Buhoma's economy runs almost entirely on tourism. When a health scare, border closure, or global crisis sends visitor numbers to zero, the impact is immediate and severe — guides lose income overnight, lodge staff are sent home, craft sellers have no customers. Ebola outbreaks in 2007–08 and 2018–19, COVID-19, and Uganda–Rwanda border closures have all hit the community hard. This page explains what happened, how Buhoma recovered each time, and what it means for planning your visit.
Quick Facts
- Major Crises:
- Ebola 2007–08, Ebola 2018–19, COVID-19 2020–21
- Worst Impact:
- COVID-19: 12–18 months of near-zero tourism
- Gorilla Trek Closure:
- Only during COVID-19 (March 2020–2021)
- Ebola Cases in Bwindi:
- None recorded in or around Buhoma
- Recovery Pattern:
- Slow restart, then rapid rebound within 1–2 years
- Current Status:
- Fully open and operating
A Village Whose Livelihood Depends on the World Feeling Safe
Buhoma sits at the northern entrance to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, 540 kilometres from Kampala and close to Uganda's border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is one of the most beautiful and remote places in East Africa. It is also one of the most economically fragile.
Nearly every household in Buhoma is connected to the tourism economy in some way: a guide, a porter, a lodge cook, a woman selling woven baskets, a carpenter producing furniture for lodges, a young man painting gorilla scenes on the roadside. When tourists arrive, money circulates. When they stop coming — for any reason, regardless of whether Buhoma itself is the cause — that circulation stops almost immediately.
This is what locals who have worked in Buhoma's tourism sector for over a decade describe when they talk about what crises actually feel like from the inside. Not abstract economic data — but empty booking sheets, unpaid school fees, and the strange silence of a village that is normally busy with arriving vehicles.
Ebola: The Crisis That Kills Tourism Without Crossing the Border
In 2007 and 2008, an Ebola outbreak spread through the Bundibugyo district of western Uganda — approximately 200 kilometres north of Bwindi. The outbreak was contained within months, but its effects on gorilla trekking tourism were felt across the entire region. Bookings to Bwindi dropped sharply, even though the park was nowhere near the outbreak zone and no cases were ever recorded in Buhoma or its surrounding villages.
The same pattern repeated a decade later. From 2018 to 2019, a major Ebola outbreak spread through North Kivu province in the DRC — directly across the border from southwestern Uganda. This outbreak was one of the deadliest in history, killing over 2,000 people. Uganda itself recorded only a handful of imported cases, all rapidly contained. But for international travellers reading headlines, the distinction between "Ebola in the DRC" and "Ebola near Uganda" was not always clear.
The result was predictable. Cancellations flooded in. Tour operators in Kampala watched their Bwindi bookings collapse. In Buhoma, the effect was felt within days of the first international news coverage — not because anything had changed on the ground, but because perception had shifted thousands of kilometres away.
What Ebola Outbreaks Actually Mean for Bwindi Visitors
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is high-altitude, remote, and has minimal cross-border movement with conflict zones. Uganda Wildlife Authority implements health screening at park entry points during regional alerts. No gorilla trekking group in Bwindi has ever been linked to an Ebola transmission event.
The actual risk to a gorilla trekking tourist in Buhoma during a regional Ebola scare is extremely low. The perceived risk — amplified by international media and travel advisories that sometimes treat "Uganda" as a single undifferentiated zone — is much higher. This gap between perception and reality is what makes Ebola so economically destructive for Buhoma, even when the village itself is entirely safe. See our Buhoma safety guide for a full assessment.
COVID-19: The Crisis That Finally Closed the Gates
Every previous crisis had hit Buhoma through the mechanism of fear — travellers cancelling from abroad, the park remaining open but empty. COVID-19 was different. For the first time, the park itself closed.
Uganda shut its borders in March 2020 and suspended gorilla trekking as part of a national pandemic response. The closure lasted for over a year. For the people of Buhoma, this was unlike anything they had experienced before — not a sharp downturn, but a total halt.
