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The elephant home is a complete story. A story of the journey of converting poachers to conservationists. The former hunters and encroachers have been converted to friends and partners of wildlife conservation through generating income, skills, connections and other benefits from tourism.
When you decide to stay with us. We ensure that every coin you spend at the Elephant home goes a long way to the local family to put food on their table buy scholastic materials provide medical care and or buy cloth for that least known household in the villages next to Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Hosting guest at the Elephant home brings to the community, a feeling of appreciation when they get the opportunity to share with you their story of wildlife.
Our accommodation facilities have been designed to ensure that your visit to queen Elizabeth National Park is the most memorable one. Each of our guest rooms are fully furnished with private bathrooms, beds with mosquito netting, furniture and a private balcony. We also have private camping and ample packing space where guests can pack or sleep in their car rooftop tents. We now have tools that will be used to charge the guest gadgets as well as supply WiFi in our restaurant. The delicious meals served in our restaurant have made every client wish they are able to stay longer.
We are located in the heart of the jungle. Whether you want to take a walk, sit and listen to nature’s sounds, explore the rich plant life or take the views of Queen Elizabeth National Park, our secure neighborhood has you catered. The Elephant home is a bird sanctuary. You will listen to the birds 14 hours of the day from crack of dawn to late evening. In our self guided walk, you will have the liberty to walk in the animals’ tracks as you look for the spoors from different mammals that graze on the property. From the top of the self guided trail, relax as you view he lakes and game grazing in the park.
Immerse yourself in the local nature and culture as you watch wildlife and culture on the community trails. The elephant home is a perfect base to explore Queen Elizabeth national park and her neighborhoods. At the lodge, you will find experienced guides and allot of trails to do in and outside the park, whether you want to trek the Rwenzori foothills or the savannah plains.
You will have he opportunity to join the cultural demonstrations and workshops, village guided walks, traditional dances, traditional salt mining tours, Boda Boda safaris, chimp tracking, looking for tree climbing lions in Ishasha, the crater lakes tours game drives in Kasenyi, Kazinga channel boat cruise, lion tracking and many others.
By staying with us at the Elephant Home, you help us as we continue to contribute to conserve and develop the community neighboring the park.
We are pleased to hear that Entebbe airport will be open for commercial passenger flights, starting 1st October 2020. This gives us a new hope for an increase in business, considering that tourists will now be allowed to fly into Uganda.
During this time of post covid-19 pandemic lockdown, hygiene is of highest priority than ever before. In the past, the Elephant Home has always ranged highest on hygiene and cleanliness in the area around Queen Elizabeth. We re-affirm that we have only gotten better by integrating the national and global COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs)
We are prepared to welcome and show you around Queen Elizabeth National Park. We hereby share what we have been doing to safely welcome and host you during your post lockdown safari in the new normal.
At this moment, our communities need the tourism income more than ever. this will help us to secure the local livelihoods and natural habitat both of which are already in bad shape. environment related has more than doubled in the national park and our village. your visitation will help the people and wildlife be able to see tomorrow.
We happy to announce the we have started accepting bookings as we look forward to welcome you soon.
A simple project that started in 2015 is on the journey of improving livelihoods in the local community. The project runs tourism activities targeting tourists who visit Queen Elizabeth National Park. This project is called The Elephant Home. The ultimate goal of this lodge is not just to sale tourism goods and services. The lodge is aiming at something bigger through, facilitating positive change in the environment and local households around Queen Elizabeth national park at Kikorongo community.
So far, The elephant home has mobilized the youth, women and men using part of the income generated from tourism. The project has facilitated the formation of a local youth group directly implementing community empowerment works. Under this initiative, the community is now running the following projects;
At the moment, support to the elephant home comes from individual travelers and volunteers when they stay or provide voluntary services with the projects. This is how the lodge has managed to reach an estimate of 300 community members directly seeing the benefits of tourism. These and many more are slowly being encouraged to move from habitat destruction to sustainable livelihoods. In future, this project sees Kikorongo people able to meet their all basic needs sustainably while coexisting with wildlife.
