JGI UGANDA FIELD PROGRAMMES

Budongo Forest Ecotourism Project

Budongo Forest Ecotourism Report Breif May 2006 (Adobe PDF 0.71MB)

Budongo Forest Map (Adobe PDF 0.75MB)

In June 2006, JGI-Uganda received a 2-year sub-grant from DAI, Inc. under the USAID/Uganda-funded Productive Resource Investment for Managing the Environment (PRIME/West) Program, to develop and implement an ecotourism/education project at the Kaniyo-Pabidi site located in the Budongo Forest Reserve. The project goal is to conserve biodiversity by reducing threats to forest, woodland and aquatic ecosystems through increased economic opportunities and conflict resolution for rural communities in selected regions of south-western and western Uganda. The project purpose is to conserve critical habitat and species in two landscapes of the Albertine Rift, the Greater Virunga Landscape and the Murchison Falls-Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve Landscape.

The project is based on the following underlying premises:

Reducing environmental degradation and conserving critical ecosystems will contribute significantly to ensuring sustainable economic growth in the rural sector;
Strengthening the enabling environment for conservation of biodiversity and improving rural livelihoods will contribute to reducing environmental degradation and to conserving critical ecosystems; and Ameliorating threats to critical forest, woodland and aquatic ecosystems through improved planning and the provision of economic alternatives to unsustainable natural resource uses will contribute to reducing environmental degradation and will help conserve these critical ecosystems.

This program is designed to protect the Budongo Forest as well as develop a revenue stream for the National Forest Authority through the development of an ecotourism site. Earnings from a revenue sharing Agreement with NFA will be used to augment the protection of this reserve; educate local communities on the importance of the reserve and provide assistance to local communities, permitting sustainable development without threatening the reserve.

Training and building the capacity of park staff is a key program component. Staff is being trained on chimpanzee ecology and behavior, habituation and data collection methods, presentation skills and first aid. This is being achieved through formal lectures, practical sessions, one-on-one training during habituation periods, and team-building activities. Staff training will be supplemented with visits from guest specialist speakers and excursions to other field sites for additional experience of great-ape eco-tourist sites such as Ngamba Island. In order to increase incomes at Budongo, an eco-tourist site with increased success in viewing chimpanzees will be developed. To achieve this, a habituation plan is being developed and will be implemented to increase the success rate of tourists viewing the chimpanzees. The current successful tourist viewing rate is 67%, low in comparison to other eco-tourism sites in Uganda such as Kibale National Park which has an 88% successful tourist viewing rate. In addition, infrastructure will be improved to bring the eco-tourist site to acceptable standards. Based Based on JGI's previous experience of developing a similar project at Kanyanchu -Kibale National Park (6000 visitors per annum), and developing an eco-tourist site at Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary (5000 visitors per annum), we expect that after two years of program implementation, Kanyio-Pabidi will be on a path to becoming an economically sustainable and highly successful eco-tourist site.

Kanyio Pabidi Ecotourism Visitors Centre

Chimpanzee Ecotourism Visitor Guidelines Budongo Forest (Adobe PDF 0.20MB)

Budongo Forest Map (Adobe PDF 0.75MB)

Activities may be booked through Let's Go Travel Kampala - the official booking agent

Discounted Activity Rates:

ACTIVITIES	FNR	FR	UG	FNRCHD	UGCHD
Chimp Trekking	$20-00	$15-00	$5-00	n/a	n/a
Bird Watching 3hours Kaniyo Pabidi	$10-00	$10-00	$5-00	$5-00	$2-50
Bird Watching full day Kaniyo Pabidi & Busingiro	$15-00	$15-00	$5-00	$5-00	$2-50
Forest Walk 1 1/2 hrs K/Pabidi & Busingiro	$10-00	$10-00	$5-00	$5-00	$2-50
Pabidi Hill 4 hours with lunch break	$15-00	$15-00	$5-00	$5-00	$2-50
Chimp Habituation 5-10 hrs at K/Pabidi only Not Jul-end Sept	$100	$100	$50-00
School groups at Busingiro		$5-00	Free
Camping		$5-00/ad			$2-50

Children under 10 years will not be allowed to walk over 2 hours
Children over 15 years will be charge full adult price
Chimp trekking is not available for under 15 year old.

Bookings can be made with: Sharon Kemigisha sharon@letsgosafari-ug.com
Phone booking will be accepted, but needs to be followed by email and voucher.