Wilderness Sabyinyo Newsletter – September 2023

Our Director Nick Stone was honoured to name a baby gorilla at Kwita Izina Ceremony

 

In recognition of Wilderness’ continued commitment to growing conservation tourism in Rwanda, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) invited Wilderness Lead Director and Board member, Nick Stone, to name a baby gorilla at the annual Kwita Izina ceremony on 1 September. "It is with deep honour that we were chosen to name a female baby gorilla from the Musirikari Family, born on the 14th of May 2023 to mother Muntu. The name for this baby girl is Umucunguzi, which means ‘Redeemer’. She is the hope and redemption of her mother's bloodline, after her mother unfortunately lost all of her other babies", shared Nick.

 

 

Wilderness Rwanda and SACOLA strengthen partnership agreement

 

Wilderness Rwanda and the Sabyinyo Community Livelihood Association (SACOLA) have signed a new addendum to their contract to further strengthen their partnership, and to extend their mutual commitment to 2057.

 

Wilderness Sabyinyo is Rwanda’s first community-owned lodge, operated by Wilderness Rwanda but owned by the SACOLA community trust, in partnership with the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) and the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP).

 

SACOLA’s success is made possible through the revenue generated by Wilderness Sabyinyo. Its mission is to conserve the environment, strengthen the local community and preserve cultural traditions – all to improve the livelihood of the local people.

 

 

Pierre Celestin Nsengiyumva, Chairman of SACOLA, noted that “due to the hard work, high quality of services and professionalism that marks Wilderness Rwanda, the revenues generated at Wilderness Sabyinyo over the last year allowed us to accomplish much more than what was planned for the past financial year. On behalf of the SACOLA members, we thank the Wilderness Rwanda and Sabyinyo teams, and truly appreciate the good co-operation that exists between us”.

 

Amazing contribution to the community from our guests Glynis and Leo

 

Our dear guests Glynis and Leo visited Wilderness Sabyinyo in August and greatly enjoyed visiting the Sabyinyo village. They decided to help 18 families (a total of 85 people) with the community-based insurance Mutuelle.

 

In Rwanda, ‘Mutuelle’ refers to Mutuelle de Santé, a community-based health insurance. It is a medical scheme especially developed to cover medical costs for poor families and vulnerable groups. The financial assistance was organised through our Sabyinyo Community Committee, and in early September the 18 families received their medical insurance for the coming year.

 

 

Together with local leadership representatives, Leonard Harerimana our SACOLA and Sabyinyo Community Officer, distributed the Mutuelle sponsorship. The families asked to please deeply thank Wilderness and the guests for supporting vulnerable families in the community surrounding the National parks.

 

They said “We deeply appreciate the guests’ and lodge’s love to us. We get emotional to think about that but we are really grateful. We are praying for all of you and your work to be blessed, and thank you for your generosity”.

 

These 85 people have been added to the 2,738 from 41 villages in this area who received the Mutuelle support from Wilderness in July this year.