The elephant home is a member of the Uganda Community Tourism Association (UCOTA). This is the basis for the high level of services and facilities being offered. The accommodation facilities of the elephant home are standard offering a great deal of hospitality. The lodge offers self contained twin and double rooms, camping facilities and a restaurant serving all meals on order. 98% of the guest to the elephant home has had something good to say about the lodge. Quoting their words, the lodge is hailed for the delicious meals, hospitable staff, great location close to the park gate, location in the jungle, large and very clean rooms, linkages to the community and many others. For the few guests who have had negative experiences, the community running the lodge has worked hard to address the challenges and turning them into positive experience for the next guests.
The most important and easy way of support is choosing to stay at the elephant home during your trip to Queen Elizabeth National Park. During the stay, you can also choose to do any of the community tourism activities. This one already takes the project miles ahead. At other levels of support, we request volunteers to help on the attitude change and skilling journey. These are two biggest strides that will move the project to another level.
If you want to arrange your stay, volunteer position or make any linkage in this respect. Please contact us today.
The Elephant home is a community lodge located next to Queen Elizabeth National Park. Being located near one of the most visited parks in Uganda, the lodge offers a spectrum of holiday activities to travelers who choose this park for their holiday.
Queen Elizabeth National park is a prime holiday destination for both local and foreign visitors traveling around Uganda. It is located in western Uganda, next to other important parks and biological sanctuaries of Uganda, including; the Rwenzori Mountains to the west, Kibale National Park to the north, and Bwindi Impenetrable forest to the south. Other wildlife reserves include the Kyambura gorge, Kalinzu forest, maramagambo forest, Kasyoha kitomi and the crater lakes area to the east of the park
Many guests coming to western Uganda always find it convenient to add Queen Elizabeth and other neighboring nature reserves on their list. Indeed the list of activities one can do at this area is very long and very few guests will have enough time and budget to do all activities on one trip. At the elephant home lodge, we make activity choices and arrangements easier for visitors by putting them in a number of packages. The lodge provides a list of up to six categories of holiday packages that everyone can choose from. Each package is designed to appeal to a certain varied or specific traveler interest. If you look in the following packages, you will realize that we have one or more choices that suit your holiday interests too.
It is a two nights three days package covering accommodation, meals, It is a two nights three days package covering accommodation, meals, wildlife safari and a boat cruise on the Kazinga channel. This package suites guest who have limited fixed time and or wants to arrange everything at once to be able to concentrate on exploring from the time of arrival. Most guests love it because they don’t have to manage their bills and choices all through their trip. They clear everything in advance so they don’t travel with redundant cash.
The components of this package are meals and accommodation. It is charged per night stayed. In this package, you decide the activities on arrival. It works well for people who want to travel flexibly and be able to decide what to do on a day to day basis. Depending on guest interest, we can charge accommodation on bed and breakfast (BB), half board (HB) or full board (FB) basis. The staff will offer all the required time to tell guests what they can do during their stay. We can also organise guides and cars for the activities in and outside the park. If you choose this package, please mention the accommodation price structure you want.
This includes joining an existing prior arranged wildlife activity. The activities that are in this category include; wildlife safari and boat cruise. It has a component of sharing the overhead costs such as the car/ driver and fuel, the guide, the initial costs of a boat cruise and others of the kind. After sharing the overheads, each guest pays their individual personal costs such as entrance fees meals, accommodation etc. All these other costs such as meals and refreshments on this package are normally optional. This package is suited for guests who 1). Want to travel on a budget, by sharing the overhead costs with other travelers or 2). Those guests who want to meet new people during travel 3). Those who want to join large groups to enhance their enjoyment of the activity. At the elephant home we know this may be your choice of package. Please share with us your plans.
This is a two days package. It entails a series of community experiences around the national park showcasing the local life of the people who live with wildlife all their lifetime, generation after generation. The package is suited for guests who want to add community experience to their wildlife safari. Within the two days or more, the package can be enriched with intervals of integrating wildlife safaris and boat cruise at an additional cost for these wildlife activities. Please let us know if this suite your travel interest and plans.
