walked. It crosses river Mubuku and other small streams over the hills.

The rain at lunchtime:

Shortly after we finished planting and set foot at the community visitor centre, our converging point, then the rain started. It was a heavy downpour with the wind. It was as if to separate the planters from none planters. The planters were squeezed into one hut like the 12 disciples on Pentecost day. All people were locked in one hut under the dark atmosphere and the wind pressure. Our trees have gotten watered, was a statement made by everyone in the hut. Yes, the trees were just getting introduced to the new life that we had given them in the forest.

Lunch was served and it turned out to be the biggest lunch for all the planters. Most people eat but wished they had come with their families. After the meal, we listened to three speeches; from the coordinator of the project, the chairperson board of directors of Ruboni Community Conservation and Development Program (RCCDP) and the chairperson of the Local council one. This then marked the end of the day.

Women’s involvement in the event:

Everything important for a mother is super important for the community and nation. Indeed, whatever makes a mother put a baby down is a significant activity. This tree-planting event happened to be one of those few important activities. We were impressed when we saw a number of mothers put down their babies to carry big sacks of seedlings on the 3km trail heading to the planting area. Mothers likely already saw the need to plant trees, had missed the tree planting events very much or needed to put food on the table back home.

You can also be part of the future tree-planting fun next time.

This is fun that runs throughout the year through raising seedlings, planting trees and tending to them. The result is always the biggest of all. After about three years, the planters and communities can already walk under the canopy of the planted trees being celebrated by the birds and other wildlife.

Everyone can be part of this achievement and the fun of planting trees. Every year we have tree-planting events. These tree-planting events are run during the rainy seasons of April-May (the short rains) and August – November (the long rains). Between the rainy seasons, in the months of June, July and December to April, we are normally tending the trees to ensure they grow well. The tending activity includes; staking, weeding, watering or refilling the gaps of dried trees.

These non-planting months are the tourist peak seasons of the Rwenzori Mountains treks. We, therefore, invite travellers to participate in our tree-planting projects during their visit to Uganda and Rwenzori.

At this moment, there is nothing more important than conserving the environment. Planting trees and landscape restoration are one of the major conservation activities that we have chosen to take on in our communities. We are inviting well-wishers and partners to join us in this noble journey in the different ways below;

For further information, you can contact our tree planting coordinator who will give you more information

A team of youth guides from Ruboni village have recently taken a fact-finding tour on tourism product development. They toured the entire Rwenzori gateway for two days. This tour was on the 21st and 22nd of October 2022. It was to visit the existing and potential tourist attractions in the area.

Up and down the valleys of the scenic Rwenzori foothills, the team found a list of up to 25 potential tourist attractions. They were guided by the local leaders and residents. These newly found attractions will be added to supplement the traditional tourism activities of the area. The aim is to enrich the attractions and tourism potential of the Rwenzori Destination.

The Mapping initiative

The just-concluded tour was part of the Ruboni community’s involvement in the tourist attraction mapping activities. The mapping activity will see Ruboni village tourism attractions featured on the Open street map. This mapping activity is being supported by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT).

Under this mapping initiative, a team of local youth and tourism stakeholders have participated in a series of activities. The acrtivities include; collecting data, engaging stakeholders, and preparing the local tourist attractions of the Rwenzori gateway area. The attractions to be mapped include;

Besides actual mapping, the project has trained a number of youths and other tourism stakeholders how to map and/or edit data on the open street map.

Rwenzori Mountains destination

The Rwenzori Mountains are popular for the experience of trekking high mountains. However, as the industry grows, majority of the tourists seem to not able to make it to the mountains. Majority of the travelers don’t have the time, energy or budget to trek the high peaks. This leads to low destination visitation. Besides Trekking the Rwenzori Mountains, Ruboni community has started offering three village guided tours. these are; Ruboni hill climb trek, Ruboni forest walk and Ruboni village walk. These tours are mainly promoted to none climbers visiting the villages in the foothills.

Indeed many guests have found the Ruboni village guided tours interesting and a highlight of their Uganda tour. Only one challenge, these three tours can be done in only two days. As a result, guests have failed to stay longer when they fail what to do with more days during their stay. This is especially if they don’t want to go to the high peaks of Rwenzori. This is the reason for exploring more activities to offer to the tourists willing to stay longer in Ruboni village.

