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Frequently Asked Questions
This section answers questions that people often ask us before applying or while planning their trip.
If you have other questions, please don't hesitate to contact us using the form or by email ... see the Links panel on the left.
How do Gappers get to the Lodge?
Volunteers pay for their own flights. Our partner travel organisation can help you with your booking and will guarantee you the cheapest flight or price match.
On arrival in Kampala, we stay for a night in the brilliant backpackers hostel before all heading to the source of the Nile (Jinja). We spend a day getting to know each other, admiring the Nile and then a days Rafting.
Nicholas (the VU driver) drives us up country in our safari vehicle to our Lodge in Kanungu.
What is the Loge like?
The lodge is very beautiful; it is an amazing place to stay and far exceeded expectations.
Built sustainably and costing in the region of £60,000 the Lodge is built in a clearing in a beautiful location looking out over the enchanting Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
The main building is used for cooking, eating, training and for Volunteers to relax. There is a bar, a pool table and big stereo for when the guitars aren't out. We have board games and a mini library of resources for lesson planning.
Volunteers live in mini-dormitories in four bandas (local-style buildings). There is a sanitary block with running water and flushing toilets. The site is enclosed for security purposes and we have precautionary watchmen.
Near the Lodge is a football pitch where local children and teenagers play football every day.
In the evenings Volunteers can play football, or rounders or just generally get to know local kids as well as relaxing at the camp, enjoying a drink at sunset round the campfire.
View from the camp
Where is it?
The Volunteer Uganda Lodge where volunteers live is located on a hillside overlooking Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. The Park is Uganda's National treasure; it is home to 300 of the worlds remaining 600 mountain gorillas. You are also likely to see baboons and a wide range of bird life.
The Lodge is about 15 minutes from the schools so each day; volunteers are driven to their schools in the morning and back in the evening.
What about food and drink?
In the camp we eat breakfast and dinner prepared by our Chef Ephraim. The food is really tasty and Ephraim has experience of cooking for tourists in large lodges and we are yet to have any tummy bugs. He cooks a mix of African and Western dishes with everything from pizza or pancakes and Spaghetti Bolognaise to African Curries. He caters for vegetarians and so far volunteers have been chuffed at how tasty the food is. Schools provide basic food for their staff so at schools volunteers eat with their fellow teachers.
We keep a fridge in the camp stocked with sodas and alcoholic drinks which can be bought for less than 70 pence for a beer! We boil spring water from the site for drinking and tea & coffee is always available.
What will I do each week?
A sample itinerary for a 12 week group is shown below. The details of your itinerary will be confirmed nearer the time.
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| Week 3 | Week 4 |
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| Week 5 | Week 6 |
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| Week 7 | Week 8 |
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| Week 9 | Week 10 |
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| Week 11 | Week 12 |
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How can I stay in touch?
The Volunteer Uganda camp is in the wilds of rural Africa; the area is very undeveloped.
However, one of the ironies of developing countries is that they have skipped a technology generation ... mobile phones and broadband are available locally.
- Our staff have mobile phones available at all times in case of emergency
- We recently added an internet connection and have a laptop for use by volunteers
- We supply volunteers with SIM cards for their mobiles to chat to the UK for around £1 for 5 minutes
- Texts cost around 5p to send and are free to receive
- Family & friends can use Planet Numbers to call from a UK landline to your mobile for 8p a minute ... just dial 0871 331 7777 then your mobile number complete with area code
- Our partner organisation has recently installed broadband at the college (which you will visit daily) so you can sent and receive emails and upload your brilliant photos to facebook for £2 per hour. When this fails we have a dongle and our staff have a laptop that volunteers can use
So staying in touch is surprisingly easy!
Gorilla in Bwindi Forest
Who are Volunteer Uganda?
Volunteer Uganda Ltd. is focussed on sending groups of volunteers to rural Uganda to work on projects we have been intimately involved with for many years.
We believe that a successful gap year organisation depends on two things: real experience of volunteering and close work with local projects they know well.
Paul and Simon have the personal understanding, being recent graduates who have experienced the good and not-so-good aspects of being gappers with other organisations.
John and Mark provide the necessary business knowledge and experience, having both run successful international businesses for decades.
Everybody at Volunteer Uganda has a close relationship with CHIFCOD, the local organisation which runs the schools & other projects in Kinkise.
At Kinkise we work with several primary schools, Great Lakes High School, Great Lakes College and other projects supported by CHIFCOD. We know these projects well and have worked with them for many years, helping to plan their development and to build their future.
The volunteer programme is an integral part of that future, helping to provide the exchange of cultural knowledge necessary to develop the economy of the area in the way that local people want.
So, if you choose to come to Kinkise with Volunteer Uganda, you can be sure that you will receive a warm welcome from people committed to the shared goals of creating sustainable development for the people of rural Uganda.
Arriving at school