For you who likes to travel differently. This package gives interns, experienced travelers or passionate explores an opportunity to learn, share and or discover intensively in a new exotic environment. This is for people who don’t like to be traditional tourists. It is an opportunity to share by contributing part of oneself to the local cause that changes lives or conserves the local environment. We salute the volunteers and dedicate this to them. In this arrangement, we have put up a set of opportunities for our guests to reach, leave and participate in our conservation and community development work. We provide a package that includes discounted accommodation/meals and the available work to be done on a day to day basis. Volunteers are placed in the local schools and education programs, water and sanitation projects, crafts and waste management projects, child development projects, women empowerment programs. During the volunteer work, guests may choose to participate in wildlife and other holiday activities at intervals.
As we concentrate on helping our guests explore Queen Elizabeth national park and surrounding areas, we have strong connections with other community and none community attractions around the country. This package is suited to empower our guests during travel by helping them travel comfortably and confidently around Uganda. On request, we link our guests to agencies and groups that organize safaris and trips around Uganda, near and far. Being a member of the Uganda Community Tourism Association (UCOTA) we network with other members around the country or link you to the national community tourism coordinators that will provide reliable information about traveling around Uganda. Through this package, we have managed to give our guests an opportunity to have high value local on-ground safari managers and destinations that give them a complete Uganda experience at very minimal costs.
working with community conservation projects and tour companies, we organize tree planting events on our property, in our community or other communities around Queen Elizabeth or other conservation areas. This package is for a passionate conservation traveler who wants to offset the carbon footprint of travel and other human activities by contributing to re-greening the globe. Guests who choose this package are required to sponsor tree planting alongside their holiday activities of choice. The sponsorship goes to a chosen number of trees and their management for one year to enable the planted trees to suppress the bushes creating a forest. Through the year of the trees growing, we keep in touch sharing the progress and our guests are able to see their effort turning the bare lands into forests. this is for you if you want to do one of the most motivating selfless action during your travel time.
We may not guarantee that all our packages will suit everyone but we are sure every traveler to queen Elizabeth National park will find one package to remember all their life. Besides the packages, we also tailor holidays for guests who may not find a suitable package.
These products have been designed to make it easy for visitors to explore the Queen Elizabeth National Park. We prefer that any guests who want to choose a package books before arrival. Please contact us today and let us work together to make your dream holiday that will definitely turn to be a life-time experience.
Covering a part of Queen Elizabeth National Park, Maramagambo forest ranges from the Kichwamba escarpment to Lake Edward. The forest landscape is ideal for nature walks, hiking, and bird watching. There are immense opportunities to catch scenic views of verdant tree canopies covering the forest.
Image credit: naturesfrontline.org
The most significant attraction in Maramagambo Forest is the bat cave. This cave gained popularity from a bad experience. A Dutch woman contracted Marburg fever from these caves in 2008. The ministry of health sealed off the caves before re-opening them with safety precautions in place with assistance from the American Center for Disease Control.
There is safe viewing outside the cave to view thousands of bats and gorging pythons. This is quite a sight. Luckily, there is no fear of contracting the deadly Marburg fever. The safe viewing area allows watching the big serpents come out from the cave to get some heat from the sun.
The locals here offer immense opportunities from a cultural perspective. The name of this forest comes from a local legend where young people wandered off into this forest. These young people returned after a few days. They were worn out and unable to speak making the locals name the forest Maramagambo meaning loss of words in the local dialect.
The cave, at Nyanziibiri community, presents another cultural encounter. This brings the famous cave to life. This cave is located on the edge of lake Kamweru, one twin lake with lake Kyema. The river flowing out of this cave was used for cleansing people from misfortunes while they would make sacrifices inside the cave. The local elders say that this place was a hideout for various people during the period of tyranny in the country during past regimes. At Nyanziibiri campsite, located just above the cave, there is Banyaruguru hut museum with valued local artifacts once precious tools for everyday life.
