Huge and buzzing Cities teeming with life, big malls, tall skyscrapers as well as bright lights make stunning places to visit but Village and Community Safaris with the simplicity of life make the best places to spend a safari offering indigenous experiences. Magnificent sceneries, preparation and tasting local/traditional dishes, invigorating cultural performances, traditional art and crafts and school visits are some of the activities that describe Village/Community Safaris in Uganda. These Tours are not just a means of interacting with local communities and learning from them but also a means of earning clean income from tourism.
Popular Village and Community Safaris in Uganda
To exhaust the Village and Community Safaris in Uganda, you will need pages upon pages of a guidebook because every village in Uganda offers extraordinary cultural experience. However, the most popular tours include:-
Visit to the Batwa Community around Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks
The Batwa were original forest dwellers of Mgahinga and Bwindi Impenetrable Forests before being evicted to conserve them (the forests) for tourism. What makes these people worth visiting during Uganda safaris is that visitors have the chance to go through their ancient lifestyle. There is an opportunity of seeing fire being made out of rubbing sticks, visiting traditional medicine menusing plants for healing, watch their traditional dances, see how they make Bamboo cups and harvest honey among others.
IK people and Karamojong community near Kidepo Valley National Park
The Karamojong communities near Kidepo Valley National Park will take your breath away with their traditional dances, Manyatta Homesteads and traditional foods usually made of animal blood and milk.
Other Village/Community Safaris in Uganda include visit to Banyankole community/or Igongo Cultural Center near Lake Mburo National Park, visit to Bagisu and Sabiny Communities near Mount Elgon National Park known for public Circumcision Ceremony, Kasenyi Fishing Village, Leopard Village, Katwe Village Walk and Kikorongo Women Community around Queen Elizabeth National Park, Kibale Association for Rural Environment Development (KAFRED) around Kibale Forest National Park and many others.
Packing list for Village/Community Safaris in Uganda
One rule applies while packing for village/community safaris in Uganda-decency and community respect. Make sure to pack decent dresses/skirt for women, trousers for men, hat, sunglasses, rain jacket, good camera with enough battery, memory space and charger, comfortable walking shoes (preferably flip-flops), sandals, toiletries (toothbrush, hand sanitizer, hair gel, toothpaste and lotion), sunscreen, First aid kit, insect repellant (very important) and personal medicines among others.
Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills is another remarkable place to visit for village/community tours in Africa with tours focused on traditional dance performances, traditional food preparations, banana beer brewing, Home stays and basket weaving demonstrations among others. On your visit to Rwanda, make sure to take part in Humure Refugee Village tour, Nyange Community walks, visit to Iby’Iwacu Cultural Village (currently the Gorilla Guardian Village, Ubumwe Community visit, visit to Kagano Living Village and many others.