This tourism experience costs $800 for an hour. Here’s why it’s worth it

(CNN) — Kenya has the majestic Maasai Mara. The reputation of the verdant, fauna-filled Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania precedes it. Rwanda’s Virunga volcanoes have become the go-to for once-in-a-lifetime encounters with mountain gorillas. And further south, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa are seen as essential stop-offs for those hungry to experience the best wildlife Africa has to offer.

Yet one country is easily forgotten when it comes to spending time in true wilderness and getting up close to nature: Uganda.

This East African gem has it all for the wildlife obsessive: the plains of Queen Elizabeth National Park, home to tree-climbing lions and leopards; the Kazinga Channel with its hippos, elephants, crocodiles and stunning fish eagles; and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

Quite simply, it’s underrated and waiting to be explored – especially one profound tourism experience that costs $800 an hour, but is said to be worth every single dollar.

That huge price tag is part of a pattern of big-budget experiences in Uganda that, although inaccessible to many wallets, could help set the country on the path to sustainable tourism at a time when many destinations are now being overwhelmed by visitors.

In Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, home to the largest mountain gorilla population in the world, with over 500 roaming the dense woodland, it costs $800 for foreign non-residents to head out on a strictly timed one-hour trek to meet a group of habituated gorillas. These are led by experts from the Uganda Wildlife Authority, with small groups of eight people assigned to visit one of 18 habituated groups each day.

For $1,500, visitors can take part in a habituation process. Those with a cold are not allowed to take part, such is the concern around passing on the disease to these incredible animals, which share 98% of their DNA with humans.

Although it’s possible to travel relatively cheaply on either side of this experience, many visitors make this bucket-list activity part of a premium adventure. Again, the high price tag usually results in money going to support the at-risk environment.

Unrivaled location

Volcanoes Safaris has been operating in the region for over 25 years and in July 2024 it opened its fourth luxury lodge in Uganda. Kibale Lodge sits in an unrivaled location, with the Rwenzori Mountains to the West and the Kazinga Channel to the south. With just eight rooms, or bandas, it’s at the very highest end of eco-tourism in Uganda, with rates starting at $1,200 per person per night. Volcanoes is, however, at pains to talk about how it leans on local knowledge and skills to create and sustain its business.

In Kibale it is working with the Jane Goodall Institute to organize community outreach programs, specifically working to build a new generation of women leaders in conservation. And throughout the construction of the lodge learning from local people was vital, says Volcanoes founder Praveen Moman.

“We work in ‘the barefoot villager’ style, sitting down together and working out practical local approaches to aesthetics, making everything locally, whatever the origin of the design,” he says.

“Volcanoes’ in-house construction team is comprised of engineers, fundis, decorators and upholsterers that live in the communities surrounding Volcanoes lodges,” adds Kevin James, Volcanoes Safaris’ chief operating officer.

For example, he says the company’s head of construction, Cyprien Serugero, was born near the Virunga Lodge across the border in Rwanda. He was involved at every stage of the construction of that lodge and now ensures that those living close to the sites in Uganda are able to enjoy the same opportunity.

James says that the company employs over 200 full-time and 300 casual staff from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some 85% of those who work at the lodges themselves are drawn from the communities which surround them.

A better future

While this work has been successful, one of the biggest issues surrounding sustainable tourism in Uganda centers on “conservation refugees.” The Batwa were forcibly removed from Gahinga and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Parks on their creation in 1991. While gorilla populations in these areas rebounded, these hunter-gatherers, one of the oldest indigenous tribes in the entire continent, became displaced within their own country. No compensation was paid and years of ostracization followed. With the tribe unused to traditional farming methods, they have faced persecution and discrimination at every turn.

“We believe that the focus of conservation and tourism must be on communities,” says James.

“Local people will only be supporters of tourism and conservation if they receive a tangible benefit. They need to have food on the table, education for the next generation, and progress in their lives. If they are part of the ecotourism and conservation chain and share in its success, then they have an incentive to protect the wildlife and the parks.”

At Volcanoes’ Gahinga Lodge there is a 13-acre permanent Batwa settlement, home to 100 people from 18 families. There is land for crops, a dedicated vocational center for training and passing down ancient rites to the next generation and the opportunity for guests to meet elders and tribal leaders to learn directly about their way of life. It’s a powerful experience and one that lingers long in the mind after visiting.

