Sustainable and eco-friendly practises in Uganda

In 2014, a ten year Ugandan Tourism Development Master Plan initiated a sustainable development strategy in conjunction with the United Nations. Pure Breaks sustainable practice is aligned with the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. A forerunner to the development of these goals was a research study in 2012 on Innovative Community Tourism in Uganda – International Tourists, National Networks, and Local Livelihood by Professor Kelly J. Mackay and Professor J. Michael Cambell. A six year project focussed on a study of a Gorilla Friends Tented Camp in Ruhija village in BINP.

The innovation of the project rested on a triangulated approach of education, community involvement and strategic network. The findings of the study supported building the capacity of communities and wildlife conservation initiatives to engage with the positive inputs from tourism e.g. education, enhancing wellbeing, livelihoods and promoting biodiversity. The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) has partnered with the Nkurningo community near Bwindi constructing a profit sharing eco-lodge. Community partnerships are promoted through revenue sharing by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), and encourage diversification e.g. craft workshops and selling products to tourists.

It is imperative to boost tourism to these protected wildlife conservation areas, securing sustainable community livelihoods and natural forest ecosystems. Our destinations and accommodation collectively, have been handpicked as to specific criteria on which countries we want to elevate and draw tourism back through their borders. Uganda is specifically one of those! With its vast array of wildlife, including the Gorillas and Chimpanzees, these unique experiences give tourists the opportunities to bare witness all that Uganda has to offer.