A hike through Maramagambo Forest is short of catching glimpses of various primates. This forest is bordered by Kyadanduka and Nyamasingiri crater lakes making it a good spot for primate species including:
Apart from catching glimpses of chimpanzees in Maramagambo Forest, there is an opportunity to spot various rare animals. You will get a chance to snap away and to learn their behavior. A hike along the Kyasanduke Crater Lake offers a lot to discover more about this region.
Apart from discovering various tree species, there is a chance to track endangered species including pygmy antelopes, bushbabies, and pottos.
Maramagambo Forest offers various opportunities to watch various bird species making it a birders’ paradise. This location is home to various rare bird species to thrill any bird watcher including:
There is also a rare opportunity to find long columns of solder ants in Maramagambo Forest to thrill you. These might make a column about 100 meters long and over 6 meters sideways. Ensure to avoid getting into contact with these ants. A bite from a soldier ant comes with a sting with a long-term effect and of course pain.
Another attraction in Maramamgambo Forest is the nature walks. This unique experience requires walking through the canopy-shaded trail lasting for more than an hour to half a day. The options for nature walks to consider in Maramagambo Forest include:
Forest Trail
This hike will give you a chance to encounter various exciting things on the trail. However, maneuvering through this dense forest requires good fitness. This will come in handy when climbing through the various hills.
Valley Trail
The valley trail is a 3 ½ km walk over the valley. It offers various interesting experiences including walking along the ridge. There is an opportunity to discover various interesting forest species including the Viagra tree.
River Trail
You should consider taking a 2 ½ km walk along River Kajojo for an hour. The river was named Kajojo a local name for a young elephant. This river was famous for elephants bathing in the water stream. On this trail, there is a chance to catch glimpses of species like parinari and various primates.
Palm trail
This 5 km walk lasts for 1 ½ hour to 2 hours over flat terrain suitable for everyone. It offers a chance to see breathtaking features including tree species and learning their local use from the guide. The frame tree is used here to arouse sexual desire in women. Raphia Palm trees are sources of raw materials for making mats.
Waterfall Trail
Finally, you can take the 11km waterfall walk for 4 to 5 hours through dense vegetation to the hilly sections of Maramagambo Forest after maneuvering wet terrain. The trail leads to the Kiryantama Falls meaning sheep eater in the local dialect. You can’t miss seeing backcloth figs used as occasional attire by local men. This is used to make other commodities including table covers, curtains, and bags.
When considering a safari to Queen Elizabeth National Park, a visit to Maramagambo Forest should be top of your to-do list. There is a lot to indulge in here to give everyone a wonderful experience. You can book your visit to this wonderful landscape by yourself.
The forest can be accessed from two directions; from Kasese through Queen Elizabeth national park or from Mbarara- Ishaka-Bushenyi, heading to Kasese.
Traveling from Kampala is very easy by bus. You catch a bus from Kisenyi bus terminal-Kampala downtown. This bus drops you in Mbarara town. From here take a taxi heading to Kasese via Bushenyi, to stop you at the forest or your lodge near the forest. The distance is an estimate of 305km from Kampala to Maramagambo and will take an estimate of 5-6 hours traveling by car.
Everyone willing to visit Maramagambo forest can easily find a place to stay on the night before and after this forest experience. You will also find a range of accommodation options to select from in the Bunyaruguru and Bushenyi districts. The forest can be accessed from most lodges in and around Queen Elizabeth national park.
For those not familiar with this area, contacting any tour operator or lodges around Queen Elizabeth national park is ideal. Contact us today for more information about how to find accommodation in this area.
This is the newest and probably most captivating adventure on the list of activities in Bwindi. You will be spending time with the Batwa forest people. Choosing to visit the Batwa is a choice to learn the secrets of living in the richest forests of east and central Africa.
The Batwa people carry the most recent civilization on earth. They lived in this forest for over six hundred years before they were displaced. In the year 1992 when Bwindi was gazetted into a national park, this group of forest people was dislocated from the forest in the interest of conserving the endangered mountain gorillas that were at the verge of extinction at the time.
