The youth at Kikorongo community have been offering a Boda-boda safari since 2016. This safari offers an opportunity for visitors to see wildlife through the eyes of the local community members. Throughout the tour, guests have chances to participate in the local life or stop to take pictures at the most scenic locations. Bodaboda is a local motorcycle taxi commonly conveniently used in Ugandan and across East African towns and villages to provide customised transport for one person at a time. This Boda-boda safari gives visitors an opportunity to view the wildlife, cultural attractions and the scenic views of Queen Elizabeth National Park area has to offer, in the most localised way. Kikorongo community is located adjacent to Queen Elizabeth National Park on Fort portal-Mpondwe road at the Kasese-Mbarara-Mpondwe junction next to the equator.
With two people (a Rider guide and guest) on each Boda-boda the tour starts at the Elephant home – lodge near Kikorongo village. The tour takes rounds traversing the equator line allowing guest to experience the rich social and wildlife heritage around the equator in Queen Elizabeth National Park. Depending on the level of interest, the Boda-boda safari can take from 3 to 8 hours. The attractions on the tour include; the local villages, traditional salt mining, viewing wildlife and a visit to the equator. You then ride up the Mpondwe road to Kiburara and turn off left into the farm villages towards Kabirizi cattle keeping area. Here, the guests enjoy the setting of the local homesteads. While in the villages, common site is cattle farms, typical Ugandan traditional architectural designs, and people doing the local trades with a beautiful background of banana and coffee farms. At the exit of villages, you head to the open savannah of Lake Katwe area. At Lake Katwe salt mines, the guests have the liberty to take the traditional salt mining tour to be able to learn the science involved and the life people count during the salt mining activity. Besides the salt mining tour, the vast views over the lake sweep through the entire lake setting giving a peaceful picture moment.
After the salt mining experience, guests visit the local fishing village on Lake Edward or walk by the lake shores looking for crocodiles. After the careful search for crocodiles, ride though the park past the creator lakes heading to Kasese-Mbarara road. On this section of the safari, guests have high chances of viewing large herds of wildlife including Elephants, Hippos, Buffalos, Antelopes, Warthogs, other small mammals and sometimes the Cats. The tour is concluded by posing for a few pictures at the equator as you head back to the Elephant home in the Northern Hemisphere.
As the youth take this opportunity to show the tourists their local community and wildlife. The Boda-boda safari equally benefits the visitors, the community and the wildlife; Visitors get an opportunity to integrate Queen Elizabeth wildlife safari with the community experiences at a very affordable price, providing sustainable alternative livelihood to the community and enhancing community attitude change towards conservation. Your support to the youth through this safari is invaluable. Here you can read what the past guest have said about the experience.
This boda-boda safari can be booked in advance through the UCOTA office in Kampala (0772657700) or the Elephant home lodge at Kikorongo (0787822299) Email: info@theelephanthome.com
Uganda Community Tourism Association 