Ruhija, Uganda

We stayed for two nights at the Gorilla Safari Lodge in Ruhija, and enjoyed walking through the village and visiting the local orphanage. We were also introduced to a local family of Batwa Pygmies - people who were displaced from the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest when it was turned into a national park in 1991. Traditionally semi-nomadic hunter/gatherers, the Batwa's lineage is reportedly traceable for 500,000 years! Now unable to hunt in the forest, and shunned by much of the community, their existence is severely threatened.