The dislocation of the Batwa from the forest has its own negative story to this group of people. However, this Batwa experience tour places the Batwa as experts of life in the forest rather than an attraction. This has given an opportunity for travelers who visit the gorillas to understand the forest beyond gorilla tourism.
This tribe caries the authentic story of the forest, the gorillas and their unique culture, than any other guide. The unique Batwa forest tour comes with their willingness to share their story with you when you visit the gorillas.
The good news is that Uganda Wildlife Authority has fully supported the establishment of this Batwa experience to shock absorb the likely suffering of the Batwa when they can earn a living from the same forest during the process of adapting the life in the modern world. Taking this Batwa experience supports the Batwa, the gorillas and the forest that is equally home to both races. This further offsets the carbon footprint of every traveler who chooses to visit the forest in this unique way.
This Batwa experience is inside the Bwindi impenetrable National Park. It is in the same forest where you will go for your ultimate gorilla tracking experience. This cultural experience is in two packages. You can choose to take the shorter trail that takes up to three and a half hours or take the longer one that lasts up to five hours.
Only the mountain gorilla can be better than a Mutwa guide, on the forest issues. During this 2-5 hours trek in the forest, you will have the Batwa as the guide. It is a privilege to have a very experienced guide that is part of this forest. You will be inspired when the Batwa prove to you the abundance that is within the forest. This guide will be interpreting both nature and culture as celebrated outside all aspects of luxury in modern life. Everyone including the local community members is new to this forest culture. From looking at the Batwa, you can learn that their participation further gives them the pride of practicing their traditional life. Here they take the joy to introduce new visitors to their way of life.
The Batwa experience tour in this forest is worth a try by everyone who visits the gorillas in Bwindi. It gives a worthy background of this gorilla habitat. You will also realize that the role Batwa played in the conservation of this ecosystem of very high ecological potential was vital for its survival.
Because they have lived in the forest longer than in the community, they still track their life and remember the caves, shrines herbs and many other aspects of the forest that count in their lives. With quite an amount if trekking time, you will be introduced to the secret place and cultural practices of the Batwa people. They used special herbs to cure all kinds of ailments. You will be given a glimpse of how these herbs are collected and processed to cure certain diseases. The practices you will be able to participate in include, natural honey harvesting, hunting carrying water using bamboo, starting a fire from two dry sticks, forest building techniques, and many others.
The pricing for this product is very friendly and flexible. The Batwa experience is located inside the park. However, if you do this experience on the day before or after the gorilla tracking the park entrance fee is waived. All guests who have not done gorilla tracking will pay the activity fee and the park entrance fee payable at the park gate. The prices for the activity are enlisted by Uganda wildlife authority. This makes it easy to arrange this experience from Bwindi or UWA headquarters in Kampala. Besides, all Ugandan tour operators are well placed to provide information, arrange or book the activity.
A group wishing to do this Batwa forest experience has a minimum and maximum size. The minimum number of people going on this tour is two people and the maximum is six people per group. However if on guest wants to take it alone they will have to pay a fee for two people as the minimum number. Currently, the price for one person is 20$ and the ark entrance fee is 40$. Guests can contact the UWA office during working days/ hours to find out the current prices of the product.
For those who want to do a Batwa experience without going to Bwindi, another Batwa experience tour is arranged by UWA in Mgahinga. The Batwa trail in Mgahnga costs 80$ including park entrance fee. In Mgahinga it takes 8 hours, a little longer than Bwindi. Other villages around Uganda, that can give a single Batwa experience visit include;
Unlike the two long Batwa experience trails in Bwindi and Mgahinga, these other community Batwa points will only show a staged showcase of the Batwa outside the forest habitat. The Bambuti tribe is a sub-group of the general class of the pigmies living in Ituri forest of Congo.
Those wishing to do the Batwa experience in Bwindi forest should come prepared. The trek takes through the forest and wilderness habitat. You should carry your long-sleeved clothing, hiking shoes, rain gear, packed lunch drinking water, and other personal items. We will supply a shopping list on request.
