Pocket Treasure is a 52-page paper booklet made by an international team of experts to serve as a handy guide to an incredible region, and a special souvenir after your visit. It is being printed in Kampala in December 2025 and will be officially launched in Kigali on 8 January 2026.
The A6-format booklet focuses on three parts of the region: Gorilla National Parks, Lake Bunyonyi and the Congo Nile Trail. It is packed with useful information and local context, lists all habituated gorilla groups and their locations, offers a phrasebook page with Kinyarwanda/Rufumbira, Rukiga and Swahili and doesn’t lack humour and surprises. It encourages the readers to jot their impressions down, and protects these memories in the long run with a decorative case.
The cover price of the Pocket Treasure is USD 10 (or UGX 35,000/RWF 15,000). All profits go towards the Ilumineers youth program by Gorilla Highlands Experts (GHE).
Distributed with Youthful Energy
We are printing 5,000 booklets and aim to make them available wherever practical, throughout Uganda and Rwanda. Partners interested in reselling them have to agree to the cover price and a 30% commission. They receive a pack of 30 Pocket Treasures on consignment, one of them intended for display.
The Pocket Treasure concept also offers the youth an opportunity to earn some income through selling the booklet on the street. Carefully vetted and clearly branded with a GHE t-shirt, these are both the ambassadors and the beneficiaries of the project.
Built on the Foundation of the Pocket Guide
Pocket Treasure has a famous predecessor. Last published in 2019, the Gorilla Highlands Pocket Guide was a popular free booklet that had nine editions in total, each in 10,000 copies. In 2013 it first appeared as a guide to southwestern Uganda and then gradually covered more and more territory. Rwanda was added in 2016 and the eastern part of the DRC included in 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to the project, and changed many things — but not the pleasure of holding a tangible product in your hands in an increasingly digital world.
For more information please email pockettreasure@gorillahighlands.com or WhatsApp +250 783 118 421.
cover photo: Marcus Westberg; other photos: Miha Logar
Stories About Pocket Treasure:
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Booklet Launched, Then Daylight Hit
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The People Who Will Put It in Your Pocket
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First 100 Pocket Treasures
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Pocket Guides will Conquer the World, with Mirika’s Help
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Jump into the Future: Our Pocket Guide Roadmap
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Fascinating Results of the First Ever GH Survey
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Pocket Guide Nightmare is Over
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Let’s Be Fair: Kampala versus Kigali
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Get Your Copy of the New Gorilla Highlands Pocket Guide
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China, the Superpower We Need on Our Side
“So you would want to translate it into Chinese?” he wanted to understand our plans.
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Pocket Guides Covering Our Transboundary Region
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Pocket Guide with Rwanda on the Way
If you are from Musanze, you can truly help us a lot with your feedback!
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Background Story: Global Team behind the Video Map
Over three years, sleeping in grass-thatched huts and working in mud structures whose glass-less windows open towards a magnificent mountain lake, or from their homes across the globe, a small group of expert volunteers worked on a project like no other, the Gorilla Highlands Video Map. They cared about an outstanding region in the middle…
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Our Most Popular Product Will Include Rwanda
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Gorilla Highlands Embraces Rwanda
Many Rwandans are jealous of Ugandans, many Ugandans are jealous of Rwandans.
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On the Way to the Total Guide
Sunny greetings from Lake Bunyonyi, from The Heart of Edirisa, where we have entered September 2015 with a new Gorilla Highlands website. It will be under construction throughout the month as we, slowly by slowly, update and post online a lot of great content from our award-winning Interactive eBook. This is not for international guests…