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2024 Youth Spaces Cohort: Crazy Cashless People
The ball is now in play! The 2024 GHE Youth Spaces cohort kicked off last weekend, with a session held at INES in Musanze. 27 participants met in a classroom on its beautiful campus with a golden statue of St John Paul II in the centre and with sweet sounds of birds chirping from the trees,…
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Who Is in the Second Crop of Youth Spaces?
This year, our call to participate in GHE Youth Spaces received many fantastic responses! Ambitious youngsters seem to be excited about the program. It wasn’t easy selecting from 56 group applications from approximately 120 individuals! We are inviting the following 30 young leaders with inspired ideas to gain knowledge and resources and contribute to our environment: Weekend get-togethers will start later this…
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Coming Together
Quarterly newsletter for Gorilla Highlands lovers How remarkable that we were there again — in the clearing next to a simple tin-roofed house, above a campsite with a couple of spacious tents, on the hillside of a medium-sized Lake Bunyonyi island — where the January newsletter was set. Over the years, legendary Tom had hosted hundreds…
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Do You Have a Cool Business or Project Idea That Is Environmentally Friendly?
The GHE Youth Spaces program is back! Supported by Omnicom Media Group (OMG), the second cohort will again take place in Musanze — between April and July 2024.The program’s mission is to give the youth practical skills that lead to personal development, civic engagement and regional peacebuilding in the transboundary region shared by Rwanda, Uganda…
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30 Years Ago Something Terrifying Started
On 7 April 1994 the prime minister of Rwanda, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, was murdered together with ten Belgian peacekeepers who had been sent to guard her. She had to die because she was a moderate Hutu attempting to stabilise the country after the president’s plane was shot down the previous night. They were targeted because scaring…
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Go-To Guide: Track Gorillas in Uganda, Rwanda & DR Congo
Better late than never! Because we tend to emphasise the intriguing human side of our region, we have never had one dedicated source that brings together all the facts that matter to a gorilla enthusiast. Here it is, and we shall update it and improve it over time! If you fancy more in-depth coverage by…
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The Complete Package (Almost There)
Focus is key, they say. We were advised against adding something new to our already exciting travel offerings — but now that food experiences in Kigali, Musanze, Kisoro and at Lake Bunyonyi grace our menu, it simply feels right! Think about it. We’re the brains behind Gorilla Highlands Silverchef, right? And isn’t one of our directors…
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Edirisa, a GHE Location on Lake Bunyonyi
It’s official: Edirisa on Lake Bunyonyi (Uganda) is now run from Musanze (Rwanda), placed under the Gorilla Highlands Experts (GHE) umbrella. We still have Levi managing the site and cooking, we still have Arthur assisting him in every possible way, but they are in daily contact with our office team. On the one hand, this…
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OMG! Youth Spaces Get Multi-Talented Friends From Dubai!
GHE Youth Spaces will have an Arabian taste this year — or should we say a global one? This week we had a call with Alanna Turpin who leads sustainability and culture efforts at the Omnicom Media Group (OMG). Their Dubai office is eager to support Youth Spaces in 2024, with a substantial donation and…
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Lean & Mean Developments — For Travellers Who Care
The Gorilla Highlands team stepped into a new era last weekend. At the first-ever All-Hands meeting of Gorilla Highlands Limited, we had 13 Rwandans, 12 Ugandans and one Congolese representative assembling at Kigali’s Resident Hotel. The reason: anticipated fast growth of our tour business, combined with Miha Logar’s determination to leave the daily pressures of the travel…
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Unapologetically Miha
This is the first Gorilla Highlands quarterly newsletter delivered to subscribers by email. If you wish to get future issues please contact us. * * * There were tiny gorillas all over the place: dangling from the tall bamboo trees, playing across the gently sloping volcanic landscape, and peering at a small group of visiting…
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ChatGPT Gets Africa (Somehow)
As Tour Business Coaching Program participants, we were encouraged to subscribe to ChatGPT 4. Visual art generation is one of its advances, and it has proved hilarious to explore what it knows about Africa. When asked to draw a map of the Gorilla Highlands region, it emphasised Lake Bunyonyi, and that was intriguing. Requested to…
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How Roma Waited and Waited, and Is Funding a Camp Now!
Our friends, it’s been months since we shared the news about the end of our NGO registration struggles, and now we have another milestone to share: there is a Gorilla Highlands Experts (GHE) bank account in existence! Thrilling, right? We know you have been wondering how to fund our much-needed activities with Rwandan youth ……
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Crazy: Burundi, Rwanda & Uganda’s Gorillas in Three Days
The collapsing swimming platform at Edirisa on Lake Bunyonyi has been rebuilt from scratch, courtesy of Wheeling2help! This volunteer organisation brings groups of Greeks and Cypriots to several countries, eager to make positive community impact. After several contributions to Bufuka Primary School — a new kitchen with school meals tops the list — they added…
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Alex’s Full African Menu (He Loved Every Serving!)
Our October was distinguished by a visit from Washington — no, it wasn’t Biden just yet, but Alex Wilson ticked many boxes too. From the moment he read about us in the Washington Post, Alex was a fan who wanted to become part of our tribe. With his background in high school teaching, he was…
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Proud of Grace — Plus Cedric, Maani & Yvelise!
We can never express our heartfelt pride enough for our teammate Grace Neema who graduated today from Computer Networking at INES Ruhengeri! She enthusiastically applied to work for Gorilla Highlands Ltd and Gorilla Highlands Experts when her church colleague Mr Fred Munyeshyaka shared the news — and she was chosen to become the first office…
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First Time to Leave Rwanda, First Time to Canoe & Camp
The training period of the four candidates for our office staff ended with an adventure in Uganda, joining our guest Alex from Washington on three days of activities. Once we crossed the border, the first experience was a coffee tour, where we learned what it is like to work at a coffee farm. We all…
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Border to Border — From Our High Season Months
On Uganda’s border with South Sudan, Kidepo Valley NP is a phenomenal destination that is not a common part of our itineraries. (It’s kinda far …) But when Ramon from Slovenia requested Kidepo, we were happy to oblige, and also added Semliki on Uganda’s boundary with DR Congo. (He had over 3 weeks at his…
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