Location
The Bulindi Eco-Tourism Project is located in Hoima District about 17km on Hoima-Masindi Road. It is located between Bugoma Forest Reserve and Budongo Forest. It is a community based project for the habituation of 30 chimpanzees in the remaining part of the natural forests with the aim of promoting tolerance of wildlife and forest conservation by the local people.
A trust with the aim of habituating the chimpanzees and protecting the forest was set up by the Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation. The local farmers were provided with seed capital to start making crafts to sell to the public instead of depending poaching of wildlife and illegal encroachment on the forest as a means of survival. The funds were distributed 84 households who depended on the forest for the survival.
Sponsors
The project is sponsored by the following:
- Disney Animal Kingdom,
- JGI Netherlands,
- JGI Switzerland)
- JGI Uganda
JGI Uganda constructed a Road Side Ecocafe in Bulindi Town Centre as a means of generating income by the project. The income generated from the project is for used for preservation of wildlife and the forest and the balance is for the local community.
The local community have also received substantive training in forest-friendly enterprise development such as non-timber forest products, apiary development, handcrafts, woodlots, process training in small enterprise, and support in developing micro-enterprise livelihood activities.
The project has also benefitted from the collaboration among the Canadian International Development Agency, Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to support biodiversity conservation and improve natural resource management in northern and western Uganda.
Project management
In June 2006,the Jane goodall institute took over management of the site on behalf of National Forest Authority (NFA) through management agreement between NFA and JGI , the objective of the agreement was for JGI to ensure appropriate development of the site for eco- tourism while ensuring that the chimpanzee are not put at risk due to the activities of the project and all profits made from the venture will be used for protection of forest, improvement in law enforcement activities, monitoring, conservation education and supporting community collaborative projects.