After this initiative of the youth, guests will now be able to stay longer in Ruboni village. During their stay, they will have the opportunity to explore these newly established cultural activities. In a few months, this map will be available online to guide all guest. It will be on the website of Ruboni community camp and other stakeholder platforms. The map will also be available in hard copies in the local shops within the village and around Uganda. An online APP will be created to supplement the map, for guests who will be using mobile gadgets during travel.

How a variety of tourism attractions will enhance stopovers and destination competitiveness

The establishment of more cultural encounters will definitely push the Ruboni community higher on the list of undiscovered destinations. The new attractions include;

The youth want guests to stay longer in Ruboni village. This is so that they can learn more about the local nature and culture of Rwenzori. When they stay long, they possibly spend more money into the local businesses. This will boost the local economy, create employment and reduce rural urban migration among the youth.

The location of Ruboni village gives it a plus in tourism potential. The location on the only tourist route (Kasese-Fortportal road) makes it is easy to reach Ruboni village destination, Their route runs through the Albertine rift linking over five national parks including;

Creation of tourism mapping partnerships

This fact-finding tour was a follow-up visit after several individual meetings with local government officials. The earlier visits were aimed at sensitizing the leaders about mapping the tourist attractions in the gateway. In those earlier meetings, Ruboni community discussed this tourism mapping initiative with a selection of officers. These said officers include the chairpersons LCIII, town agents, community development officers and other members of the councils, who overwhelmingly appreciated the idea and promised to cooperate.

During the meeting earlier before this visit, each council identified one representative to be the contact person in charge of the mapping project. It is with these representatives that our youth guides met and toured the areas of focus visiting the said tourist attraction. During the visit, the guides were impressed to find a wealth of attractions in the area.

Formally, Ruboni village has only marketed the Rwenzori trekking experience along the few village guided tours. Besides the trekking, the area has got a few lodges that provide accommodation to the staying guest. The main lodges, including Ruboni community camp the pioneer and leader in hospitality services. other lodges include, Equator snow lodge, Rwenzori turaco view camp, Tours holiday Inn, and Rwenzori Homestay

Rwenzori gateway and Ruboni tourism village

If you’re wondering what is the difference between the Rwenzori gateway and Ruboni tourism village, I will explain a little. The Rwenzori gateway is a bigger area where the Ruboni community village is located. The gateway is a consolidation of five local governments in a beautiful hilly landscape. The area includes three town councils and two sub-counties.

Guests going to Ruboni community drive through the Rwenzori gateway to the end where Ruboni community is located at the park gate. The gateway is a must-visit area for people who want to explore unique nature and culture in a rural setting. Being serviced by good marram roads, electricity and running water, it is an ideal holiday spot. The local community has put this area into one community tourism block called Ruboni tourism village. This way, all people going to the Rwenzori gateway, will be visiting Ruboni tourism village.

Tourism potential of Ruboni village

The name Ruboni means clean water. It comes from a local river that drains into river Mubuku next to the Nyakalengijo gate of Rwenzori Mountains National Park. This river was always believed to be clean and village members used to keep it clean and reserved it for drinking water before the taps and springs were constructed by the government. River Ruboni is located 1km before Nyakalengijo central circuit gate of Rwenzori Mountains National park; the oldest and most popular trail of this national park gives easier access to the high peaks of the Rwenzori Mountains including margarita peak. This makes Ruboni village the ideal starting point for every trek to the high peaks of the Rwenzori Mountains.

Ruboni tourism village is popular for agriculture due to the fertile soils on these hills and valleys supplemented by plenty of water sources. During your stay, you can be assured of local organic food ingredients. The mouthwatering delicious meals prepared by the local chefs will leave you puzzled when you stay at Ruboni community camp. Being inhabited by five tribes makes this gateway area a cultural hub where guests can experience different cultural encounters in one destination. The tribes that live here include; Bakonzo, Bakiga, Batoro, Bafumbira and Banyarwanda.

The best tourism village upgrade program of UNWTO

The tour and mapping activity will make Ruboni tourism village more prepared for the UNWTO tourism development intervention. Mapping is a best practice that has been identified in other tourism villages globally. With the map both in hard and soft copy, it will be easy for the guests to plan and explore their trips in the village. The increased activities will allow the visitors to stay longer, just like the increased room/ bed capacity will increase choice and confidence in the availability of accommodation at all times.

Besides mapping, the village will be branded and all attractions signposted. A series of local site training will follow this to the service providers through the local partnerships that will be established during and after this collective mapping project.

