Mount Gahinga Lodge

The deluxe bandas at Mount Gahinga Lodge are all traditional and authentic. With high, exposed thatch ceilings and African inspired art pieces hanging on the walls. Wooden and stone features make the space feel earthy and natural, and the bandas are filled with natural light through mutin windows, creating a warm and inviting room. A lounge area includes wicker sofas and armchairs around a stone fireplace, the perfect relaxation area for a chilly evening.

The main bedroom includes a four poster bed, romantically swathed in mosquito netting and dressed in crisp bed linens. The bathroom is unique and natural, with stone walls and countertops. Each banda comes with a private sun terrace where guests can spend some time marvelling at the beautiful panoramas, and immersing themselves in the sights, smells and sounds of the Virunga Volcanoes.

The guest bandas at Mount Gahinga Lodge are authentic and cosy. With high thatched ceilings and polished wooden floors, the bandas are spacious and airy, with windows dotted around the walls, letting in bright and natural light. There are wicked chairs placed around a warming fireplace, which is always ready to combat those colder evenings.

All the guest bandas come with ensuite bathrooms, complete with a shower. Guests can relax in the knowledge that their every need can be catered to by a personal butler service which is offered to all guests. So you can enjoy spending some peaceful time on your private sun deck with a refreshing drink bought to you by your butler, breathing in the fresh mountain air whilst staring at the outstandingly beautiful views.

Delicious and fresh meals are served in the dining room at Mount Gahinga Lodge. This room is filled with natural sunlight and overlooks the volcanoes and luscious gardens. The food is always freshly prepared and is inspired by a mixture of cuisines, local dishes are served with a Western twist. A bar is available where guests can unwind with a refreshing drink after a long day hiking.

Guests can visit the local Gahinga Batwa Village, which was built by Volcanoes Safaris to give a home to the local Batwa people, to help preserve and protect their culture, and to offer them the stability which they weren’t receiving by renting small patches of land. This is an excellent opportunity to immerse yourself in the local culture, and find out more about these peoples way of life.

In a small group, guests can track mountain gorillas. Although distance has to be maintained from the gorillas, guests will still have the chance to observe the gorillas, and this once-in-a-lifetime experience is combined with a walk through the dense forest to find the gorillas – making for a completely unique experience for everybody.

Enjoy a exciting day hiking through the thick forests, bamboo stands and luscious green moorland of the foothills of the mountains in Mgahinga National Park. Once in the national park, guests will have to keep their eyes peeled for the elusive Golden Monkeys. These monkeys are exciting to watch and are also beautiful with a golden body and tail and black limbs.

As well as visiting the Batwa Village guests can learn about the Batwa through a heritage experience. Whilst at the village guests will learn about the traditional dwellings, and how the Batwa people have lived in the forest for generations. In another celebration of Batwa culture guests can enjoy the unique experience of watching a Bawta dance performance by the local Batwa community.

Guests can also visit the local vocational school for the Batwa community. Here you can observe how the students are taught crafting skills and sewing, and the goods which are produced are for sale, with all profits going to the creators.

If a relaxing afternoon hike is your preferred activity then an afternoon birding is the perfect activity. With over 1000 bird species, and 150 of these only being found in Uganda, you may see birds which you cannot see anywhere else in the world. If you’re lucky you may see a Blue-headed Coucal, Wax Bills, Speckled Mousebird or Stone Chat’s – just to name a few.

Closely located to the Virunga Volcanoes, guests can choose to go on a hike which will take them up one such volcano; Mt. Gahinga, Mt. Muhavura or Mt. Sabyinyo. Set out for a full days hike and you will be rewarded with breathtaking panoramas of the surrounding forest and endless horizon. Another hike guests can go on is the hike to Kisozi Caldera, which is at the top of a small hill, perfect for guests who would enjoy a hike but don’t want too much of a physical challenge.

After a long day spent hiking guests can relax and enjoy a stress reliving and muscle relaxing massage. A complimentary 30 minute massage is available to all guests, and other treatments can be booked and enjoyed too.

Volcanoes Safaris was founded by Praveen Moman in 1997, and since then has been “at the forefront of reviving gorilla tourism in Uganda and Rwanda.” In Uganda specifically, Volcanoes Safari was the first to build “simple camps” in and around the areas where there are gorilla parks.

