Who we are
Nkuringo Eco Collection is a Ugandan-owned, woman-led, premium hospitality brand with safari lodges in Bwindi, Kibale, and Entebbe. Founded in 2007 and known for many years as Nkuringo Lodges, the collection has grown from a ridge-top base in southern Bwindi into a hospitality brand serving guests across Uganda’s western safari circuit. Walking safaris, conservation, and community connection have shaped the collection from the beginning, and they still guide the way guests are welcomed today. Nkuringo Eco Collection works with a range of travel partners, including the sister brand, Nkuringo Safaris, while remaining focused on premium hospitality in Uganda.
Origin Story
Nkuringo began in 2007, when Lydia Eva Mpanga and the late Robert Brierley set up camp on the ridge above southern Bwindi. They started with a community campsite and a simple idea to bring travelers into Uganda’s gorilla country in a way that felt closer to the land, closer to local life, and more respectful of the forest itself.
From that ridge came the early Nkuringo Walking Safaris: canoe crossings on Lake Mutanda, village footpaths around Nkuringo, and guided treks from Kisoro to Buhoma through ancient human trails across Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
Those early walks opened the way for something larger. With time, the routes stretched farther to Mgahinga, into the Virunga region, and onward to the Rwenzoris, Lake Mburo, and far east, to Mount Elgon. That expansion helped give rise to the fuller Uganda safaris our brands are known for today, including gorillas, chimps, wildlife, walking, and well-planned expeditions that connect different landscapes.
The original ridge camp grew into Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge. Papyrus Guesthouse later gave guests a calmer start and finish in Entebbe. Mirima Kibale Lodge now extends the Eco Collection into crater-lake country near Kibale, creating a stronger gorilla-and-chimp primates safari circuit across western Uganda.
After Robert’s passing in 2014, Lydia led the next chapter with the teams and partnerships around her, helping grow Nkuringo from its Bwindi walking roots into a wider hospitality and safari brand with strong safari ties across Bwindi, Kibale, Queen Elizabeth, and beyond.
Through that growth, the values at the heart of Nkuringo have remained central to our operations: care for guests, respect for wildlife, and meaningful ties with the communities around the places where we work.
The Eco Collection
Nkuringo Eco Collection brings together places, people, and experiences that support your Uganda safari from arrival to departure. That includes our own bases in Bwindi, Kibale, and Entebbe, the Walking Safaris heritage that helped shape Nkuringo, and Gorilla Junction Foundation, which gives a clearer view of the community and conservation work around Bwindi & Kibale. Across the collection, you see strong locations, warm hosting, good organization, and a way of traveling that respects wildlife and the people who live beside these wild places.
Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge
Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge is our flagship base on Nteko Ridge, at the southern edge of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. From here, you are well placed for the Nkuringo and Rushaga gorilla trailheads, with wide views across the forest canopy and towards the Virunga volcanoes. It is the lodge most closely tied to our gorilla-trekking roots, and it remains a strong base for time in this part of Bwindi.
Mirima Kibale Lodge
Mirima Kibale Lodge brings the collection into the crater-lake country near Kibale National Park. Overlooking Lake Nyamirima, it is being developed as our chimp base in western Uganda and strengthens the natural link between Bwindi and Kibale in one safari. Mirima opens on June 1, 2026, and bookings are already open.
Papyrus Guesthouse
Papyrus Guesthouse is our Entebbe base, set in quiet gardens about 10 to 15 minutes from the international airport. It gives you a calmer first or last night in Uganda and makes the shift between flights and safari days easier. For many guests, that rest, shower, meal, and good night’s sleep matter more than they expect.
Nkuringo Walking Safaris
Walking has been part of Nkuringo from the beginning. Early routes included canoe crossings on Lake Mutanda, village footpaths around Nkuringo, and forest treks through Bwindi between Kisoro, Buhoma, and the ridge above the lodge. Over time, those walks stretched farther to Mgahinga, the Virunga region, the Rwenzoris, Lake Mburo, and as far as Mount Elgon. They helped shape the wider Uganda safaris we run today and still influence how we plan, with attention to pace, terrain, local guiding, and the feeling of moving through the land rather than just passing through it.
Gorilla Junction Foundation
Gorilla Junction Foundation gives a clearer view of the community and conservation work connected to our safaris and lodges. Centered around the Robert Brierley Community Center near Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge, it helps connect guests with local skills training, crafts, girls’ education, coffee, tree planting, and other practical work around Bwindi and Kibale. It is one of the clearest ways to see how tourism can support the families and communities who live beside the national parks.
A Ugandan hospitality partner you can trust
Nkuringo Eco Collection welcomes guests through different booking paths. Some book directly with us. Most stay with us through our sister Destination Management Company (DMC), Nkuringo Safaris. Many arrive as part of itineraries arranged by other tour operators, safari planners, and travel advisors who choose our lodges for their own clients.