One of the most spectacular tropical rainforests in Uganda, Kibale Forest National Park is the world’s primate capital. This park was founded in 1993 with more than 1500 chimpanzees and more 13-primate species. It is no wonder that this park is the ideal destination for chimp tracking. This national park is located in the western part of the country straddling between Kamwenge and Kabarole districts.
Getting here to enjoy one of the best safaris in Uganda is a 6-hour drive 320 kilometers away from the city. However, this depends on the traffic. Accessing the park requires a permit that costs UGX.100, 000 East African residents, $100 for foreign residents, and $150 for foreign nonresidents. Since prices can change without prior notice, you may need to contact us for the latest prices at your time of visiting.
There is a chance to enjoy a discount when you come during March, April, or November. To enjoy a chimp habituation experience, the permits cost UGX.70, 000 for East African residents, $150 for foreign residents, and $220 for foreign nonresidents.
Apart from chimps, other primates you can’t miss here include:
This incredible adventure begins at Kanyanchu Visitor Center for a briefing by a park official. The briefing begins at 7:00 am and takes an hour before hitting the jungle to track the amazing primates. This expedition takes about 2 to 3 hours and the pack is strictly 6 individuals. It explains the importance of booking with a tour of your safari date in advance.
Deep in the forest, expect to hear the primates before seeing them. Chimpanzees are always screaming, panting, hooting, and barking. Luckily, this helps professional tour guides to locate the primates. Keep in mind that you have one hour for a face-to-face chimp encounter. Chimpanzee tracking is available in the morning or afternoon.
You can as well spend a day on a chimpanzee habituation experience. Kibale Forest National Park has 4 chimp communities set up for tourism and research. This has about 50 to 60 individuals with the second community at the heart of the park with about 200 chimps. The third community is at Kanyanchu, the center of the whole tourism experience in the park. For research, there is the fourth community at Sebitoli.
A fully-grown male chimp weighs about 35 to 70 kilograms and about 3 meters tall. Females weigh about 26 to 50 kilograms standing at about 2 to 4 feet. Chimpanzees have a life expectancy of about 40 years in the wild while those in captivity can last 60 years. Unlike mountain gorillas, chimps are man’s closest cousins sharing about 98 percent DNA.
Some of the human-like behaviors of chimps include:
Chimpanzees live in communities with a population of about 10 to 100. Here, the young ones are babysat and groomed by the elders. After 4 years, the young chimps can now live on their own. Just like other wild species, chimps can get very aggressive when irritated. These primates spend most of their time on the ground to feeding on flowers, fruits, leaves, and seeds.
This is an all-year-round activity. However, you better come during the dry season starting from June, September, December, and February. The wet season is during March, April, May, and November. During this period, it is a bit hard to track these primates. However, this is an ideal moment for bird watching.
Chimpanzee tracking is one of the most memorable experiences to make an ideal safari in Uganda. Kibale Forest National Park is full of chimpanzees and other primate species. It is the ideal location to give you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch these magnificent species in their natural habitat. A great tour guide will always be handy to ensure you make the most of your safari.
Lake Katwe is located in the North of Mweya Peninsular of Queen Elizabeth National Park in the western district of Kasese. This place is famous for the most exalted crater lakes in this part of Uganda. The area has up to 52 craters that can be explored on several tours over days. Some of the craters in this part of the park include Lake Katwe and Lake Nyamunuka.
These crater lakes areas are ideal for hiking with an opportunity to catch amazing glimpses of warthogs, flamingos, buffalos, elephants, hippos and other animals or cultural encounters around Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Besides, Lake Katwe gives locals a source of livelihood through salt mining while other crater lakes are used for various activities such as fishing, drinking points for wild animals or providing water for domestic use, especially outside the park. A local guide from Katwe Tourism Information Center (KATIC) can take you on a guided tour of Lake Katwe to get the first-hand experience of local salt mining. During this tour, you will be inspired, to learn how much effort and risk the local communities take to get salt on the table of all local residents.
