16 Sep Ensuring Your Holiday Has a Positive Impact
What if your trip of a lifetime had a positive impact on the countries you visited?
At Venture Uganda, we care deeply that your holiday – and everything we do as a company – benefits Uganda and Rwanda. We want to protect the wildlife and environment, support local communities, preserve culture and heritage, and provide good jobs for local people.
Where possible, we choose to work with companies and initiatives that share our ethos and we are always looking for ways to improve.
In this newsletter, we’ll be sharing some of the many ways your holiday can make a difference to these beautiful countries
Visit Our Local Communities
It all begins with our people.
We carefully curate a collection of sensitive community visits, giving you the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the country, connect and learn from your hosts, and help boost the incomes of local people, many of whom come from poor families.
Options include public visits and private ones that we have developed together with some local community members:
- mango and coffee farms
- traditional bark cloth making
- beekeeping cooperative
- boat rides on scenic lakes with local cultural guides
Ask us about more options.
Stay in Eco-Friendly Accommodation
Most of the lodges we recommend for your stay have some sustainability measures in place and are working hard, in different ways, to minimise their environmental impact.
- Some camps use safari tents so that, if the camp closes, no trace is left behind.
- Other accommodations have eco-features such as solar power and rainwater harvesting.
- Many care for their environment by growing their own organic food which is then served to you as delicious meals in their restaurants during your stay!
- To improve their carbon footprint and actively support the local wildlife, some lodges plant vegetation such as fruit trees for the birds and primates.
We are very familiar with the accommodation that we recommend and are happy to discuss the options with you. Just ask!
We can also take you to visit local charity projects and organisations who are working hard to have a positive impact, such as the Kyaninga projects including education centres, Forest Foundation, and local wheelchair making.
Support Conservation Projects Simply by Visiting
We encourage our guests to take part in conservation activities to support incredible conservation projects such as:
- National park entrance fees fund the conservation work of Uganda Wildlife Authority (20% also goes to support neighbouring communities). Watch the wildlife on game drives, safari walks, boat cruises, horseback or mountain bike safaris, and on special activities like big cat tracking or birding walks.
- The Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary breeding programme will soon re-introduce rhinos to some of Uganda’s parks after they were wiped out in the 1980s. Track southern white rhino on a nature walk at the sanctuary.
- Gorilla conservation is sustained by tourists, raising money for their protection, research, veterinary treatment, habitat protection, and community support. Track gorillas or join a gorilla habituation experience.
Speak to us for more details on the different conservation projects you can get involved with.
Go Off-the-Beaten-Track or Visit in Low Season
Not only is it fun to go beyond the usual tourist hotspots, but going off the beaten track is a sustainable way to give back to the country.
When you explore the quieter regions and communities, you directly support local people who don’t usually benefit from tourism.
While tourism is essential, overtourism can cause challenges for both the environment and local people when there are concentrated numbers in popular areas at certain times of the year. By going off the beaten track, or travelling in low season, you ease some of the pressure on those destinations and spread the benefits of tourism more evenly.
The eastern region of Uganda is a particularly great area to visit, as it’s quieter and avoids the crowds. Let us know if you’d like to visit here when planning your trip.
Expert Local Guides Share Their Knowledge
Our guides are at the heart of any safari experience. Their knowledge is inspiring and connects you more deeply to the places you visit:
- Their local knowledge about wildlife, culture, history, and politics gives you a richer understanding of the country.
- Many have specialisms such as birding or culture, so they can help to find you what you want and provide a richer understanding.
English is one of the national languages but many guides also speak a foreign language catering to tourists from all over the world. Speak to us if you have a language preference
Share the Love Online
PHOTO CREDIT 📸: Lorens Fischer, Venture client, photographer and photo tour leader.
Tour member feedback: “I will cherish the fondest memories of the photo trip. Your organization and support were excellent; everything went perfectly.” Visit Lorens’ website to see more of his photos
Your positive impact doesn’t end when your trip does. You can continue to support us, even after your trip, by sharing the love online.
Your help to spread the word is so important to us as a small company, because it helps inspire even more travellers to choose holidays to Uganda and Rwanda and ensure that their travels have a positive impact.
We love it when you leave Trip Advisor reviews, post photos, or tag us on your social media, so please share away. And please recommend us to your friends and family too. It all helps shine a spotlight on these incredible countries.
If you’d like to write a guest blog based on your travels with Venture, please let us know.