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Coffee Conserving Mountain Gorillas in

Coffee Conserving Mountain Gorillas in Bwindi

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, best known for its Mountain Gorillas, with just under half of the World’s estimated 1063 remaining endangered Mountain Gorillas, is also home to Gorilla Conservation Coffee, Uganda’s only premium and specialty coffee expressly created to protect the magnificent Mountain Gorillas.

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Gorilla Conservation Coffee was established in 2015 as a social enterprise of Conservation Through Public Health, a grassroots Ugandan NGO and non-profit, which promotes biodiversity conservation by enabling people, gorillas and other wildlife to coexist through improving their health and livelihoods in and around Africa’s protected areas.

Surrounding Bwindi Impenetrable National Park are isolated and impoverished communities, with limited access to health services and very few livelihood opportunities. Due to their close proximity both inside and outside the national park, preventable infectious diseases, including COVID-19, can easily spread between humans and gorillas. This, along with illegal entry into the forest in search of food or fuelwood, is threatening the existence of the mountain gorillas. Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) works to address the threats to mountain gorillas, including by providing alternative, sustainable livelihood options for the community members living in proximity to the gorillas.

Gorilla Conservation Coffee is one such alternative livelihood which provides coffee farmers living adjacent to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest with a guaranteed market and higher price for their coffee.

When Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Conservation Through Public Health and Gorilla Conservation Coffee’s founder, visited farmers living near the park, she learnt they were not being given a fair price for their coffee and were struggling hard to survive, forcing them to use the national park to meet their basic family needs for food and fuel wood. It was then that concept for Gorilla Conservation Coffee was born.

Gorilla Conservation Coffee pays a premium of $0.50 per kilo above the market price to coffee farmers living around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Gorilla Conservation Coffee further supports the farmers through training in sustainable coffee farming and processing. This helps to improve the coffee quality and increase production yield. Supporting local farmers helps to protect the endangered gorillas and their fragile habitat. Gorilla Conservation Coffee makes a special effort to support women coffee farmers, helping to provide opportunities for women’s economic empowerment, disrupt male financial dominance and break ingrained stereotypes in the communities.

‘I started growing Arabica coffee in 2002, but had one major challenge – we had no market. We are grateful to Gorilla Conservation Coffee for getting us market for our coffee.’ Sulait Mugaye, Coffee Farmer of Bwindi.

‘I was lucky to have been introduced to Gorilla Conservation Coffee. I requested for a loan to invest in my farming, which I was able to get. I fully serviced the loan and made profits from sales of the coffee. I always use the profits to pay school fees for my children.’ Vincent Butamanya, Coffee Farmer of Bwindi.

In addition, $1.50 per kilo of roasted branded coffee purchased is donated to help save mountain gorillas by directly supporting the work of Conservation Through Public Health, ensuring that benefits to Bwindi’s gorillas and communities are maximized. With this and other support, Conservation Through Public Health implements a One Health model which focuses on preventing and controlling disease transmission between closely genetically related species such as people and gorillas, and livestock and wildlife, and promoting a better quality of life that reduces local communities’ dependence on fragile habitats to meet their basic needs. Conservation Through Public Health’s multidisciplinary approach includes working with community volunteers and training them as Village Health and Conservation Teams (VHCTs). VHCTs visit households around Bwindi, disseminating information and services to improve health and conservation practices including around hygiene, sanitation, safe waste disposal, tree planting, energy efficient stoves and the risks associated with eating bush meat. In addition, VHCTs provide family planning advice and administer injectable contraceptives to those who would like them, and improve attitudes towards conservation. VHCTs report homes visited by gorillas and help to prevent and control infectious diseases particularly those that can spread between people and gorillas. They also provide referral advice and, recently during the COVID-19 pandemic, have been providing home based care support and

OPPOSITE PAGE: Gorilla Conservation Coffee and view of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. THIS PAGE: The Gorilla Health and Community Conservation Centre with the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park view.

Dr. Gladys with Mugaya Sulait, coffee farmer of Bwindi and Butamanya Vincent, coffee farmer of Bwindi Photo © Jo Anne McArthur - UnboundProject

contact tracing.

