Who the Batwa Are

The Batwa are one of Africa’s oldest indigenous peoples, forest hunter-gatherers who lived for millennia in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest alongside the mountain gorillas. When the forest became a national park in 1991 to protect those gorillas, the Batwa were evicted with nothing. No land. No compensation. No acknowledgment of the life they had built over thousands of years. Many ended up homeless on the edges of farming communities, without the skills or resources to survive in an agricultural economy. The child mortality rate among the Batwa reached 38% under five, nearly double the already high national average. The Batwa Development Program exists because this injustice has never been fully corrected, and because the conservation of the forest that displaced them is partly funded by the safari tourism that visits it.

What the Program Does

The BDP supports more than 1,200 Batwa children in education from nursery through secondary school: providing shoes, clothing, mattresses, tutoring, and transportation for boarding students. It builds brick homes with metal roofs to replace temporary shelters. It trains Batwa families in sustainable agriculture and supplies chickens, ducks, pigs, goats, rabbits, and seeds. The Batwa Women’s Center teaches literacy, woodworking, nutrition, and craft-making. Healthcare is funded through Bwindi Community Hospital, where Batwa receive free treatment.

How Your Deeper Africa Safari Supports the BDP

Deeper Africa’s Wildlife of Uganda and Deeper Uganda safaris contribute to the BDP ecotourism revenue that funds the homes, the schools, the women’s center, and the healthcare that the Batwa need to rebuild their lives.  You can directly contribute and enjoy a once in a lifetime activity:  build a home for a Batwa family.  This is a day long, very meaningful community experience.  You leave something behind, giving an entire family a step forward in building their lives.  The mountain gorillas you come to see in Bwindi are the same animals whose protections displaced the Batwa.  Traveling with Deeper Africa means your safari contributes to both, the conservation of the gorillas and the restoration of the people who shared their forest for thousands of years.