During our visits to Buhoma in January 2026 and again in April and May 2026, we heard the same thing from guides, lodge workers, and community members who lived through that period. The financial impact was severe, but what people described was also a kind of disorientation: a village that had structured its entire rhythm around arriving tourists suddenly without any.
Recovery came slowly. When Uganda reopened its parks in late 2021, early visitor numbers were low. By 2022 the recovery accelerated. By 2025, Buhoma was operating at or near pre-pandemic tourism levels — and new lodges have since opened. The scars remain in the form of debt taken on during the shutdown, but the community found its footing again.
The People Behind the Numbers
When we spent time in Buhoma in January 2026, one of the things that struck us most was how many different kinds of small businesses depend on the steady flow of visitors. The carpentry workshop near the village centre — Innox and Friend's Unique Workshop — produces furniture and handcraft items. The owners talked openly about the periods when orders dried up entirely, when there were no tourists to buy anything and no lodges commissioning work.
On the road near Gorilla Bluff Lodge, we met Clinton. He was 17 years old, painting and selling gorilla scenes — vivid, expressive canvases he had taught himself to produce. Clinton's father had died, and he was supporting his mother, two brothers, and a younger sister with a disability. His entire income came from tourists pausing to look at his work. During the COVID years, there were no tourists to pause. Clinton told us his dream is to become a tour guide — a profession that would give him a more stable income, but one equally dependent on visitors arriving in Buhoma.
These are the people most directly affected when a crisis — whether a health outbreak 200 kilometres away or a pandemic on the other side of the world — sends tourist numbers to zero. They have no savings buffer large enough to absorb months of zero income. Their resilience is real, but it is not unlimited.
Border Closures and Regional Instability
Uganda and Rwanda share a border that many Bwindi visitors cross as part of a combined gorilla trekking itinerary. When relations between the two countries deteriorate, visitors who would have entered Uganda as part of a regional circuit sometimes choose Rwanda alone. Our full comparison of Uganda vs. Rwanda for gorilla trekking covers this in detail.
The Uganda–Rwanda border was effectively closed from early 2019 through most of 2022 — a period that overlapped with COVID-19. The compounding effect of border closure and pandemic on Buhoma's economy was severe. The gradual normalisation of Uganda–Rwanda border traffic has been a significant factor in the post-2022 recovery, as the "double-country" itinerary has returned.
Instability in eastern DRC remains an ongoing factor. Active conflict in North Kivu occasionally generates travel warnings that group the entire "Great Lakes region" into a single advisory, even though Bwindi is separated from the conflict zone by geography, terrain, and Uganda's own border security. For travellers who do their research, the distinction is clear.
What This Means for Your Trip
Book with Flexibility
Choose tour operators and lodges that offer clear cancellation and rebooking policies. The Uganda Wildlife Authority gorilla permit ($800 for foreign non-residents) is non-refundable under standard terms, but permits can be transferred to different dates in documented crisis situations. Ask your operator explicitly how they handle cancellations due to health emergencies or park closures.
Buy Comprehensive Travel Insurance
Standard travel insurance often excludes epidemics and pandemics by default. After COVID-19, many insurers created epidemic/pandemic coverage options. Read the policy carefully and check whether it covers cancellation due to regional health alerts or government travel advisories — not just personal illness.
Your Visit Has Real Local Impact
When Buhoma recovers from a crisis, the recovery is built visitor by visitor. Every tourist who comes after an advisory lifts, who joins a community walk, who buys a painting from a local artist, contributes to a recovery that international aid cannot replicate. Buhoma's resilience is real — and it is earned each time visitors choose to come.
Related Guides
Safety in Buhoma
Is Buhoma safe? What to know before you go
Uganda vs Rwanda
Which country is better for gorilla trekking?
Permit Cancellation
What happens if you need to cancel your permit
Ebola 2018 — The Full Account
How the DRC outbreak shut down gorilla tourism and what Buhoma's community lived through
A Week Without Tourists
Norman's first-hand account of riding his BodaBoda through empty Buhoma during an Ebola alert