Living along the border of Mountain Rwenzori National Park, the Bakonzo people for more than 250 years have inhabited the foothills of Mt. Rwenzori. This mountain which is among the most challenging mountains to summit in Africa is located along Uganda’s border with the D.R. Congo, and its peak is covered with snow. The foothills of the fountain are encompassed by rainforests and dotted with plantations of bananas, stream of water flowing from the mountain as well as the traditional homesteads of the native people.
During your Uganda Cultural Safari to this part of the country you will visit Ruboni village which is home to approximately 2,000 Bakonzo and there you will have an opportunity to experience their day to day lifestyle and cultural practices. During the cultural walks you will observe these locals tending to their domestic animals and cultivating their crops and preparing their traditional meals using fresh vegetables and food staff obtained from their garden.
We shall organize for you to visit one of the homesteads and enjoy a meal cooked outdoors on firewood. You will also meet the village traditional healer, storytellers, basket weavers as well as the blacksmith.
Later on, you will enjoy some vibrant traditional dance performance done by Ruboni villagers themselves; and this is accompanied by vigorous drumming. There are also African drumming classes however to attend these require prior reservations.
Highlights of the Ruboni Cultural Village Walk
Visit the traditional homesteads: these offer you a true insight of the real life of the native Ugandan rural people. You will observe how these people live a life with no Gas, kitchen appliances and electricity power.
Visit the traditional healer: in such remote areas, the local people have to move for several miles to access medical services from hospitals or health centers. So the traditional healer presumes the responsibility of the doctors. You will learn how they use the local herbs collected from the mountain slopes to treat people.
Visit the blacksmith: there you will watch the amazing art and skill used in transforming shapeless pieces of iron into knives and pangas. However over the years the work of the blacksmith has changed in most parts of the work thanks to advancement in technology.
