Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge Empowers Community

In the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda, tourists pay top dollar for the privilege of tracking mountain gorillas. When local communities benefit from this tourism, they have more incentive to protect gorillas and other wildlife. One AWF solution in the Kinigi community of Rwanda is the Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge.

The Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge is a high-end, 16-bed conservation lodge on community land adjacent to Volcanoes National Park. The lodge provides the setting for a unique and exciting tourism experience in which visitors can experience local wildlife and see African conservation in action.

This up-market, five-star lodge was constructed through a partnership facilitated by AWF between the communities represented by an institution, Sabyinyo Community Livelihoods Association (SACOLA), and a private sector operator.

Almost $1 million was invested comprising a grant from USAID CARPE, debt funds from a venture capital company and equity participation from the private sector partner. It opened for operations in 2007. It is now operated by Governors’ Camp Rwanda.

This lodge is based on gorilla tourism and supports conservation of the Parc National Virunga by providing employment and other benefits to surrounding community members. In 2009, the lodge provided about $350,000 in financial benefits to the community and employed 50 people.

The conservation pay-off of this effort is great. Availability of exclusive accommodations attracts more guests to national parks, encourages longer stays, provides communities with a marketable tourism product, and contributes to management funds for protected area authorities through increased gate collections and fees from gorilla permits.

Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge was featured on Condé Nast Traveller's The Hot List 2008. Sabyinyo ranked as one of the world's "most stylish, most innovative, most luxurious hotels".

> To learn more about the Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge, click here.