Volcanoes Safaris short-listed for the Pure Awards 2014

We are extremely excited to be short-listed for two of this year’s Pure Awards - it is a great honor! The Pure Life Experiences is a travel trade show that also honors some of the world’s most inspiring creators of life enriching travel experiences. Volcanoes Safaris has been shortlisted for the community engagement category. Awarded to a travel company with a project or initiative that sensitively and strategically integrates the local community while aligning itself with the priorities and values of the inhabitants and protecting the authenticity of the culture while enriching the traveller. [caption id="attachment_3486" align="alignleft" width="334"]

VSPT Staff.[/caption] Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust (VSPT) started the Kyambura Women’s coffee Cooperative with the aim of helping the women near the kyambura Gorge Lodge in South West Uganda, widowed or suffering from HIV to have a livelihood. The group is made up of 12 women with at least 30% of them HIV positive. The VSPT has recently set up the Kyambura Training Café, which provides local disadvantaged youths of the community with hands-on training to provide them with the skills they need to find employment and sustain themselves. [caption id="attachment_3483" align="alignleft" width="357"]

Kyambura Women's Coffee Cooperative.[/caption] The VSPT Omumashaka Wetland Restoration and Community Project has also been shortlisted for the conservation and sustainability award which looks at projects or initiatives that show responsibility to natural resources and help to protect the earth not only for the tourism industry but for the good of the world. The Omumashaka Wetland project started in 2010 and is ongoing with the aim of restoring the flora and fauna of the 40-acre area near Volcanoes Safaris’ Kyambura Gorge Lodge. The site was previously used as an illegal brick works which destroyed and degraded the wetland. The VSPT trust replanted 500 indigenous trees, which has attracted 100 bird species since the project began. [caption id="attachment_3470" align="aligncenter" width="355"]

The rejuvenated Kyambura Wetland.[/caption] The trust formed a wetland committee for the community members to have a say in wetland issues. Training in guiding is offered by the VSPT staff with an objective of having qualified guides who lead tours to the wetland. Clients of Volcanoes Safaris can enjoy a guided tour while on safari to the wetland. The winners of this year’s PURE Awards will be announced on 10th November 2014. We hope to win at least one or both of the awards! Please help us and vote for us here (http://www.purelifeexperiences.com/Awards.html)