KISORO: Organisers of the Mountain Gorilla Festival have launched the three-day event in Kisoro District, with this year’s programme set to combine conservation, culture and tourism with the Virunga Gorilla Marathon.
The festival, launched on Sunday at the Home of Kigezi Museum, will run from November 20 to 22, while the marathon is scheduled for November 21, starting at 6am.
The marathon will feature races covering 6, 10, 21, 42 and 112 kilometres, giving participants different options depending on their fitness levels and experience.
Mr Kenneth Kamukama, the host of the festival and marathon, said the event is intended to promote mountain gorilla conservation and tourism in the Kigezi region.
He said the six-kilometre race was introduced to allow people who are not regular runners to participate.
“We invite all runners and the six-kilometre fun run is something that you can do even if you’re not a runner or one that runs every week,” Mr Kamukama said.
The festival and marathon are being supported by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), Uganda Tourism Board, Stanbic Bank, Tusker Lite, Pepsi, the European Union, CarbonSafe and Airtel Uganda.
Mr Nkusi Gerald, the director of the Home of Kigezi Museum, said the facility will give festival participants and other visitors an opportunity to learn about the region’s cultural heritage and the Virunga ecosystem.
“This is a place where people come to experience the culture of Kigezi and then also they can be able to understand the ecosystem within the Virunga,” he said.
Mr Nkusi said visitors coming for the marathon can also learn about how communities in Kigezi lived in the past, how their way of life has changed and efforts to restore degraded ecosystems in the region.
He said the museum provides an opportunity to connect cultural heritage with conservation and tourism.
Mr Kamukama said Kisoro offers a range of tourism experiences beyond gorilla trekking, including golden monkey tracking in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, boat cruises on Lake Mutanda and hiking trails.
He cited the Amazing Grace boat on Lake Mutanda and the Three-in-Three hike among the attractions visitors can explore during their stay.
He said organisers and tourism partners are putting together packages that will enable visitors attending the festival and marathon to experience several attractions in the region.
The Mountain Gorilla Festival is expected to bring together runners, conservationists, tourism players, cultural enthusiasts and visitors as organisers seek to promote Kisoro and the wider Kigezi region as a tourism destination.
The event also comes at a time when Uganda is seeking to strengthen the link between wildlife conservation, community livelihoods and tourism.