Wilderness Bisate newsletter – October 2024

This last month has not been without its challenges however. The entire country was affected by the Marburg Virus and the caution that US travellers faced after the warning issued by the US government. Rwanda postponed its famous Kwita Izina baby gorilla naming event as a precautionary effort to safeguard all parties involved in the tourism industry in the country. Lodge occupancies took a small hit across the board in all of the companies and properties, and we all held our breath for a minute or two. The good news is that it turned out that these swift and sweeping measures were incredibly effective and the virus was almost completely snuffed out and isolated to a tiny handful of cases, and the spread was comprehensively halted. 

We now look forward to getting our year back on track and await the announcement from the US government on the complete relaxation of travel restrictions to Rwanda. Of course, all of this did not stop all guests, and we have been continuing to showcase the amazing region to a lucky group of guests who enjoyed a rare period of lower occupancies to make our intimate and exclusive property feel just that bit more exclusive. 

There was another exciting event during the last month when our Wilderness Rwanda Board members held their annual meeting at Bisate Reserve this year. A very successful event, we laid out our plans for the year ahead and beyond. All I will say on this platform is hold on to your trekking gaiters because we are just getting started here at Bisate!

As is often the case with this industry, the new staff who joined us just three months ago have settled in incredibly well. These enthusiastic young smiling faces, armed with nothing but a few big ideas and a hunger for hospitality, have already started showing signs of being experienced veterans of the front-of-house. A few months of dedicated training and being on the front lines of Rwanda’s premier hospitality offering have resulted in the blossoming of the careers of the next generation of this country’s amazing talent. This magic has also translated to the back-of-house team, who have finally been able to be set loose on the otherwise normally fully occupied camp, and have made a head start on the maintenance and upgrades that we have planned. If I may say so, the lodge is looking amazing as a result of this and I am incredibly proud of the team. A newer team that has been slowly establishing itself as the small but potent guiding team, led by our ever-present head guide Jimmy AKA Jimmeleon. The guiding team, along with our agronomy team, has just completed the second tree nursery on the property, and we cannot wait to show this off to our guests. 

October also offered a great opportunity to get the team together, and on a quieter day, we did just that. What better way to celebrate our year and our team, than to prepare a feast of roast lamb, an abundance of goat brochettes, and of course an array of Kinigi potato dishes. This was sweetened by some local music and enough dancing and soft drinks to keep us moving for the whole afternoon. Thank you to our incredible team again for all of your hard work over the last year. Long live Bisate! 

We were once again treated to dramatic night sky views in October, with the eruption of Mount Nyamulagira, a volcano that is situated approximately 40 km away in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

With the comfort of distance between us and the bubbling cauldron of lava, we were able to marvel at this ancient wonder from the decks at Bisate, and the Eagle’s Nest lookout point at Bisate Reserve. 

Purples, reds and oranges painted a picturesque scene amongst the stars and volcano skyline that we are blessed to overlook, and a full moon shining its bright light over the landscape made this even more of a feast for the eyes. 

In moments like these we can truly appreciate where we live, and pay our respects to the natural wonders of the world, and the awe-inspiring capabilities of Mother Nature. 

Each month, we take great pleasure in going through our camera trap footage from across the property. We have strategically placed these hidden cameras on our nature trails to silently observe all of the wildlife that inhabits our beautiful area. Following eight years of careful restoration and reforestation, we have seen an increase in the number of native species finding sanctuary among these peaceful tracts of nature. 

Recently, we had noticed one of our resident female servals becoming more and more active in her hunts and passing the same path each day, often with a small rodent in her mouth. 

Imagine our surprise and joy when we skipped through our footage, only to find her with company! Our small hunter has become a mother to two beautiful and rambunctious kittens. 

We can’t wait to watch them grow and thrive. It is a privilege to know that our team, together with the generous time of our guests, have contributed to creating a safe habitat for them. 

