UCOTA E-NEWSLETTER ~ OCTOBER 2014

It is yet another precious time when we bring you updates from UCOTA on what has been happening around Community Tourism circles. We are humbled to have you as part of our day to day journey as We carry on with this noble course.

As time moves, We can all look back and appreciate that Community Tourism in Uganda has come a long way and the strides that have been made are quite tremendous. All thanks to the continuous unity and support from each and every stakeholder in this sector.

In this edition, We summarize the events that happened during the month of October 2014 among them; UCOTA being granted a chance to convene the Community Tourism Forum in the upcoming Zinduka Festival, Our partnership with World Travel Market and the continued partnership with various tourism stakeholders in Uganda.

Welcome and let’s take this journey together.

Happy reading!

UCOTA News

Discovery Tour of South Western Uganda
In an effort to promote domestic tourism in Uganda, the Uganda Tourism Association (UTA) in collaboration with Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) organized a tour to South-Western Uganda featuring cultural and Natural attractions and features in Kabale and Kisoro districts also known as the Switzerland of Africa!

The tour started from Kampala city with various representatives of Uganda Safari Guides Associations (USAGA), The Uganda Association of Travel Agents (TUGATA), Association of Uganda Tour Operators (AUTO) and Uganda Community Tourism Association (UCOTA) who are key members to UTA and representatives from Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) convening and boarding a shuttle to Kabale. The UTA president Mr. Herbert Byaruhanga was the team leader and coordinator for this event.

On the way we had several stop-overs at Kayabye where we crossed the equator to the south, Masaka town and Mbarara where we had delicious traditional lunch at a local restaurant with delicacy of goat meat stew, chicken stew and “all food”. We also had a brief stop at the Great Lakes Museum where there is a showcase of the culture and way of life of the main communities in Kigezi namely the Bafumbira, Banyankole and Bakiga. Read more…

A basket is just a basket,right?

Spend a few hours with the industrious ladies of the Rubona Basket Weavers Association (RUBAWA) and you will be amazed at how much work goes into these handcrafted items. They are truly a labour of love, from start to finish.

Set below the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains, RUBAWA fabricates top quality bowls, table mats, lidded storage baskets and decorative wall hangings. Each basket is a unique and individual creation that has been skillfully woven by the 200 women of RUBAWA. They use naturally dyed raffia to make baskets of all sizes, which are then sold for export. The RUBAWA basket weaving project is completely self-sustaining. Women who are part of the association offer their baskets for sale, so proceeds go directly back to their families and the community.

There’s a lot more to dying than meets the eye, as our group found out when we visited Rubona. The process starts with growing the right flowering plants: did you know locally grown flowers can produce bright red, green, yellow, orange, maroon brown and even blue and black colour dyes? Read more…

Community exchange visit

A group of five members from Ishasha Community Uplift Group (ICUG) participated in an exchange visit to Ruboni Community Camp (RCC) in the foothills of Rwenzori Mountains. The group which is UCOTA’s latest member took part in the exchange visit in order to acquire some knowledge from RCC which has been practicing community tourism for over ten years.

ICUG is in its early stages of offering a homestead and culture experience tours in the community near Queen Elizabeth national park. This tour offered by ICUG depicts the experience of living with wildlife such as Elephants, wild pigs, baboons and others focusing on the challenges the community faces when they ride their gardens and how the community works so hard to survive sustainably with the pressure from the animals that ride their gardens. In the second home, you get the experience of a traditional home stay of the bakiga as you go through the grinding of millet on the traditional stone to serving the traditional porridge.

In the three days of the exchange visit, ICUG members participated in a number of products of RCC such as accommodation, restaurant, and village walk then held several meetings with the staff and board members of RCC. Read more…

Tour Operators visit the Rwenzori region

Communities in tourism in the Ruwenzori region got an opportunity of meeting the local tour operators during a recent farm trip. This was also an opportunity to increase community tourism sales to these tour operators in future.

A total of 15 tour operators, participating in the trip arranged by Uganda Tourism Board and UNDP inclusive markets project was coordinated by Kabarole tours, an ecotourism expert in the Rwenzori region whose offices are located in Fortportal town. The trip gave audience to four community tourism products in the Rwenzori region.

The UCOTA products visited include; Rubona Basket Weavers Association (RUBAWA), Bunyangabu Beekeepers Cooperative (BBC), Tinkas home stay and Ruboni Community Camp (RCC). Other none UCOTA member community experience taken include the Tea Estate Experience, Tooro Cultural Experience in Kabarole municipality and several lodges in Kabarole and Kasese districts. Among the group were representatives of the media houses, Radio Uganda, NTV and The New Vision. Read more…

UCOTA Community of the Month

Mgahinga Community Development Organization

Mgahinga Community Development Organization (MCDO) works as an umbrella for different projects that operate in the community adjacent to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (MGNP) in Kisoro district, south western Uganda.

MCDO is the leading community non-governmental organization that is promotes community led development around MGNP at the same time working towards conservation of the national park. The goal of MCDO is to use tourism as a tool to promote sustainable development through poverty reduction, conservation of the beautiful environment, education, good health, income generation and sustainable agriculture.

The organization seeks to harness all possible opportunities in the vicinity of the community and its biodiversity from where part of the incomes from the accommodation facilities, ecosystem Centre and some simple contributions from the volunteers who participate in community work help in implementing diverse programs to revive the welfare of communities. Read more…