Bushara is no ordinary holiday destination. This island on lake Bunyonyi in Uganda was turned into a sustainable eco-tourism facility in the late 90’s by the Ugandan NGO The Lake Bunyonyi Development Company (LBCD).
The lake is one of the rare swimmable lakes in Africa and the area is teeming with wildlife – it’s not too far from the mountains, where you can spot gorillas.
The camp is a profitable business and the tourist revenue goes to set up programmes to support local communities, the LBCD says.
Half of Western tourism is now in developing countries. But while tourism does create employment, too often the jobs are in the low-wage service sector and the money doesn’t reach the local communities. In Bushara, everything goes back to the community. So far the camp has allowed the funding of agroforestry projects, a sewing cooperative for local women and an orphan-care programme.
Bushara is one of those rare places you can go knowing that what you’ll be doing there will be good for you and good for the local people.
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