COMMUNITY
BASED PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES RUN BY THE GREAT TREKKERS SAFARIS
As a Social enterprise
we realized the need to supporting children education among the most vulnerable
families who are staying in the most rural conservation communities of Lake
Mburo National Park by taking them to school because we discovered that most
of the conservation areas which had the highest number of hunters and poachers
were dominated by the highest number of school drop outs who would engage in charcoal burning business, animal hunting and other related
activities as a way of raising some income to sustain their lives.
This has not only
enabled these children to acquire education but it has also created a safe
environment for the animals in Lake Mburo national park which was facing extinction
and encroachment from the indigenous pastoral tribes of the Bahiima.
Planting trees for
Eco-Tourism
As a company we have
not just stopped at sponsoring these children in school but we have opened up
wild life clubs in all the 4 primary schools in the conservation areas of Lake
Mburo and Bwindi impenetrable national parks where pupils are being taught the
need to conserving our nature and environment. “For conservation to be
realized then it must start with the Children and Youth” Reference World
Wildlife Day – Main streaming the Youth in Tourism
Official Launch of Wild
Life Club at Nyabuhama P/S Rwenjeru Community –Lake Mburo National Park
Establishment
of an Eco-friendly Community Camp site- Rwenjeru Community Camp site
Due to the fact that we
are the only registered Tour Company located in the Western region which is
focusing on community and domestic tourism, The communities of Rwenjeru found
it very important to work with us. The owners of the Community land have
entrusted us with their land such that we design better strategies on how to
promote and develop the site. The 12 hectares of community land is
strategically positioned and it borders Lake Mburo National Park with great
scenic views good for Camping. And we have so far we organized 12 successful Camps at the Site and also
conducted several outreach Community programs to the nearby communities where
we sensitized the communities the Role of local tourists in boosting domestic
and community Based Tourism.
During the monthly Open
Market day at the Camp site
As a social enterprise
tour company, we have created an open Craft Village Market on the camp site
where every month we invite all the communities in this conservation area to
come to the camp site with their locally produced items, crafts, food produce etc
where they get to sell and have market for their goods.
Traditional cultural
performers at the camp site
We have also
established this community camp site as a regular stop over for all our
visitors, clients and volunteers in all the packages we are marketing
PRIMARY
SCHOOL TOUR PACKAGES & STUDY TRIPS
As a community based
Tour Company, we found it very vital to design a suitable package for primary
& Nursery Schools whereby we get to organize and arrange Study Trips to
such schools partnering with us at affordable rates while providing them with
cheaper transport and trip guiding options. This package has been highly
welcomed by the many schools we have so far visited and it has offered pupils a
chance to visit their own national parks, cultural and heritage centres etc
thus appreciating the need to cultural, nature and wild life conservation
Monthly
Community Youth Camps
As one way of boosting
community and domestic tourism, the company has been conducting monthly Camp
trips for young professionals and other corporate bodies and so far the Company
has organized and facilitated 4 successful Camp trips with the main aim of
instilling a spirit of camping among the Youth who make up 65% of Uganda’s
total population. Through the same community camps, we not only stop at sharing
community related challenges affecting domestic tourism but we also get to
identify the unknown eye catching destinations / sites that need to be promoted
which we later visit and get to publish them on our website www.greattrekkers.ug
, in our Company Magazine and we still add such places to our itineraries for
travelers to know about their location.
Weekly
Radio Talk Show on Community Tourism
The western region of Uganda is dominated by remote
areas due to the rough topography that makes such areas inaccessible and 75% of
the people listen to Radio which is the most effective and affordable channel
of communication. And as a Company we found it very difficult to reach out to
all people if we were to use any other channel apart from Using Radio Talk
Shows to sensitize the communities on issues of Community tourism, Nature &
Environmental conservation so that people get to understand that tourism is not
only for the government and foreign tourists but it’s for us all.
Rogers
Nasasira while on his weekly tourism RadioTalk Show 26th /Feb/2017
Currently we have been conducting our weekly Radio
Talk Shows on Radio Rukungiri 96.9 FM and we hope that we can
always have continuous shows if we get to have good funds to keep the programs
running.
For sustainable growth and development to be realized, we must join efforts in supporting these initiatives. Community based tourism is the way the way to go. By traveling and Booking with our tour company http://www.greattrekkers.ug/you get the assurance that the money paid for your memorable Safari leaves a positive impact to communities as 20% of the company's profit is specifically reserved for community support and empowerment programs.