To know more about this youth tourism development initiative, the mapping activity and how to visit Ruboni tourism village during your safari in Uganda, please contact us at Ruboni community camp via email or WhatsApp: +256752503445

To make it easier for the traveler to find and explore Ruboni village and the Rwenzori mountains destination, Ruboni Community Conservation and Development Program (RCCDP) will map all the active and potential tourist attractions in this village. The village is located in the buffer of Rwenzori Mountains National Park.

Ruboni Community Conservation and Development Program (RCCDP) is a community-based organization whose mission is to encourage local community participation in environment conservation to benefit the local community through sustainable development. RCCDP was started in 1998 and has a membership of 50 people (35 women and 15 men)

Population increase directly leads to reducing the natural resource base. Likewise, in the 1990s Ruboni village’s population started increasing rapidly. When this happened, the local people started experiencing increasing poverty. This inspired the creation of RCCDP, by mobilizing community households through tree planting, skills training, communal work, soil and water conservation, and alternative household income enhancement.

Until now, RCCDP is engaged in tourism and using it as a vehicle for generating resources to support conservation and local community development, by innovating sustainable livelihoods aimed at empowering the local population.

It is under this spirit of sustainable livelihoods enhancement that RCCDP has partnered with stakeholders to add Ruboni tourism attractions to the Open Street Map. In return, this mapping initiative is aimed to improve the Ruboni village tourism enterprise’s performance that will in return, economically empower the residents of Ruboni village.

This mapping project will run for one year ending in May 2023. At the end of the project, it will be easy for the tourists to find and explore Ruboni village. as a result of the project, we will have a digital interactive map of the village, a map uploaded to at least ten different tourism online platforms, hard copies of printed maps, and a team of local Mappers with the skill and knowledge to continuously contribute by mapping and updating the content on Open Street Map.

RCCDP activities serve the local people beyond Ruboni village, covering Ibanda-Kyanya Town Council, Bugoye, and Maliba Sub counties. The project is being supported by Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) and is being implemented with local tourism partners.

The implementing partners include; the Uganda community tourism Association (UCOT), Ibanda-Kyanya Town council, and the Kasese district local government. The UNWTO best tourism villages program is the owner and moderator of the upgrade program that inspires and is directly linked to this mapping activity.

To share the excitement with us, you can follow us on our social media handles to learn about the status of the project and possibly know how you can grab a copy of our map whenever it is ready.

Ruboni Community Camp is a project of Ruboni Community Conservation and Development Program (RCCDP). RCCDP was started in 1998, to encourage local community participation in environment conservation with an aim of benefiting the entire community through sustainable development.

Ruboni Community Camp is a community-owned and runs enterprise under the RCCDP. It is run alongside other tourism activities and the whole enterprise is called Ruboni community tourism project.

All the profits generated by the Ruboni community tourism project are reinvested back into the community, to support local community development and environmental conservation initiatives. These initiatives are aimed to benefit the entire community either directly or indirectly.

The key community development initiatives that receive direct support from Ruboni community tourism project are;

Child sponsorship project – 0ver 50 children being sponsored every term, on top of the many that have gone through the sponsorship program now having decent jobs.

Forest conservation – 100 acres of indigenous forest saved and tens of thousands of trees planted by the community on their household lands.

Local community infrastructure development – where there is a lack, we help the communities go through the challenges. We have constructed temporary emergency bridges during and after the river floods, road repairs, hillside public footpath maintenance, and water infrastructure for the community.

Skills training – Many youth and women are taking training sessions in hospitality, guiding, and crafts development. We take interns from different colleges and universities to give them practical knowledge of what we do in this community.

Women and child empowerment – through education, skills, income enhancement, and job creation, women and children are brought closer to the economic welfare table in the local economy

Sustainable agriculture project – Farming is the leading economic activity practiced by 100% of all community members. RCCDP provides training on soils and water conservation, improved agriculture, the market for the agro produce, agriculture produce value addition. All this enhances the income generated by the households, especially during this time when land is not very productive due to the impacts of climate change and the high human population.

Household income diversion from tourism – tourism provides financial capital to the households. this is earned through the sale of goods and services from the local household. This rare opportunity to the local households is further boosted by guidance on household investment using the village saving and credit schemes

Community development partnerships creation – We have created many development partnerships and helped to guide more within the community. These include; child sponsorship, sales, and marketing for local produce, vendors, and suppliers to the tourism project, agro production, and value-added partnerships, forest/ environment conservation partnerships, and resource mobilization partnership.

