This frame from our Treasures exhibition looks back a quarter of a century, to the moment when Edirisa — the mother of the Gorilla Highlands idea — was unveiled to an equatorial community on 20 February 2001.
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That’s why we travelled to Lake Bunyonyi this morning — Diana and Sasha from Rwanda, Elie from Congo, Steven and I, proudly Ugandan — and that’s why dozens of other good people are trickling in.
But being a very global group, the most important part will happen online, and we hope you join!
This is what we sent out in GHE News earlier today:
🎂 Tomorrow’s monthly Zoom about Edirisa will be a celebration — and start 30 minutes earlier than usual!
This is themoment for all of you who couldn’t make it to our anniversary to join us virtually!
You’ll first enjoy a live guided tour of Edirisa on Lake Bunyonyi, then revisit some photo moments from our 25 years, and finally be part of the cake-cutting moment.
Oh yes: 30 minutes full of action. You’d better not miss it! And if you have more time at your disposal, you’re very welcome to stay online longer, for the meeting itself.
The link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81403483711?pwd=rfgrBSnJH6BL4PObAjdXmwbQbKz8qg.1
The time:
Saturday
• Uganda: 6:30pm
• Rwanda/Eastern DR Congo: 5:30pm
• most of Europe: 4:30pm
• UK: 3:30pm
• US East Coast: 10:30am
• US West Coast: 7:30am
(GHE News subscribers of course weren’t as surprised as you might be. They get updates every Friday — and you could too, over WhatsApp or email. Just reply to this newsletter.)
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Just look at this gang! If you’ve been engaged with us in any way through the decades, you must have met some of these folks. In the centre: Bena, the Edirisa Nursery School teacher, who connected us with her mother Veronica, and Mama Bena’s Bonus was born!
Even our historian Ian is here, the one who co-authored the name “Gorilla Highlands” 15 years ago. He must be tidying himself for the gala dinner tonight?
Our kitchen team is amazing, so everyone who is here this evening will absolutely have their taste buds spoiled!
Imagine, we are still fighting the Printing Wars of the Pocket Treasure! We have to sort through the last 360 booklets we have received so far, to see if we can add to the 15 locations where they are already available (you can get a copy online too).
As it is our tradition, we will mix pleasure with business. Tomorrow morning is an All Hands meeting of the Gorilla Highlands Experts tours and media teams, and in the tree house Shyaka is preparing to talk about finances and accountability.
But if you are reading this in another country or on another continent, just remember the Zoom get-together almost exactly 24 hours from now: at 6:30pm Ugandan time. Be there, be with us — 25 years is something worth marking!
🖋️📸 written & photographed by:
ML Rwebandira — formerly known as Miha Logar — is an adventure/ cultural tourism expert, writer and multimedia producer who co-founded Gorilla Highlands Experts. A national of both Uganda and Slovenia, ML resides with his son Lan in Musanze, Rwanda. [bio updated: 2026-02-28]