About

Entanda is a beautiful word in Uganda. It means a package which you offer to people that you love and care about. The package could be useful advice or physical valuables which you offer to help someone in the future. It could be a daughter, son, cousin, friend or anyone you truly love that you give Entanda.

The Entanda Initiative offers an authentic visitor experience in a non-staged environment. Through active participation, visitors are able to learn a lot of things and they return home with bountiful knowledge and lessons for use in the future. Visitors explore, learn and enjoy. Moreover, the village where Entanda is located is called Kijjudde which means a community blessed with abundance.

We are a community-based tourism organisation based in Mityana, about and an hour and half from Kampala Capital City. We promote traditional practices in the area of music, talks (senga and kojja), games, hunting, barkcloth making, medicine, food preparation and dining, taboos and totems as well as religion among others. We also use an innovative model for reducing wildlife destruction. We undertake hunting expeditions with the visitors to save wildlife. As a result of this approach, many hunters have laid down their tools.

Entanda was initiated in 2013 to protect and revitalise the waning Buganda cultural practices and natural environment through tourism. Buganda Kingdom is one of the largest and most influential pre-colonial kingdoms in East Africa, occupying a total area of 61,403 square kilometres. The Kingdom has a rich history and a strong culture dating back to AD400 during the reign of Kabaka Tonda. For more than two millennia, there has been birth and evolution of a number of cultural practices, values and norms in Buganda. These include music, dance, drama, passage of rites, language, architecture, dressing, technology, economic activity, religion, politics and governance, warfare, cuisine, ceremonies and gender roles. A majority of this culture was linked to man’s environment which in effect integrated culture with natural resource management. A good example was the taboos and totems of Buganda. Despite this remarkable journey of more than 2000 years, there is worry that much of the cultural and natural heritage of Buganda may wane due to modernisation. Entanda was born partly to restore this heritage.

We have developed a number of activities with the members which have attracted more than 1200 happy tourists. As a result, Entanda was voted the best Cultural Tourism Initiative in Uganda 2017 in the Pearl of Africa Tourism Excellence Awards by Uganda Tourism Board. Entanda also finished among the top 15 best cultural tourist destinations under the UNDP Global Equator Initiative 2017. The initiative was also chosen as a model inclusive tourism model by UNDP in 2016 and was taken on as a case study for all delegates in an international meeting in Kampala. The initiative also enjoys a formal partnership with Makerere University Business School.

The funds got from the tourists have been used to support the community in terms of training, grading the community road, supporting the only village school, formation of a SACCO and supporting agriculture. Most importantly, many members of the initiative receive some income which has helped to improve their livelihoods. The community also enjoys strong social capital and energy that is necessary to engender local economic development.

Uganda is a small East African country which is about 2.7 times smaller than France. However, this country beams with unexplored beauty and diversity, which made former British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill to describe it as the “Pearl of Africa”. Little known to the world, this country is home to more than half of the world’s remaining endangered Mountain Gorillas and boasts of the highest density of primates in Africa. When you are in Uganda, you will certainly see the source of the World’s longest River, Nile as its waters start a three months journey to the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt. Along this river, there are wonderful opportunities to undertake white water rafting and sightseeing of extremely powerful waterfalls and rapids, forming a rainbow in front of you. Located in both south and northern hemispheres, Uganda is a birding paradise with a recorded 1060 bird species or half of Africa’s bird species. Again in this country, you will find Africa’s tallest horst mountains, the Rwenzoris, lying astride the equator yet covered with permanent snow and a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna, that made it become a UNESCO world Heritage Site. Standing at 5111 meters above sea level, this mountain rivals the Kilimanjaro in toughness to the climbers. Uganda boasts over 56 tribes with unique cultures but living harmoniously together. Uganda is home to a number of UNESCO world heritage sites (in addition to Rwenzori) but most importantly is home to possibly the world’s warmest and most friendly people who treat visitors like their own brothers and sisters, irrespective of race and origin. Uganda is also endowed with fantastic tropical climate, and fertile soils which produce fresh organic food. There is a vibrant nightlife, with lots of opportunities to party, enjoy and celebrate life! Disregard what you may have seen in the media, Uganda is safe and has people who are peaceful and who love visitors. To explore activities you can do in Uganda, visit africasightsandsounds.com.

Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTLmTHAzThw