These are the community tour activities commonly sold at Ruboni community in the Rwenzori Mountains foothills.

1). COMMUNITY VILLAGE WALK:

This takes you through the village visiting several homes and points with local trades and livelihoods on a relatively flat trail of 2-4 hours). It is an opportunity to see how the locals live and what they do on their daily basis to live with the local wildlife and landscape. The homes visited are; the traditional storyteller, the basket weaver, the coffee farmer, the traditional healer, and the blacksmith. (Price: 15$ per person)

2). COMMUNITY HILL CLIMB WALK:

This takes you to the village’s highest hill. It starts from 1646m to 2400meters in a return journey of 3-4 hours. You will be trekking on steep terrain. On top, you enjoy close views of the mountains. On clear days, you will be able to take the beautiful views of the Mubuku valley, margarita peak (Rwenzori highest peak), and Lake George in Queen Elizabeth at the same time. (Price: 15$ per person)

3). COMMUNITY FOREST NATURE WALK:

On this trail, you will be walking along River Mubuku to enter a natural forest bordering the Rwenzori Mountains National Park. It is a mainly flat trail going through the local gardens where you will be able to observe local crops while enjoying the mountain scenery before you enter the forest. On this trail, you have a high chance of finding the chameleons.

While her, you will spend time observing this elusive creature to see how it changes colors or hunts its prey. In the forest, you will be walking in the real jungle with tall trees, plants, and vines. It is a memorable experience crossing rivers, listening to the natural forest sounds of rivers, birds, and insects. On a lucky day, you may spot some chimps and other primates on the canopy having crossed from the park. (Price: 15$ per person)

4). VANILLA FARMING EXPERIENCE:

You have probably seen, used, or enjoyed the heavenly flavor of Vanilla. If it was from your favorite baked goodies, then you are about to discover what makes your backers’ secrete. Through this tour, you will see how this wonderful crop is grown in the Rwenzori foothills. You will visit the farmer and spend between 1-2 hours on the farm learning how to plant, grow, pollinate, harvest, and cure vanilla beans. At the end of the tour, you can choose to buy some of the beans if they are in harvest. (Price: 15$ per person)

5). TRADITIONAL HUNTING DEMO. EXPERIENCE:

You will join a local ex-hunter to show you the culture of hunting small mammals in the local villages and the forest. This hunter will take you on a full day (8 hours) activity of showing you how they look for, identify, trap and hunt these small animals. He will explain the medicinal and cultural values of these animals and plants. The activity is not real and doesn’t involve killing any animals as you return with all the trapping and hunting materials without leaving any in the wild. (Price: 50$ per person)

6). JOINING THE EVENING CULTURAL DANCE FESTIVAL OF THE LOCALS IN THE VILLAGE:

 In the evening, starting from 5:00 to 7:00 pm, the local people come together to perform traditional songs, dances, and instruments. This is aimed to pass the culture to the young generations but it is also a great moment to meet the indigenous people of the Rwenzori Mountains (the Bakonzo tribe) you will have a moment to learn how to sing, dance, or play the local musical instruments the same way as the locals. (Price: 20$ per person)

7). RUBONI COMMUNITY OVERNIGHT HILL TREK

This overnight trip brings guests closes to the nature and culture of Rwenzori in one night. The trek starts at 1615m to 2400m above sea level, where you do overnight camping at the peak of the highest hill in the village. The trek package covers three meals, guide, porter, and the experience. On clear mornings and nights, trekkers are able to view margarita peak, the highest point on the Rwenzori Mountains and Uganda, standing on the Uganda – Congo border.

During the trek, you also take the views of Lake George in Queen Elizabeth National park. on this trek, community and culture experience is immense. During this hill trek, will be climbing through the rustic villages on the foothills of Rwenzori as you observe the local way of life at the homes, on the farms and as local people return home from their days work in the hills. (price: 100$ per person and requires preferably a minimum of two people)

8). BAKONZO TRADITIONAL COOKING EXPERIENCE:

this experience involves spending time with the local Bakonzo woman in the home and participating in the entire cooking process of the local cuisine. from harvesting, to preparing, cooking ans serving the yams, cassava, meat and vegetables in various dishes is a unique experience that you wont find anywhere in uganda. at the end, you will serve with the family to taste the various soups prepared from yam leaves (Erisusa), caasava leave (Sombe), and many other dishes.

While you wait for the meals to get ready, you will share the stories of the local ways of life as you share a cup of locally growing and processed organic coffee, to prove that Rwenzori is the true home of Arabic coffee in the country. (price 20$ pp including the coffee and the meal)

9). RWENZORI COFFEE EXPERIENCE TOUR

if you ever wondered what is the journey of coffee from the seed, to the farm and to the seed again, then you have a learning opportunity in the Rwenzori coffee experience tour. the journey of coffee is very interesting as it moves from the farm to you cup. However, the work of growing it is another long journey. on this tour, you have an opportunity to visit different enterprises to see how they all contribute to growing the coffee that you drink every morning or whenever you crave some energy.

On this tour, you will choose to take a full tour visiting several players, all ending up in a home where coffee is being roasted and served. or you can choose to spend a long time with one coffee expert to learn how coffee is planted, farmed, harvested, processed, roasted and served. It is a hands on experience. In all cases you will have a chance to participate in every step and make your own coffee drink from the beginning to end. (price: 50$ full day experience. Minimum 1 person including the coffee drink and gift to take back home)

10). MAPATHA WATER FALLS CHALLENGE:

On river Nyabyayi and Nyamusibiri, trekkers find a nature paradise with a mix of scenery, water falls, rapids amidst a rich cultural and livelihood experience. you will ave 2-10 hours trekking based on your interest. The trek involves tracking the mountain flowing rivers on their journey all they way from the Rwenzori Mountains.

Mapatha water falls challenge is a trek for both the tough and soft trekkers as you will choose how far you go on this challenge that showcases over ten water falls. on the journey of the determined, the full trail ends at climax of the trek as you watch the rainbow at the Kiima waterfalls that you find at the extreme end near the park boundary at an elevation of 6449 ft above sea level. (price: 20$ pp, minimum of two people)

11). FULL DAY EXPERIENCE PACKAGE:

Some people like to buy a compo community experience package. This full day package will include;

• Two village walks of your choice (excluding hunting experience),
• The cultural dance festival,
• Two meals at the camp, and
• One local drink of choice at the dance arena

The package has been well planned to perfectly give you a full day of exploring the nature and culture of the Rwenzori Mountains with the indigenous Bakonzo people. You can find this package here (price: 60$ per person)

How you can do these community tour activities:

first of all, it is easy to arrange these activities on arrival. so you can just call the camp 30 minutes before you arrive, and you will fins the guide waiting. These activities are located at the Rwenzori basecamp, 28km from Kasese town or 80km from fort portal town.

The activities can be done by any body traveling from fort portal near Kibale National park or Kasese town near Queen Elizabeth national park. Most activities take 3-4 hours to complete. If you have the Queen Elizabeth wildlife safari and Kibale Chimp tracking experience on your trip, these activities are a perfect add on will enrich your trip experience while in western Uganda.

However, the hill Climb activity requires to start early morning, latest 7:00am. This means, it is better suited for guests who have spent a night in Ruboni village. The village has several Hotels and lodges you can select from for your night before and after participating in these community tour activities.