Prime
Relax and learn from agro-tourism at Echai
Guests at Kare Coffee bar and hotel at Echai Centre in Mbarara City. Photos/ Rajab Mukombozi
What you need to know:
Discover. Tourism away from the wildlife. Experience agro-tourism at the agriculture museum in Mbarara, as Rajab Mukombozi writes.
At the mention of tourism, people think of wildlife, lakes and rivers but there is a new twist to it. At Excel Hort Consult agro-tourism and museum, you will have an exciting farm tour with demonstrations and recreational farm moments topped up with organic meals.
Perched on the foothills of Biharwe, Mbarara City, 10 minutes from the city centre on Mbarara –Masaka Highway is Echai agro-tourism and agriculture museum. This place grants guests a chance to interact with experts and professionals in agriculture, and local farmers. As you enter the gates is a community-based food and nutrition centre with well-trimmed demonstration gardens, marked herbal plants section, and an agro-tourism museum, a training centre, plus a coffee bar and hotel.
The neat compound offers space for camping.
A foot path leads you to a traditional blacksmith section. There is a guide who shows one how to make different tools, especially farm implements such as pangas and knives.
Food bank
This sections shows different ways communities ensured food security including its preservation and storage. Either side are different sections of crop and animal units that include banana plantations, forestry enterprises, zero grazing, poultry; including Guinea fowls, duck and turkey rearing.
De-stress
We got to learn that some of the pregnant animals such as rabbits have a music system, which plays soothing music that can even relax a human being.
Robert Nsabimana, our guide, explains that some animals for example, rabbits do not want to be stressed. With such a calming environment, the young ones will grow into cool, tamable, and happy creatures.
Recreation
At Echai, you will enjoy a horse ride that goes for Shs100,000 for four hours and Shs 500,000 for a day out tour.
You can also enjoy a purely organic meal at Kare Coffee Bar and Hotel. A farm meal is part of the entrance fees that is Shs20,000 (locals) and Shs 50,000 (international tourists).
At the agriculture museum
The tour guide will take you through exciting moments ranging from traditional food production from planting to harvesting. This also involves the thrilling moments of traditional music, drama and festivities of enjoying a bounty harvest.
You will also get a chance to be invited to take part in some of these traditional practices such as grinding millet on a stone.
Fun in agriculture
Prof Alex Ariho, the director of Echai, says besides promoting tourism, the centre aims at educating the masses on improving agriculture in a fun way.
“Our guides are professionals that will help our visitors not only see but also get knowledge on how to improve agriculture. To improve agriculture now, we need innovative approaches and one of these is agro-tourism,” Prof Ariho says.
“Through exciting innovations in agriculture we can also be able to attract the young generation to this venture,” he adds.