Salt mining at Lake Katwe dates back more than 700 years offering locals an appropriate source of income. European explorers John Speke and Graham Grant recorded about salt production in 1863 and 1864 respectively. This described the product as pure in taste and color. Lake Katwe has various tributaries bringing in water but without outlets to make the water saline.
In the dry season, extreme evaporation makes a concentrated salt solution to become salt rocks. The salt from this lake used to be exported to neighboring countries like to Rwanda and Congo before the discovery of deposits in other areas. The salt mining activity is steadily losing its spark because of the discovery of salt in neighboring countries. However, Salt mining is still a major source of livelihood for locals in Katunguru and Katwe communities.
The uniqueness of this place is not only limited to salt or wildlife in Queen Elizabeth National Park. Visiting the place is also an opportunity to meet the people of Uganda. The salt mining community is probably the richest representative of Uganda cultures. Evidently, Katwe salt lake and neighborhood is a community of an assortment of tribes and ethnic representative of up to 55 different tribes of Uganda. This makes it the workplace with the largest selection of all Ugandan tribes in one place, doing the same job. This representation gives proof of the importance of the lake as a source of livelihood. Visitors to the lake will get an additional opportunity to meet the people from different tribes of Uganda.
Incidentally, this salt mining is still being done the same way it was done at the beginning around the 14th century. This system is characterized by the use of hands and simple tools for all the mining work, creation of salt pans owned and run by different community members and division of labor between men and women, where men extract the base rock salt while women only work in the shallow salt pans to mine the table salt. Salt pans are depressions dug in the ground on the edges of the lake to collect table salt. The walls of the salt pans are built with wood and mud, to separate them from each other.
The salt from Lake Katwe is known to be too strong beyond scientific classification and could not be mined by modern machinery. This is why, up to now; this slat is better mined by hand. Around the year 1970, a European investor, Thysen, tried to take a venture in processing salt from Lake Katwe. Thysen tools and equipment for salt processing and mining were eroded by excessive sodium chloride. Until now, all possible modern investors have lost interest in the salt mining activity of this lake. In one way, this has become an opportunity for the local community members to retain ownership of their livelihood through salt mining by hand. There has been an attempt to acquire protective gear but the excessive heat of the area complicates the use of this gear.
Salt mining at Lake Katwe thrives during the dry season. This happens from January to March and July to September. The dry season encourages extreme evaporation making saline water in Lake Katwe to concentrate forming the salt. When collecting salt, a garden (salt pan) is prepared by clearing grass from the area. The grass is heaped along the edge of the pond then dry soil is scattered over the exposed wet surface of this grass. Saline water is channeled from the main lake to the pond and this separate pond is monitored for the salt formation and harvesting.
Within each of the ponds, called the salt pans, the salt formation processes are monitored and facilitated by the individual owners. Crusted salt forms on the surface of the water and is plashed with water forcing it to go down to the floor. It is then collected by mostly women and washed with the lake water until it is clear without adding any other ingredients. This salt is then filtered to make table salt. S The men shovel salt blocks from the lake bottom to the shallow end. Salt mines have wooden walkways where salt is extracted most times in large blocks. Highly crystallized salt is for human consumption as table salt. Rock salt is sold cheaply to farmers to add in cow feed and for tendering beans and meat in many households while the muddy salt is exported to be used in the production of fertilizers, manufacture of soap, or use in the textile industries for dying fabric.
The livelihood of salt miners revolves around the lake. These miners spend whole days under the hot sun while enduring the bad odor from evaporating saline water. During the dry season, salt goes under depression and temperatures significantly drop. There are various health concerns resulting from the toxicity of Lake Katwe. Locals are deeply concerned about the effect of exposure to their reproductive system.
People are deeply worried about the salty water in the lake making men impotent and women unable to have children. Despite these health concerns, people have to earn a living since the lake is their source of income. The locals seem not to get up to date health facilities to enable them to operate more securely. This makes miners use various primitive methods to protect themselves. Women place flour in their private parts to avoid exposure to toxic water. Men go into the water wearing condoms to avoid the effect of the water toxicity on their reproductive health.
