Ishasha Community Uplift Group (ICUG)

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Ishasha Community Uplift Group is a good example of a community committed to conserving the bio-diversity of their area by reducing threats to the eco systems through increased economic opportunities for local community members.

During the visit to this community, interested visitors can be engaged to have a broader understanding of the local communities of the area and their challenges. In particular those communities which border the park and fight a continual battle between growing their crops and the game incursions which raid them as an easy source of food. You will be offered a guided tour of the area which incorporates different areas of interest to visitors

Activities and experiences:

Visit to the Elephant trench which is a means to reducing animal crop raiding.
Walk through local settlements / farmland
Explanation of local customs, agricultural practices, and traditions
Visit to the local school
Visit to the Community craft shop
View traditional cultural performances of a combination of carefully selected dance, music, and story-telling, performed in the setting of the villages. Visitors will be encouraged to join in!

Highlights:

Learning how the community fights the elephants and other wildlife when they come to the household gardens
Visiting the elephant trench and learning its background information
Learning the medicinal plants and how the local community members have continued to access them without going into the park
The life in a local homestead and how things are doe traditionally
seeing the local traditional dance performances

Responsible Travel:

Community tourism is being used as a tool for community involvement and benefit from tourism through participation, skills, partnerships and income generated
The local guides and households benefit from the project revenue though the percentage that is retained at their stopovers
Involvement through working on or maintaining the trench and community sensitization addresses wildlife human conflicts and decreases the chances of animals crossing to the community
The project promotes the local handicrafts and other cultural practices as a way of generation income and preserving the local culture

How to get there:

On your way from Kihihi town to Ishasha, you will drive for about 10 minutes to kazinga trading center. Deo’s signpost is about 2km from Kazinga trading center toward the park boundary. You will turn left into the village as you follow the signs.

Booking contacts:

Tel: +256 (0)414 321 479

Mobile: +256 (0)772 721 155

Email: ishashacommunityupliftgroup@gmail.com

Or contact:

UCOTA/Pearls of Uganda

Phone: +256(0)414-501-866/+256(0)772-657-700

E-mail: info@pearlsofuganda.org

Website: www.pearlsofuganda.org

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