In the Rwenzori region, Climate change has taken a very high toll. Due to this high rate of poverty, population increase, and climate change, Ruboni community is overwhelmed by the level of need in the community. COVID-19 made the situation even worse when from the year 2020 to 2022, we hardly received any visitors or income from the community tourism business

Thank God, tourism is a good counter for the impacts of climate change if the right resources are employed. The RCCDP community’s inability to mobilize resources is a big challenge to the local people who look up to Ruboni community tourism for help. Many children are starting to drop out of school due to lack of fees, households are selling their property to meet the basic needs as if the right to their land is luxury, the markets and produce from their farms are lowering due to the falling incomes from the buyers, the rivers are drying and the women are starting to carry water on their backs long distances away

No one can do everything, but everyone can do something about helping Ruboni support her community members. even the smallest drops of help will add up in changing someone’s life. Specifically, we are looking for both donors and volunteers who can partner with Ruboni community on the different community development and conservation initiatives. Volunteers are required for proposal writing and project development. This will help to improve the concepts that are fronted by the community to address their related challenges.

Visiting Ruboni during your trip to Ruboni to buy some of our community tourism services and products is an easy way to help. As said earlier, all the profits generated go back to the local community. The key services and activities you can buy during your trip include; accommodation in our guestrooms, meals, village guided tours, Rwenzori trekking tours, and handicrafts made by local women. Every coin you spend on these goods and services gives hope to someone in the village.

We are doing our best to market our tourism products. However, we have a lot of room for improvement as we are limited by minimum machinery and expertise in modern marketing. If you have some time at hand, a connection, or an opportunity, you will be appreciated for the marketing support you can provide

If you don’t have a plan to travel to Uganda, to visit the Ruboni community, but feel you want to do something, you can find more about our community development and conservation work, by contacting us or sending us an email with questions.

At Ruboni community camp, we have two categories of rooms. The self-contained and non-self-contained. Our bed settings are single twin or double basis.

Our self-contained rooms are spacious with a private bathroom and toilet per room. These rooms can be easily fitted with double beds on request. In the non-self-contained rooms, guests use shared bathrooms and toilets in a ratio of one toilet and bathroom per two rooms.

The non-self-contained rooms are slightly smaller, and we have no chance to create double rooms out of them.

Our rooms are furnished with beds, beddings, seating furniture, bathing soap, towel, bathroom sandals, mosquito netting, electricity with charging outlets, and running water. Currently, we have hot water in some rooms and the other we refill the hot water tanks. However, in a short while, we are working on water heaters for all rooms to be implemented within the year 2022.

All our facilities including the rooms and restaurant have a balcony facing the mountains. This is a great feature that most guests like as they have an opportunity to view these beautiful mountains all the time of their stay at the lodge.

Our prices for the rooms are charged per occupancy. Each of the two guests pays a full rate that we charge per person on bed and breakfast. You can refer to our current prices here. We don’t join guests who are not from the same group in one room. If one guest takes the twin room, we lock the second bed but the guest still pays for only one bed taken,

Other spaces of interest at the lodge are; the restaurant, bar, and parking area. The restaurant serves all meals on order starting from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm. Meals can be served earlier or later on request. our parking area is private and secure through the night. It can take 5-7 cars at a time. In most cases, it is available to all our guests and has never been full.

At Ruboni Community Camp, we encourage all our guests to check in before arrival. This is to minimize the chances of contact with the staff at arrival, to reduce chances of transferring covid-19 infections. We have attached a draft form here for you to see. However, a new tailored form will be sent to each guest.

If you have any other questions, please contact us before you fill out the contactless check-in form.

How to join the traditional cooking tour

what is included in the cooking tour?

Introduction

Background

Problem/ challenge

Solution:

How you can help

This is how the tree planting day went;

Logistics:

The rain at lunchtime:

Women’s involvement in the event:

You can also be part of the future tree-planting fun next time.

The Mapping initiative

Rwenzori Mountains destination

How a variety of tourism attractions will enhance stopovers and destination competitiveness

Creation of tourism mapping partnerships

Rwenzori gateway and Ruboni tourism village

Tourism potential of Ruboni village

The best tourism village upgrade program of UNWTO

... all profits go back to the local community.

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