Conservation Through Public Health also engages community members as Gorilla Guardians – human and gorilla conflict resolution team volunteers who provide human-wildlife conflict support including safely herding wild animals which have strayed into community land back into the forest. Gorilla Guardians also work with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to support routine gorilla health monitoring through the collection of fecal samples from night nests for analysis at Conservation Through Public Health’s Gorilla Health and Community Conservation Centre which houses a field laboratory, the only one of its kind in Bwindi. Fecal samples are collected regularly and analysed for pathogens, particularly those of zoonotic concern. This provides an early warning system in the case of an infection having spilled over from the human population to the gorillas. Gorilla Guardians are also trained by Conservation Through Public Health in clinical observation of the gorillas, to enable quick identification of any health issues of concern amongst Bwindi’s gorilla population.

Gorilla Conservation Coffee

Gorilla Conservation Coffee’s Kanyonyi coffee brand is 100% premium Arabica that is selectively harvested for only red ripe cherries, hand-picked, wet processed and dried under shade. Our coffee is tested for quality parameters at every level. The coffee is roasted medium and packed to the highest quality standards. The first brand is named after Kanyonyi, the former lead silverback of the Mubare gorilla group located in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda – it has a unique aroma with hints of dark chocolate, caramel, butter notes and almond, with a citrus taste and a sweet finish. In 2018, it was placed amongst the top 30 coffees globally by Coffee Review in California, USA.

Coffee Safari

If you are looking for something different to do whilst in Bwindi, why not join a Gorilla Conservation Coffee Safari to learn how coffee helps small farmers and saves Uganda’s mountain gorillas? You’ll learn how the coffee is grown, harvested, dried and processed; meet the farmers; and get to taste the award-winning coffee.

Gorilla Conservation Camp

Visitors to Bwindi can make an extra impact by staying at the Gorilla

Conservation Camp, Conservation Through Public Health’s beautifully appointed camp overlooking the Bwindi forest canopy. Choose between one of the self-contained rooms or opt for ‘glamping’ in a furnished tent. Of course, what better way to start your days at the camp than with a delicious cup of Gorilla Conservation Coffee?

Gorilla Conservation Café

Don’t miss the Gorilla Conservation Café in Entebbe – stop in for a delicious brew whilst in Entebbe. The Gorilla Conservation Café, located at Plot 13 Portal Road in Entebbe serves a range of coffees, snacks and meals - and you can enjoy them all guilt-free knowing that you purchase is helping to save the endangered mountain gorillas!

Where to buy?

Gorilla Conservation Coffee is widely available in Uganda, Kenya and internationally. You can pick some up from the Gorilla Conservation Café, at the Entebbe International Airport Duty Free Shops, AidChild Equator Shop, Ark Organics, Muti Garden Café, and lodges at Bwindi including Gorilla Conservation Camp, Ride for a Woman, Buhoma Lodge, Mahogany Springs Lodge, Haven Lodge, Bwindi View Lodge, Gorilla Forest Camp, Buhoma Community Restcamp and Batwa Empowerment

Blackback gorilla in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Photo © Jo Anne McArthur - UnboundProject

CTPH volunteer, Emily De Moor harvesting our single origin, 100% Arabica coffee

Project, Queen Elizabeth National Park visitor information centre and CTPH Telecentre and online in Uganda at SimbiMall. The coffee is available in Kenya through Safari Lounge, Greenspoon or Carrefour, amongst many other stores. Gorilla Conservation Coffee USA is our supplier in the US and MoneyRowBeans in the UK. For a full list of suppliers, check https:// gorillaconservationcoffee.org/ where-to-buy/

With daily flights to Bwindi offered by Aerolink, there is nothing stopping you from booking that once in a lifetime trip to see the mountain gorillas, and when you do, be sure to visit Conservation Through Public Health’s field office in Buhoma, get a tour of the Gorilla Health and Community Conservation Centre and book a coffee safari to learn more about the work they are doing to save gorillas, one sip at a time.

For more information visit www. ctph.org and www.gccoffee.org

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