A novel initiative is taking shape in remote northeastern Uganda, where the creation of a community conservation hub and lodge—designed with a blend of inviting aesthetics and deep cultural roots—is set to conserve and showcase Karamoja’s heritage while promoting its unique arts, crafts, and wildlife. The site sits on the fringes of the breathtaking Kidepo Valley National Park.

As global tourism trends increasingly favour immersive cultural experiences, the hub—Uganda’s second of its kind—aims to leverage the region’s raw beauty and unfiltered culture to sell experiential tourism products. These are currently ranked among the most sought-after globally, according to industry analysts at the Good Tourism Institute (GTI).

The initiative is spearheaded by Karamoja-focused travel and social enterprise Kara-Tunga Arts & Tours, in partnership with the Karenga Community Wildlife Association (KCWA). It aims to provide a direct source of income for local families, foster economic empowerment, and preserve traditional skills.

Kara-Tunga’s founding director, Theo Vos, believes Karamoja is poised to thrive amid rising demand for “authentic cultural experiences, off-the-beaten-path destinations, and adventure tourism,” enhancing the appeal of Kidepo Valley and Northern Uganda as a whole.

GTI notes that travellers in 2025 and beyond are increasingly seeking out meaningful interactions with communities and wildlife, craving deeper connections with destinations that challenge their comfort zones and broaden their worldviews.

Read: Karamoja offers new, unique tourism frontierDespite its status as a high-end tourist destination, Kidepo Valley National Park struggles to attract visitors compared to more established wildlife areas in western Uganda.

In 2024, the park received 7,613 visitors—an uptick from 6,388 the year before but still lagging numbers from 2022 (8,343) and 2021 (7,846). By contrast, parks such as Murchison Falls, Queen Elizabeth, Bwindi, Lake Mburo, Semliki, and Kibale continue to dominate visitor interest.

Yet Kidepo holds a unique advantage: it sits at the heart of Karimojong culture, a powerful and distinctive tourism asset. Here, nomadic herdsmen roam in brightly coloured Nakatukok wraps (similar to Maasai shukas), wearing sandals fashioned from old tyres.

Their manyattas—clusters of thatched mud huts encircled by thorny fences—are home to traditional lifestyles that remain largely untouched.

Men lounge on single-legged carved stools, women prepare hearty angodic (a sorghum and sour milk dish), and mornings begin with amerinyang, a rich, oily beverage made from cow blood, milk, and ghee—served to guests in calabash bowls.

In the evenings, tourists can join in a visceral kraal experience. A goat is slaughtered using a traditional spear to the ribcage, its hide removed with the same blade, and the meat roasted over mosquito-repelling acacia wood fires.

The ritual is accompanied by dance, storytelling, and local beer, drawing visitors into a centuries-old social world of courtship, conquest, and communal pride.

The Karimojong—long considered culturally self-contained and largely unaffected by colonial influence—are now seeking to translate their heritage into sustainable tourism offerings. By investing in a community lodge and cultural hub, they are stepping into the tourism circuit on their own terms.

Still, some question whether the lodge can compete with existing facilities to generate sufficient revenue for the community, given Kidepo’s relatively low tourist footfall.“We are not starting from scratch,” says Vos. “The lodge benefits from nearly a decade of market insight, branding, and the reputation of its parent company, Kara-Tunga.”The company has specialised in crafting region-specific tourism products and intends to drive up visitor numbers. Meanwhile, the Ugandan government is also investing in regional connectivity, with an international airport under construction to boost access to the northeast.

Nonetheless, the northern tourism circuit still suffers from a lack of quality accommodations and developed attractions that justify inclusion on most itineraries. New facilities under development in Pian Upe and Moroto, such as Namoni, could help ease the shortage.

The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has welcomed the Karenga initiative, drawing parallels with a successful model in Bwindi, where a community-built lodge and cultural centre have enhanced local tourism offerings.

The KCWA has launched a campaign to raise €50,000 (approximately $59,000) to fund the lodge, which they describe as not merely a set of buildings but an investment in the long-term sustainability of the Karenga community and the landscapes they steward.

Beyond the lodge, the project aims to establish a vibrant cultural hub and a water facility—essential components of a broader, long-term conservation strategy for this arid, semi-desert region.

The inspiration may well have come from John G. Wilson, a former British colonial officer and botanist who worked in Karamoja from 1949. After retiring, Wilson launched a personal mission to document Karimojong culture, founding a private museum, Treasures of Africa, in Kitale, Kenya.

He observed that remote groups like the Karimojong and Turkana had preserved their identity because their arid, marginal lands had remained largely untouched by colonial interference. “No other society in Africa had preserved their cultural legacy like the Karimojong,” Wilson said in 2010. “Today, there is no comprehensive collection of Africa’s cultural legacy because it was not preserved during colonial times.”Wilson died in 2019 at the age of 92. In his final years, he urged the Ugandan government to establish a museum in Moroto to house his collection and promote scientific study of the Karimojong’s well-preserved material culture. “If not,” he warned, “it may end up like many African collections—in a European or American museum.”Toward a Regenerative Model of ConservationAs UWA works to reintroduce species such as black and white rhinos and support the conservation of lions in Kidepo, GTI advises that destination design must now centre human experience.

This means shaping new offerings that allow travellers to connect not only with nature, but also with the communities who call these landscapes home.

A community hub that doubles as a museum could become a transformative draw for Uganda’s northern and northeastern tourism circuits—blending cultural integrity with economic opportunity.

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