“The forest is heavily guarded, we know we could be shot [if we go there],” said Batwa tribal leader Safari Monday, speaking his native Rufumbira dialect via an interpreter, back in 2019. “But I understand the restrictions. I don’t think about it.”

Monday spread his arms wide and grinned as he took in what was now his and that of his fellow tribespeople. A place to call home after four years living beneath makeshift shelters. It’s not the same as being in his native habitat, but does go some way to redress the balance and create a path towards a better future.

Quality not quantity

There is no denying that the model of highly priced, high-quality tourism has the potential to be successful when considered from a sustainability angle, at least when it comes to nature. It’s evident in the numbers of mountain gorillas in particular. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the population stood at over 1,000 in 2018 when the last census was conducted, up from 680 in 2008. This is believed to be a direct result of expensive, heavily policed gorilla treks.

While costly, the money raised from the treks allows the UWA and other authorities to pay for greater protection of mountain gorillas from illegal poachers and to prevent devastating habitat loss. Being just a few meters from a mother tending to her young or a silverback staring gruffly into the middle distance is unquestionably one of the most profound things a traveler can do and paying all that money makes a lot of sense.

While such costs may seem extreme, the alternative is something operators cannot entertain, especially when the environment is so fragile and the imperative of balancing the needs of local communities so vital.

According to UK-based operator Responsible Travel, charging high prices and guarding the experience so heavily is key.

“When it comes to the mountain gorillas, low tourist numbers and heavy restrictions are not simply a gimmick,” it says, “… they are essential to prevent the gorillas from becoming distressed or from catching diseases.”

Moreover, local people and the environment won’t see any benefit from a mass tourism model which has caused so many issues across the planet, particularly in famously fragile ecosystems such as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay.

“The great ape national parks of Uganda and Rwanda are tiny natural habitats under immense pressure,” says Kevin James. “There is increasing population pressure around the parks, which is predicted to double in the next 25 years. Local people need land to live on and from which to make a living. If development is not controlled around National Parks, wildlife could be overwhelmed.”

Despite this, he says, tourism, and especially sustainable tourism, has to be part of the solution.

“Volcanoes has seen that without tourism the animals have no value and therefore there’s no economic incentive to safeguard their future. Sensitive and controlled tourism is crucial. However, if tourism is uncontrolled, it risks putting undue pressure through disease and stress on the great apes which will not be conducive to their survival.

“It is imperative that the unique tourism protocols and IUCN best practices guidelines are followed to ensure a positive future for the great apes in the Albertine Rift. It is a very delicate balance.”

Local solutions

According to EU Africa Rise, a European Union-funded body that supports sustainability in East Africa, tourism accounted for 5.9% of Uganda’s GDP in 2019, with a growing awareness of the need for sustainable certification, something which can be expensive for start-ups and small operators.

“Although Uganda struggles internationally with its brand recognition and image (especially compared with regional peers such as Kenya and Tanzania), it does receive very high satisfaction ratings from travelers that visit the country,” according to EU Africa Rise, in a March 2024 report entitled “Towards a Sustainable Tourism economy in Uganda.”

Despite this, there is a growing push towards creating a high-quality experience for travelers in Uganda that is, crucially, both sustainable in terms of development and employment, and where local people are made to feel part of that work.

According to the Adventure Travel Trade Association’s Annual Industry Snapshot Report from June 2023, cited by EU Africa Rise, 68% of operators surveyed had obtained or were trying to gain sustainable certification globally. Yet the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria, considered the sustainability gold standard for operators, alongside Travelife, a similar certification platform, are seen as too costly by tourism businesses in Uganda. EU Africa Rise says there needs to be a more cost-effective way for Ugandan businesses to gain such recognition, which would in turn allow them to market themselves as among the best in the world.

That Volcanoes, Responsible Travel and EU Africa Rise are doing such important work means that sustainable tourism can grow and even thrive in Uganda. But it needs to be based around a model where expensive trips that fund research and communities come first, all the better to stop these places being overwhelmed and potentially lost forever.

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