With all species and subspecies of great apes currently listed as Critically Endangered or Endangered, Bisate Lodge works closely with local communities to help save Rwanda’s Mountain gorillas, including hiring most of its staff from surrounding villages. Expert local guides lead guest treks into adjacent Volcanoes National Park to learn firsthand about protecting gorilla habitat, while observing these majestic primates in the wild. Other Wilderness Safaris conservation efforts in Rwanda include protecting Chimpanzees in Gishwati Forest.

The lodge works to restore natural habitat in the Bisate area through an ambitious reforestation project that’s planted tens of thousands of native bamboo, an important food source for mountain gorillas, along with indigenous Hagenia and Dombeya trees. Vulnerable species, including Golden monkeys, Serval cats and Side-striped jackals, are repopulating the regenerated landscape as a result. Guests, inspired by their wildlife experiences, including gorilla treks, can also support ecosystem restoration at Bisate by visiting the lodge’s nursery and planting tree saplings.

Bisate Lodge plays an important role in supporting local micro-enterprises, purchases produce from a community farming co-operative it helped form, and hires the majority of its staff from surrounding villages. Over the course of its construction, the lodge also employed more than 200 local villagers.

In partnership with local community members, Wilderness Safaris sponsors access to storage tanks holding clean water, as well as internet connectivity for students at the Bisate Primary School. In addition, the lodge supports a youth environmental club, as well as funding educational scholarships for 80 students at Bisate Secondary School. With a particular focus on providing support for education of girls, Wilderness Safaris has sponsored re-useable sanitary pads for all female students and construction of hygienic girls’ bathrooms at the secondary school, to support girls staying in school to complete their education.

In keeping with sustainability practices to reduce carbon emissions, Bisate Lodge heats its hot water with environmentally-friendly thermodynamic geysers, further reducing reliance on fossil fuels for heating water. The lodge also collects rainwater for irrigation and utilizes a rainwater purification system for producing clean drinking water.