In October, after months of secrecy, we were finally able to share the magic of Bisate Reserve with the world through our exciting marketing launch. The iconic new lodge, perched on a hill overlooking Volcanoes National Park, has been a hub of excitement. Our teams can now freely brag about their new home to their families, and not be shy about posting the odd ‘my office is better than yours’ picture to social media. We look forward to introducing more of our magic in the coming months.

The Tuzamurane Co-operative was established in 2016 when Wilderness approached the collective Bisate villagers to purchase parcels of their agricultural land to develop Wilderness Bisate, which opened for guests in June 2017. The award-winning lodge has since expanded, with the exciting additions of Bisate Kwanda Day Lounge in 2021 and the recently opened Wilderness Bisate Reserve. The Co-operative has grown and developed every year, and currently consists of 241 households – 169 men and 72 women – representing the villages around Wilderness Bisate.

Since its formation, the Tuzamurane Co-operative has been supplying goods to Bisate – from labour for the lodge’s construction and other development projects (ongoing to this day), to freshly harvested potatoes and carrots! Many of Bisate’s permanent team members are connected to the Tuzamurane Co-operative in an enduring relationship that has greatly improved the lives of the community members in the villages.

The successful reforestation project at Bisate is the result of a joint effort between the lodge and the Tuzamurane Co-operative – during each planting season many casual workers are employed to assist with planting and taking care of the indigenous saplings in the Bisate nursery. By now we can say that most of the Tuzamurane members are skilled agronomists!

Through our community committee in the Bisate area, and funded by generous guest donations, we support Tuzamurane with small-business development projects to empower the residents in the villages.

The first business we helped initiate was in 2021 – a large-scale agricultural and indigenous tree nursery situated in the Bisate villages. Currently, the nursery focus is mostly on agricultural trees, especially avocado saplings as a food source for the community. However, a smaller part of the nursery focuses on growing indigenous tree saplings to maintain the natural environment. 

Two plots of land were purchased with our financial assistance, but are registered in the name of the Tuzamurane Co-operative. We also supported the storage space for this nursery, the water connection, all tools, a toilet for the workers and all necessities to start up the business. The nursery now runs independently and successfully sells avocado trees each year. The total value of Wilderness’ support, through donations from our guests, is USD 17,570.00.

Each year the Co-operative sells their avocado saplings in October and November, after which new avocado seeds are planted again. This year the co-operative has 11,500 avocado saplings that are ready to be distributed. One thousand of the saplings will be donated to the families in the Bisate village, the others will be sold to generate income for the Tuzamurane Co-operative members.

The second small Tuzamurane Co-operative business we supported was a start-up for the production of organic fertiliser and compost to supply farmers in the area. This project has been running since March 2023, and impressively, has now trained most farmers in the area on the usage and production of organic fertiliser. The total support provided by guests of Bisate is valued at USD 8,000.00. The organic fertiliser is a combination of raw materials like leaves and grasses, maize and bean crop waste, clay, cow dung, ash from the kitchens, and charcoal residue. As a result of the project many farmers in the Bisate area are currently using compost as a fertiliser, improving their produce whilst reducing the toxins from chemical fertiliser.

The third small business we support via the Tuzamurane Co-op in the Bisate villages is a mushroom farm. This project, valued at USD 4,500, started at the end of 2023, and was made possible thanks to the support of our generous Bisate guests. With the aim of diversifying the crops in the area and providing additional income, the Co-operative started by training all the Tuzamurane members on how to successfully grow the fungi. 

Simultaneously, the villagers constructed a number of mushroom huts on the same property as the tree nursery. In September 2024 the Co-operative started to harvest and sell their mushrooms. Amongst their customers are Wilderness Bisate, Bisate Reserve and Sabyinyo! The chefs in our kitchens could not be happier with the quality of the beautiful, fresh mushrooms grown so close to the lodges.  

“The Bisate team works together with the Tuzamurane Co-operative every day. Wilderness Bisate and the surrounding community and people in the area are intertwined. I am so happy to be involved in the efforts to empower the residents in our villages”, says a proud Aline Umutoni, Community & CITW Manager for Rwanda.