Buhoma Village walk is an intiative by the local people around Buhoma village located in the northern section of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. We encourage you to participate in this walk not only for recreation purposes but also to support community development within the area.
Following the gazzatting of Bwindi Impenetrable forest as a National Park in 1993, to protect the endangered mountain gorillas and other species of wildlife, the locals then lost the direct use/benefits of the forest which included timber, herbs, honey among others. To counteract this, the government and othe Non Government Organizations encouraged the local poeple round Bwindi specifically in Buhoma Village to develop a village trail for tourists to appreciate and showcase what they have to offer.
Buhoma Village walk is therefore a great opportunity to learn about the day to day activities of the native people in the village of Buhoma, visit the sarroundings of the park as you appreciate the culture and way of living of the Bikiga who are the majority people in this area.
The walk starts from Buhoma Community Rest Camp a Campsite that was put a side to benefit the locals in the area. Your guide will then move with you to the women’s handicraft shops to show you how the women make crafts from local materials and they will explain to you how this has helped them to address the problem of poverty. You can decided to share your skills with them or buy some crafts to support their cause.
You will then proceed to the village passing through banana plantations, tea and coffee plantations and depending on on the time of your walk, you might find the locals in their plantations allowing you time to observe their activities. Most interesting among these is tea picking where men and women carring baskets on their barks pick leaves and throw them behind without looking there.
You will have a stop over at River Munyanga to witness women and young people hand washing their clothes with out machines. From their, the walk takes you to several banana plantations where you will meet the local brewers who produce local jin from bananas. They will take you through the whole process of making crude Uganda Waragi and if you are a fun of jins, you can test or buy some for your friends.
Still on this village walk you get to visit the village Medicinal man who produces local medicine from herbs. He demonstrates to you that before asprin came to Uganda, Ugandans had a way of protecting and curing themselves from dangerous diseases such as malaria. He will show you some of the most import herbs that are used to cure several illnesses that affect Ugandans.
If it is school going time, you will visit a local school in mukono village to meet children and their teachers in class.
The climax of this walk is a visit to the home of the Batwa, people who used to stay in Bwindi Impenetrable forest before it was gazzatted as a national park. They will share with you their experience as it was while still staying in the forest and their life out side the forest now. They will then reward your visit with traditional dances and there after return to your lodge for Dinner and Overnight.
