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New eco-tourism site excites Luweero communities
A girl crossing an obstacle under the fitness test at the Aloesha Eco-Tourism site locayed at Nganjo village Luweero District on February 12, 2022. PHOTO/DAN WANDERA
What you need to know:
- The importation of medicines at the expense of the natural and homemade medicines in Uganda has for a long time been an obstacle towards manufacturing local medicine.
Coming close and getting information about the different plant species used in herbal healing is one particular aspect that charmed guests as the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) blessed the opening of Aloesha Eco-tourism site in Nganjo Village in Luweero District.
Sixty four-year-old resident of Wobulenzi Town Council Mr Ssezi Kanakulya: “We thought that tourism only benefits a section of people that have extra money to spend and are interested in viewing the different wild animal species. We are witnessing a different type of tourism here where we get to see the natural tree species and plants that have for a long time been used as herbs for healing,” said.
The UTB product development and investment officer Ms Soffy Kayongo Baliijuka expressed optimism that the Aloesha Eco- tourism site will boost the board’s agenda of exploiting the country’s tourism potential through promoting nature and the indigenous plant species.
“This is one way of telling Uganda’s story for adventurism. We have for long known Aloesha organic for natural herbs in healing. This is a new step in promoting eco-tourism,” she said.
The Aloesha eco-tourism site sits on a 49-acre piece of land with more than 500 tree and plant species that can now be propagated and preserved.
“We are in a campaign to promote domestic tourism through working with the local communities to have the different tree species, long used as natural herbs, accessed at the Aloesha eco-tourism site in Nganjo village. Uganda is a place of diversity that explains why we are promoting domestic tourism in a natural way,” Mr Don Patrick Bigingo, the Managing Director at Aloesha eco-tourism site explained in an interview.
The importation of medicines at the expense of the natural and homemade medicines in Uganda has for a long time been an obstacle towards manufacturing local medicine.
“The natural tree species are a source of natural medicine. The ability to harness the natural potential in the plant species for medicinal purposes is a big blessing for our people. Students that come for training on how to grow, harvest and process the natural herbs from the different tree species is a big boost for the Eco-tourism industry,” education consultant Fagil Mandy observed.