The first was Mount Gahinga, followed by Bwindi Lodge and later Kyambura Gorge Lodge, and throughout the past twenty years the properties have been improved as the region has received more attention. Hitting another milestone in 2000, Volcanoes Safaris “became the first international safari company to take clients to Rwanda.” Helping to start gorilla tourism in Rwanda Volcanoes Safaris started the BLCF Partnership Project to help save the great apes.

Volcanoes Safaris have been recognised in their conservation efforts, being awarded the ‘Travel and Leisure Global Vision in 2012, and the Condé Nast Travel World Savers award in 2013. The founder was asked to join the ‘Congo Basin Forest Partnership’ in 2013, “which promotes sensitive economic development of the forests of Central Africa.” Volcanoes Safaris vision for the past twenty years has been clear in their cultural sensitivity, how they “connect to the local community”, their conservation projects and responsible use of resources.

With a strong emphasis on community, in 2009 The Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust was established. This organisation is non-profit and works to connect luxury lodges in Rwanda and Uganda “to the neighbouring communities and conservation activities.”

Volcano Safaris funds the ‘VSPT’, $100 is contributed “from safari bookings, as well as private donations by guests and others.” One of the main reasons VSPT was set up was to help with conservation efforts, work with local communities and to restore the natural habitats of the areas in which they operate; they aim for these projects to be “long-term and self-sustaining.”

To help empower and support local communities, most of the 150 staff members who are employed at Volcanoes Safari Lodges in Uganda and Rwanda are from the region. Local employment throughout all levels of the company is “a key aspect of Volcanoes’ philosophy”. Training programmes benefit staff from Rwanda, Uganda, DRC and Burundi and help to empower local people and the local communities.

The creation of the Mgahinga National Park in 1991 led to the displacement of “one of the oldest surviving indigenous people in the Central African Region” – the Batwa. Suddenly being removed to an unfamiliar place, with no access to their former hunter gatherer lifestyle the Batwa suffered, until recently “from acute poverty, malnutrition and poor health.”

Seeing how the lives of the Batwa were being turned unfairly upside down, Volcano Safaris built a village “for the Batwa community and their families.” Roughly 10 acres of land was purchased for the Batwa to be able to “build homes, a community centre and have land for agricultural and recreational use.”

With self-sustaining and long-term plans in mind, the long term goal of this village is to provide land and a space in which the Batwa can remain ad infinitum. Providing land means the Batwa can grow and sell crops to generate their own income. The village also supports the whole community’s development and allows “their children to access education and health facilities.”

A relationship with the Batwa has been developing since 2013, with a series of projects being developed to help “support the Batwa through tourism related enterprises and to help preserve their culture and heritage and give them a livelihood.” The land purchased for the village was decided and agreed upon by the founder of Volcano Safaris, Praveen Moman, and Batwa leaders, including the Chairperson, Jane Nyirangano; and the use of the land purchased is always agreed in consultations held with the Batwa themselves.

As Volcano Safaris works with local villages, they help to preserve and celebrate local cultures and traditions. The Batwa Dance Group performs every week “for the local community.” This helps to “integrate the Batwa with the local communities”, as they now share land with these local communities, since the eviction of the Batwa people from their home in the forest. This dance group is also a great way for guests of Volcano Safari properties to immerse themselves in the local culture.

The VSPT donated a quarter of an acre of land to the Batwa, where the Batwa Vocational Centre is located. Here, self-sufficiency is encouraged with members of the local community learning how to farm and being taught how to make crafts and sewing skills, “which will allow them to repair and make their own clothes as well as utensils.” Also from the Batwa Vocational Centre, products are sold which generates an income allowing them “to pay for food, medicine and other necessary items within the community.”

With an emphasis on preserving the cultural heritage of the Batwa, the VSPT built the Batwa Cultural Heritage Site on the property of Mount Gahinga Lodge. The site includes a herbal garden and traditional huts, as well as a trail which allows the Batwa themselves to demonstrate “how they used to live, hunt, and collect honey and other resources from the forest.” Always committed to the preservation of the Batwa culture, Volcano Safaris is “committed to expanding and developing this site.”

Solar power energy is used wherever possible at Volcanoes Safaris lodges. This minimises the carbon footprint of the lodges, as the natural resource of sunlight is harvested, instead of fossil fuel power generators. The lodges also reduce, reuse and recycle, by harvesting rain water and “recycling water and waste water when possible.”