Local People Uganda

Meet the local people and spend an afternoon with them, have a meal together, visit a school or a typical African Church Ceremony, or visit one of the projects. Kazinga Tours supports the local people and encourages clients to visit one of their programs and give them support.

Kazinga Tours is working together with Akatagyenda Community Based Tourism. This unique combination gives the opportunity to meet the local people of Uganda and visit local tribes. Its not a treasure to see Uganda without meeting the local people, so shape your safari with local people!

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About Akatagyenda

Akatagyenda was established as an umbrella organization representing communities in destination areas of S.Western Uganda to understand the importance of traveling leading to tourism as a business, which Akatagyenda believes, is among the best sectors to help communities get out of poverty. Further, its purpose is to empower local communities in sustainable development that can plan, manage and develop themselves.

With the growth of tourism during the 1990's, communities near 'protected areas' and national parks discovered an opportunity - tourism. Uganda, as a tourism destination, had become more suited to the smaller scale, environmentally related tourism called Eco-tourism. The hope of Akatagyenda is the formation of a symbiotic relationship between tourism, indigenous people and natural, environmentally sensitive areas.

Tourism in Uganda offers one of the best hopes for increasing the income of local people and at the same time preserving 'protected areas'.

AKATAGYENDA will encourage communities to develop tourism activities that they can plan, manage and develop themselves. These activities should not take over from the more traditional agricultural based economies but provide a needed 'cash crop'. This is essential to the well being of the community and the tourism industry that they are trying to create.

Community tourism can involve everyone. Those in the community, who do not speak English, have poor education levels or work experience can still be employed as porters, to transport water and firewood, in trail and compound maintenance and for construction as labourers. These are not /dead-end /jobs and community members will find opportunities to move into other positions as they develop the needed skills.

Tourism, or rather a lot of tourists, does not mean that the area or inhabitants of an area will directly benefit from that tourism spending. Unless the area of opportunity for the community involves various sectors, the community may not take ownership of this difficult industry. Tourism revenue should not only be reflected in the jobs and expenditure directly related to the visit, but should also be found in sectors such as agriculture or construction or health care.

AKATAGYENDA will continue the community opportunity through the development of handcrafts, Bee Keeping as well as dance, song and drama. These activities widen the opportunity for both the visitor and the community. Shopping is a major part of as holiday. Quality craftwork is something that can be taken home in order to share the holiday experience. Handcrafts can also be sold outside the community through shops in Kampala, or even exported if community members are well organized and sensitized.

Akatagyenda Project Aims:

• To encourage quality community based tourism with the aim of benefiting communities through sustainable development.
• Developing and encouraging the development of infrastructure in rural areas for easy access to the protected areas.
• Restore the rich cultural and traditional heritage of Unawatuna and toensure that it is a quality tourism destination.
• Preserve and promote the rich religious and cultural values of the destination area.
• Giving value to and promoting traditional skills, values, Cultures and history of the communities.
• Encourage and increase the inflow of foreign tourists, by providing exceptional catering, free from harassment and pollution, with appropriate infrastructure and sanitation facilities.
• Job creation for the poor and marginalized sectors.
• Tourism awareness training for the communities.
• Utilize local resources and skills to enhance the tourism industry's income and in turn benefit the host community.
• Lobbying of private sector to use CBT activities.
• Training on natural resource management and sustainable technologies for communities.