Know Before You Go

Ride 4 A Woman

Started by the women of Buhoma village, located just outside Bwindi National Park, this is a novel program designed to teach women the business and trade skills they need to start productive careers on their own.

Ride4AWoman began by renting bicycles to tourists as a way to earn income but quickly grew to much more. With the additional need to learn how to repair bikes, the project began to teach community members (primarily women) how to repair and maintain bikes. As the small business and concept grew, they launched into the weaving and craft business, now working closely with lodges in the area to sell their crafts to support themselves and their families. In addition to purchasing commercial sewing machines, Nat Hab Philanthropy has provided funding for additional buildings to Ride 4 A Woman, which is now a self-sustaining enterprise.

Mbuga School Reading Room

Primary education is critical to the development of young minds in many ways. From learning to read to understanding national history and social development, the classroom, no matter how big or small, is integral to growth. For this reason, Nat Hab Philanthropy has teamed up with N’dali Lodge, where Nat Hab stays during our Uganda and Rwanda Gorilla trips, to help supply the school with volunteers, new school materials, and, specifically, a new reading room in 2017 to meet the growing needs of the community and hundreds of school children.

Gorilla Conservation Coffee

Gorilla Conservation Coffee serves to incorporate a sustainable livelihood with gorilla conservation through the production and sale of high-quality, sustainable coffee. Coffee plantations are excellent crops to grow on the margins of gorilla habitat because they create a buffer between the forest and food crops, keeping gorillas safe in their natural habitat. When gorillas wander into fields, they quickly turn back thinking that with only coffee bushes, there is nothing for them to feed on in the area.

Realizing that coffee is not just helping gorillas, but also a sustainable livelihood, Gladys Kalema, the first female veterinarian with the Uganda Wildlife Authority, created a project that combines coffee growing, gorilla conservation work, and public health known as Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH). With CTPH, team members do direct monitoring of gorilla health, and also educate the community on family planning, personal hygiene, reducing reliance on forest products like firewood, sustainable agricultural techniques, and ways to reduce conflict with the wild gorillas.

The coffee farmers in Buhoma have formed a cooperative to sell fresh coffee beans to Gorilla Conservation Coffee. The income from the coffee supports local farmers and CTPH’s work protecting critically endangered mountain gorillas.

Bwindi School

The Bwindi Community School is a school that educates at primary, secondary, vocational, and university levels near Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a key natural area and renowned mountain gorilla habitat. The school’s mission is to break the cycle of poverty in the Bwindi community through education. And being key stakeholders for a vast natural area that functions to protect a haven for biodiversity, this is a vital community to support. Nat Hab Philanthropy has funded Bwindi for infrastructure projects and school additions.