Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge Officially Opens in Rwanda

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Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge generates revenue for mountain gorilla conservation and community development projects. © Governors' Camp Collection.

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The high-end lodge provides visitors with accommodations equal to the rarefied experience of viewing mountain gorillas. © Governors' Camp Collection.

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Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge is located in the Virunga Volcanoes, home to about half of the world's mountain gorillas. © Governors' Camp Collection.

KINIGI, RWANDA--The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), Governors’ Camp Collection, and the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP), together with the Rwanda National Office of Tourism (ORTPN), SACOLA and USAID, on Saturday, June 21, officially opened the new eco-friendly Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge in Rwanda, which gives back to mountain gorilla conservation. The opening ceremony coincided with Rwanda’s annual gorilla naming ceremony Kwita Izina.

Located near the rarefied habitat of the highly endangered mountain gorilla, Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge is the product of a unique partnership between the African Wildlife Foundation, the Kinigi community and The Governors’ Camp Collection. The community is represented by a trust called SACOLA, which owns the land and the lodge itself. The lodge was designed by The Governors’ Camp Collection, which managed its construction and now runs the first-class facilities.

Guest fees and other income are reinvested in conservation and community development projects. Through this win-win strategy, Sabyinyo puts mountain gorilla conservation to work for the community.

“Visitors can help put conservation enterprise into practice while getting a chance to see majestic mountain gorillas and a special part of the world,” said Craig Sholley, African Wildlife Foundation Senior Director of Development.

Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge is located in AWF’s Virunga Heartland, a large, mountainous landscape in the western part of the Great Rift Valley. Working through the International Gorilla Conservation Program, a coalition established with Fauna and Flora International and the World Wide Fund for Nature, AWF focuses on two primary regions: the Virunga forest massif and the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda. Mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, golden monkeys, forest elephants and a rich variety of endemic birds share this incredibly rich ecosystem.

The mountains are an extremely important watershed for the entire region and provide ecological benefits to the densely populated region. With its partners, AWF is working to limit the pressures buffeting the remaining forests and to bolster the area’s environmental health.

Visitors to Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge help channel resources to mountain gorilla conservation and enhance the economic well-being of the people that live in the surrounding areas. With a single stay, they help preserve a legacy of conservation for a community, a continent and a conservation-minded world.

The opening ceremony for Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge coincided with Kwita Izina, Rwanda’s annual ceremony to name young gorillas. This year AWF CEO Patrick Bergin participated as an official namer, calling one of the baby gorillas “Sacola” after the community trust that owns Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge.

“I chose the name to honor the communities that treat mountain gorillas as a national treasure, lifting the outlook for their continued survival,” said Dr. Bergin.

To learn more Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge and mountain gorilla conservation, visit www.awf.org.

To glimpse Africa’s famed mountain gorillas, visit AWF’s recently launched blog Running Wild in the Heartlands (www.awf.org/blog). And check back soon for more blogs by our staff - men and women who have dedicated their lives to Africa’s wildlife, people, and wild lands.

Graphics available upon request.

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Founded in 1961, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is the leading conservation organization focused solely on the African continent. AWF’s programs and conservation strategies are based on sound science and designed to protect both the wild lands and wildlife of Africa and ensure a more sustainable future for Africa’s people. Since its inception AWF has protected endangered species and land, promoted partnerships with the private sector for ecotourism to benefit local African communities as a means to improve livelihoods, and trained hundreds of African nationals in conservation – all to ensure the survival of Africa’s unparalleled wildlife heritage. AWF is a non-profit organization with offices in Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia and is a registered 501(c)(3) in the United States. Visit www.awf.org.