The Wangkwar Women’s Group runs a small set of traditional bandas near Kichumbanyobo Gate, on the southern approach to Murchison Falls. It is a community-tourism project rather than a lodge: you sleep in a simple mud-and-thatch banda, eat a home-cooked Ugandan meal with the family, and can join in with cooking, craft-making, farming or storytelling if you want to. The money stays with the women’s group and supports school fees, savings and small businesses in the village. For travellers who want their stay to mean something locally, it is a rewarding, low-cost night.
Where it is
Near Kichumbanyobo Gate on the Masindi-Paraa road, the southern entrance to the park. The top-of-the-falls trailhead is around 45 minutes to an hour inside the gate, and the Paraa ferry, for the northern game-drive tracks, around an hour and a quarter. Budongo Forest is a short way back toward Masindi.
The setting
The bandas sit within the village among gardens and farm plots, so the setting is rural Ugandan life rather than wilderness – children, chickens, cooking fires, the day’s routine going on around you. It is welcoming and unpolished, and the group are used to hosting travellers and will pitch the experience to how involved you want to be.
Rooms
Simple traditional bandas, each with a bed and a mosquito net, basic furnishings and a shared pit latrine and bucket shower nearby. Bring a head torch. There is no power beyond a possible solar charging point.
Facilities and food
Home-cooked traditional meals eaten with the family – typically posho, beans, groundnut sauce, greens, matoke and seasonal fruit, with vegetarian eating easy and other needs met with notice. Activities on offer include a village walk, cooking, basket- and mat-weaving, drumming and dance, and a farm visit, each for a small extra fee that goes to the group. No Wi-Fi. We arrange the park drives, the cruise and the falls hike.
Who it suits
The Wangkwar Women’s Group Bandas suit travellers who want a genuine community stay and cultural exchange, who are comfortable with very simple accommodation and shared facilities, and who like the idea of their money going straight to a local women’s cooperative. It is not for anyone wanting privacy, comfort or standard lodge facilities.
What it costs, as a guide
Community-run bandas here are inexpensive – roughly US$20 to US$40 per person per night including a traditional meal – and the money stays in the local area. Park entry fees, your vehicle and guide, and the activities are all separate – a full safari quote from us wraps everything into one figure. Rates move with the season and the room type and change from year to year, so the prices here are indicative and for planning only; we always confirm the exact current rate for your dates directly with the property before you commit to anything.
How it fits your safari
The Wangkwar Women’s Group Bandas are near Kichumbanyobo Gate on the Masindi road, so they work as a low-cost, meaningful overnight before or after the park – through the southern gate for the falls, and a manageable drive to the Paraa ferry for the game drives. We include them on itineraries where a genuine community stay is part of what the traveller wants.
Good to know
Rates, room types and exact facilities change from season to season, so we confirm the current price and availability for your dates directly with the property before you commit to anything – there is no charge for this and no obligation. Power at most Murchison lodges is a mix of mains, solar and generator and may switch off overnight, so a head torch and a power bank are worth carrying; Wi-Fi, where it exists, is slow and best treated as a way to send a message home. Meals are usually full board, and any lodge will pack a breakfast or lunch box for an early game drive if we let the kitchen know. A yellow-fever certificate is required to enter Uganda and malaria prophylaxis is recommended for the whole country.
Check availability at Wangkwar Women’s Group Bandas
Send us your travel dates and the style of safari you have in mind and we will come back within 24 hours with current rates and availability at Wangkwar Women’s Group Bandas, along with a full day-by-day itinerary and a clear quote – no deposit to enquire. Browse our Murchison Falls safaris, read the park guide, see the rest of our Murchison Falls accommodation, or get in touch now.
