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The Bakiga are the highland farmers of Kigezi in south-western Uganda, and theirs is the terraced, steeply cultivated landscape you drive through to reach Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Many of the porters, trackers, guides and lodge staff you meet on a gorilla trip are Bakiga, and the farms that run right up to the forest edge are mostly theirs. Knowing a little about their history, farming, music and relationship with the park makes the journey far more interesting. This guide covers who the Bakiga are and how to meet their communities respectfully during your visit.
Who the Bakiga are
The name means roughly “people of the highlands”. One person is a Mukiga, and the language is Rukiga, a Bantu language close to Runyankore and related to Kinyarwanda. Bakiga country centres on today’s Kabale, Rubanda, Rukiga and Kanungu districts, which together with Kisoro and Rukungiri made up the old colonial district of Kigezi. Around Kisoro and Mgahinga most people are Bafumbira, who speak a dialect of Kinyarwanda, and the Batwa, the forest’s original hunter-gatherers, live in small communities around both gorilla parks.
Unlike their neighbours in Buganda, Ankole and Rwanda, the Bakiga never formed a kingdom. Society was organised by clans and lineages, with elders settling disputes and allocating land, and families were largely independent. That history still shapes how people describe themselves: proud, outspoken, hard-working and wary of outside authority.
History: resistance, Nyabingi and the colonial era
Kigezi was one of the last parts of Uganda to come under British rule. Its borders were only settled in 1910, when Britain, Germany and Belgium agreed the frontier through the Virungas, and British administration was set up soon afterwards. Resistance was often organised through the Nyabingi spirit cult, a female spirit believed to speak through mediums. Its best-known leader, Muhumusa, and Ndungutsi, who claimed to be her son, led uprisings against colonial rule in the early 1910s. The British banned the cult, but Nyabingi shrines and stories survived for decades and are still part of local memory.
Colonial officials also changed how Kigezi was farmed. Alarmed by soil erosion on its crowded hills, they made contour terracing compulsory from the 1930s and 1940s, creating the patchwork of stepped fields that earned Kigezi the nickname “the Switzerland of Africa”. Land pressure also led the government to resettle thousands of Bakiga families in less crowded parts of Uganda, which is why Rukiga speakers are now found far from the highlands.
From the 1930s the East African Revival, a Christian renewal movement, spread strongly through Kabale, and churches remain central to community life. For the wider story of how colonial rule shaped land and parks, see our guide to Uganda’s colonial history and conservation.
Farming, food and daily life
Kigezi is one of the most densely populated rural areas in Uganda, and almost every slope is farmed. The cool climate at 1,800–2,500 m suits crops that do not grow well in the lowlands. Irish potatoes, for which Kabale is famous across Uganda, grow alongside sorghum, beans, peas, maize, sweet potatoes and bananas. Sorghum is the traditional staple. It is ground for porridge and fermented into obushera, a thick drink served sweet or sour, and into a stronger beer, omuramba, which is shared from a common pot at celebrations.
Families typically farm several small plots scattered over different hills, walking long distances with hoes on their shoulders before dawn. Women do much of the field work and nearly all the cooking, water carrying and firewood collection. Cattle and goats are symbols of wealth and still feature in bride-wealth negotiations before a wedding, followed by the giving-away ceremony, okuhingira.
Music and dance
The signature Bakiga dance is ekizino, performed by men and women in lines and circles with high jumps, heavy stamping and fast footwork that raises clouds of dust. It is accompanied by drums, singing and sometimes flutes or the one-stringed fiddle. Songs tell stories of farming, courtship, cattle, beer and local history. Many lodges near Bwindi invite community groups to perform in the evenings. If you can, also see a performance in a village setting, where your money goes straight to the group and you can talk to the dancers afterwards.
The Bakiga and Bwindi
Before 1991 Bwindi was a forest reserve, and neighbouring communities used it for timber, honey, medicinal plants, hunting and, in places, small-scale gold mining. When it became a national park, all of that stopped overnight, and resentment ran high. Farmers also bear the cost of living next to wildlife, as gorillas, baboons and bush pigs raid crops along the boundary.
The relationship has improved a great deal since then. Every gorilla permit includes a US$10 levy for frontline communities, and 20% of park entry fees go to local projects such as schools, health centres, roads and livestock schemes. Thousands of local people earn income from tourism as porters, guides, lodge staff, craft makers and suppliers.
Bwindi Community Hospital in Buhoma, Gorilla Conservation Coffee and community lodges are all part of this economy. Tensions remain over land, crop raiding and how fairly benefits are shared, but most families now have a direct stake in the gorillas’ survival. Our guide to community-run tourism near Bwindi shows where your spending does the most good.
The Batwa had a very different experience of the same history. As forest dwellers rather than farmers, they lost their homes as well as their resources when the parks were created, and they remain among the poorest people in the region. The Batwa Trail in Mgahinga is led by Batwa guides and tells that story in their own words.
Meeting Bakiga communities on your trip
The easiest way is to hire a porter on your trek. It costs around US$15–20 for the day, provides valuable income, and gives you a few hours with someone who usually knows the forest and the villages well. Community walks run in every Bwindi sector, typically for half a day, and visit farms, a traditional healer, a banana-beer brewer, a school or a craft group. Some of the best-known are in Buhoma.
Lake Bunyonyi, outside Kabale, is the heart of Bakiga country and an easy stop on the way to or from Bwindi. Canoe trips there visit island villages, markets and the lake’s history. See our guide to Lake Bunyonyi.
A few courtesies go a long way. Greet people before asking anything. A simple “Agandi?” (How are you?) answered with “Ni gye” (Fine) always gets a smile. Ask before photographing people or homes. Buy crafts directly from makers, dress modestly in villages, and remember that Sunday is a church day for many families.
Frequently asked questions
A Bantu-speaking farming people of the Kigezi highlands in south-western Uganda, centred on Kabale and the districts around Bwindi. They speak Rukiga and never formed a kingdom.
Mainly Rukiga, with Rufumbira (a Kinyarwanda dialect) around Kisoro and Mgahinga. English is widely spoken by guides and lodge staff.
Ekizino, an energetic dance of high jumps and heavy stamping, performed with drums and singing at celebrations and often by community groups near Bwindi.
Join a community walk in any Bwindi sector, hire a local porter for your trek, or spend a night at Lake Bunyonyi and take a canoe trip to the island villages.