A visit to Lake Katwe takes a minimum of two hours during a tour of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Your guide will give you important information regarding salt mining and the history of the area. People here depend on Lake Katwe to earn income but business is no longer thriving than before. There is competition from other sources of salt. With low income, minors endure very poor standards of living although they have families to support. Since this lake is located within the wildlife area, ecotourism is one way to help the community members diversify their incomes as one way to sustain the local resources.
During your tour, you can support the local community by taking other tours or purchasing some memorabilia including art and crafts made by locals. These come in different varieties sold on the roadside to visitors. Selling these crafts is a way to diversify the income of locals. This prevents dependence on salt mining, which is no longer lucrative.
Apart from the salt mines, you can look for other attractions near Lake Katwe including:
For more information, you can check more about Lake Katwe in our related article.
Book your visit today
Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of the major attractions in Uganda. In your itinerary, you can’t miss out on a trip to Lake Katwe salt mining. You can book your tour today for a chance to discover how the activities of the locals here ensure that people have table salt to enjoy their meals.
An open opportunity of exploring over 600 bird species, ten primate species including chimps, and 95 mammal species, awaits all visitors to queen Elizabeth national park. Just in two days of adventure in this astonishing wildlife paradise, you have a chance of sampling east Africa’s bird list since the park has a representation of each on the Kazinga channel. Besides, the channel contains the highest concentration of hippos in Africa as it is witnessed by the availability of multitudes of hippo schools, during the boat cruise.
Queen Elizabeth is the most popular wildlife area in Uganda. it is a human biosphere offering all ranges of attractions including landscapes, adventure wildlife, birding, water activities, research and culture as it is a human biosphere with the highest number of human communities living pleasantly with the wildlife inside the park. Sightseeing activities in queen Elizabeth national park can be done in any number of days ranging from one to five or longer, depending on time available, purpose and budget. The list of activities that can be done during this memorable visit includes;
The game drive is better done in the mornings and evening, meaning you can do up to two safaris per day.
Each Kazinga Channel launch trip takes two hours. From Mweya it can be done twice a day while with the community boat it is done any time of the day, subject to prior booking.
Chimpanzee tracking can be done in two alternative locations; Kyambura gorge and Kalinzu forest.
Share with us the number of days you have for queen Elizabeth national park and we will put together the suitable itinerary for you. We can also book your accommodation on request
The elephant home is a lodge that offers all her visitors, a memorable experience of Queen Elizabeth national park. Located next to the park on the base of Rwenzori foothills, in Kikorongo village, the lodge gives guests an opportunity for easy access at arrival time and to the park game drive. It also opens guests to the opportunities of meeting the indigenous people, walking in the elephant track, taking a comfortable stay with high level hospitality from the locals serving the fresh foods locally grown.
This accommodation has a long list of activities, both in and outside the park that guests can participate in during their stay. These activities give a true detail of Queen Elizabeth national park beyond anyone has ever thought. The activities inside the park include; a game drive in kasenyi tracks, a boat cruise on Kazinga channel, Kyambura chimp tracking and the search for tree climbing lions in Ishasha. The activities outside the park include; lake Katwe traditional salt mining, a visit to Kasoga village, Boda-boda safari, the crater lakes tours, Kikorongo village walk, Kikorongo village trek, Kalinzu forest chimp tracking, Katunguru community boat cruise on Kazinga channel, traditional dances and crafts making workshops.
The elephant home is surrounded by savanna bushes and cotton fields. It is a hub of nightly visiting elephants and other game. On a self-guided walk, guests take the opportunity of reluctantly walking in the elephant trails heading to view Lakes George and Kikorongo, both commonly lined with grazing animals in Queen Elizabeth national park. We are located on Kasese Mbarara road, 22km from Kasese town and accessible by all road transport with public travel options. It is ten (10) minutes’ drive to Kasenyi park gate and 15 minutes to Katunguru where the community boat excursion starts.
We look forward to welcoming you to our accommodation and showing you around Queen Elizabeth national park. if you wish to arrange longer safaris, we will be happy to recommend you to one of the reliable safari agencies and or guides.