What remains consistent with the collection is the strong locations, warm hosting, practical comfort, teams who know the rhythm of the places where they work, and the collection's connection to the communities we operate in. Nkuringo Eco Collection welcomes focused partnerships with the travel trade who are looking for a well hosting brand in Bwindi, Kibale, and Entebbe.
What guests can expect from us
Warm hosting
From your first message to your final airport transfer, you should feel that someone is paying attention. That may mean a clear answer before you book, a smooth pickup after a long flight, dinner ready after the road, or a room prepared for an early gorilla or chimp morning. It can be as simple as arriving muddy from the forest and finding hot water, dry clothes by the fire, and a team that already understands the rhythm of your day. Across the Collection's eco lodges, hosting is shaped around the safari itself, so the practical details feel sorted, and you can focus on where you are.
Comfort with purpose
At Nkuringo Eco Collection, comfort is there to support a well-planned safari. You come back from the road, the trail, or a late-night briefing to a good bed, a warm shower, clean bathrooms, and meals that restore your energy for the next day. The lodges are comfortable without losing sight of where you are: on a ridge above Bwindi, beside a crater lake near Kibale, or in Entebbe at the beginning or end of your time in Uganda. The aim is to get rid of the excess and help you rest well, travel well, and stay close to the land you came to experience.
Reliable planning and care
We understand that a safari runs more smoothly when you have all the details. Your permit, your guide, your road transfers, your lodge timings, and the handovers between road drives, lodges, and park activities should not feel like separate pieces you have to manage yourself. With Nkuringo, the planning is meant to feel simple from the first enquiry to the final day. You know where to be, what time matters, what the next stretch of road looks like, and what kind of day lies ahead. That clarity makes a difference, especially in western Uganda, where a well-paced route can shape the whole trip.
Local knowledge
Nkuringo Eco Collection was born in Bwindi and spread across Uganda’s western safari circuit. Our teams use that knowledge every day when they match the right room to your adventure, plan the itinerary between Bwindi, Kibale, and Queen Elizabeth with realistic timing, and help you understand the land, the wildlife, and the communities around you. You are traveling with people who know these places as living landscapes.
The places that shape our work
Nkuringo began on the ridge above Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, and that part of Uganda still sits at the heart of the brand. Over time, the company grew across the western safari circuit, following the landscapes that make Uganda feel rich and varied in a single trip. That includes the forested slopes around Nkuringo and Kisoro, the gorilla country of southern Bwindi, the crater lakes and chimp habitats near Kibale National Park, and the savannah plains of Queen Elizabeth National Park.
It also includes the quieter edges of safari in Entebbe on the shores of Lake Victoria, village paths around the lodge, water crossings on Lake Mutanda, wetlands alive with birdlife, and the road journeys that connect forest to savannah. A Nkuringo safari can move from dense forest and crater lakes to open plains and wetlands in the space of a few days. Gorillas and chimps, game drives and walking routes, mountain ridges, lake country, and the communities that live alongside them.
Sustainability
When you stay with Nkuringo, your trip supports a Ugandan-owned business that employs local teams, works with local suppliers, and backs community projects close to where guests travel. Around Bwindi, that work is carried out through Gorilla Junction Foundation, which supports skills training, girls’ education, coffee, tree planting, crafts, and other practical opportunities for families living near the park.
The Robert Brierley Community Center makes some of that work easier to understand. It sits near Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge and offers a closer view of the training, craft, and community activity supported through Gorilla Junction Foundation. Guests who visit can learn more about tailoring, weaving, conservation coffee, and other local initiatives in a way that feels respectful and grounded in real work. You can explore more on our Impact page if you want the fuller story behind Gorilla Junction Foundation and its projects around Bwindi.
It also includes the quieter edges of safari, like Entebbe on the shores of Lake Victoria, village paths around the lodge, water crossings on Lake Mutanda, wetlands alive with birdlife, and the road journeys that connect forest to savannah.
A Uganda safari can move from dense forest and crater lakes to open plains and wetlands in the space of a few days. That range brings you close to gorillas and chimps, whisking you off on early morning and late evening game drives, boat safaris, and ancient walking routes. On that journey, Nkuringo Eco Collection will elevating you over mountain ridges and crater lakes, and embracing you with the communities that live alongside them.
We can also help you plan
From your first inquiry to your final checkout or airport handover, your experience is curated by a Ugandan team that knows these places well. Our safari specialists, reservations, lodge, and operations teams coordinate rooming, arrivals, meals, timings, and local handovers with the kind of detail that matters in Bwindi, Kibale, Queen, and Entebbe. Whether you come to us directly and plan your Uganda safari with our specialists, or as part of a wider itinerary arranged elsewhere, the experience on the ground will feel smooth, personal, and well organized.