Category: Responsible Tourism
The responsibility highlighted in the term “responsible tourism” is a powerful concept. It invites you to continuously think about your actions, consider their immediate and far-reaching implications. In our interpretation we follow the 2022 Responsible Tourism Charter that defines it as:
(1) Recognises global environmental issues that require local action
(2) Sets goals, measures and reports efforts to minimise negative economic, environmental, and social impacts
(3) Generates greater economic benefits for local people and enhances the well-being of host communities
(4) Involves local people in decisions that affect their communities
(5) Makes positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage
(6) Addresses biodiversity loss and is nature-positive
(7) Provides inclusive employment irrespective of ability, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation
(8) Provides more enjoyable experiences for all through more meaningful connections with locals and a greater understanding of context/issues
(9) Offers culturally sensitive experiences engendering respect between tourists and hosts, and building local pride and confidence
To these we add:
(10) Promotes animal welfare
Our Stories:
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SABA Episode #17 – Why Should Our Region Be More Than Just a Fling? (14m)
And now for real — with a new jingle that will simplify our production, we are entering the third season of the SEE AFRICA BREATHE AFRICA weekly podcast! Are you one of those travellers who like to seriously consider their impact on the area they visit? Or do you prefer taking it as lightly as…
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Why Is Congo’s Bukavu Safe to Visit & What Does It Offer?
The Democratic Republic of Congo has been in the news for very unfortunate reasons. The Movement of 23 March (M23) rebels have been occupying the territories on the outskirts of the city of Goma, waging an economic war because of the valuable resources found there. But on the other side of Lake Kivu, some 100…
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T-Shirts With a Message About Us
The new Gorilla Highlands guide t-shirts came from Kampala to Kabale on a night bus yesterday, and immediately got onto the bodies of our Lake Bunyonyi team. It was the first day of Mama Bena’s Bonus, one of our top canoeing and hiking activities in Uganda. #GHTrails on the shirts refers to that aspect of…
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Trouble for Batwa “Pygmy” Communities: Successes & Failures
Our Batwa friends from Rwamahano happily received six months of accumulated funds this week. They got UGX 2,130,000 (USD 570) that we had saved from several Batwa Today experiences we did with them. Small contributions end up becoming substantial when brought together! Each time we collaborate we put half of Batwa fees aside and deliver…
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They Come To See Animals, They Leave Thinking About African Life
(We thought our audience could find it interesting, so we translated the article by Aljaž Vrabec published on 30 November 2022 in Slovenia’s Delo newspaper) Nature preservation, respectful treatment of local people and tourism do not always go hand in hand. Thankfully, there do exist travellers and tour providers who care. One of them is…
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Trouble for Batwa “Pygmy” Communities: Lake Bunyonyi
We previously talked about Rwamahano, as an example of Batwa “Pygmy” groups we work with. These indigenous people originate from some of the oldest humans in Africa. They once lived in forests looking for fruits and honey, and hunted with bows and arrows, trained dogs by their side. Towards the end of the 20th century…
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Can Primate Parachuters Be Responsible Tourists?
If our goal is to make travel in the Gorilla Highlands region more responsible, what do we do with Primate Parachuters? The Primate Parachuter (PP) shall be a provisional term for a tourist who is only interested in seeing mountain gorillas, and maybe chimps. For many PPs, time in Rwanda/Uganda is severely limited, usually because…
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Have You Heard?! We Won a Global Responsible Tourism Award!
Gorilla Highlands was among the winners at the 2022 WTM Responsible Tourism Awards celebrated in London on Monday. We took the global “Contributing to Cultural Heritage” category and also won gold in the “Rest of the World” competition. After a decade of revealing natural and cultural landscapes of our region to discerning travellers, we were…
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Trouble for Batwa “Pygmy” Communities: Echuya Forest
This week we accompanied the last group of tourists into the wilderness of Echuya Forest and to the famed ritual tree of the Batwa “Pygmies”. From now on we are going to be charged USD 30 per person to enter this nature reserve, and we are simply not ready to pay this exorbitant fee. We…