Dining at Orugano Bwindi Lodge
Freshly prepared full-board meals, lodge-grown herbs and seasonal produce, packed trekking lunches and relaxed evenings overlooking the Virunga volcanoes.
At Orugano Bwindi Lodge, dining is part of the experience of staying in the mountains of Nkuringo. Every stay is full board, with breakfast, lunch and dinner included in your accommodation rate. On days spent gorilla trekking or hiking, we prepare a packed lunch to take with you into the forest.
Our kitchen is led by Chef Herbert, who brings 24 years of hospitality experience to Orugano. Menus change each day and are prepared around fresh ingredients, what is growing locally, and the preferences and dietary requirements of the guests staying with us.
Some of those ingredients don’t travel very far at all. Herbs, vegetables and fruit are grown around the lodge, while our own sheep provide the lamb served on some of our menus.
After a day in Bwindi, dinner, views towards the Virunga volcanoes and an evening around the campfire provide a relaxed end to the day.
Full-Board Dining at Orugano
Full board is included with your stay and covers:
- Breakfast each morning
- Lunch at the lodge, or a packed lunch for trekking and hiking days
- A three-course dinner each evening
- Tea and coffee
- Drinking water
Meals are planned around guests’ activities. Early breakfasts and packed lunches are prepared when you need to leave for gorilla trekking, gorilla habituation or mountain hiking.
Some Ingredients Don't Travel Far
Orugano’s gardens are woven into the lodge itself. Herbs grow beside the dining area, passion fruit vines run through the grounds, and coffee, bananas and seasonal vegetables grow among and around the cottages.
Our herb and spice garden provides thyme, parsley, mint, coriander, chillies, dill and bay leaves, while rosemary and lemongrass grow elsewhere around the lodge.
We also grow lettuce and traditional local vegetables, together with tomatoes and green peppers when they are in season. Because we don’t use a greenhouse, what comes from the garden naturally changes through the year.
Passion fruit is particularly abundant around Orugano. When ripe we harvest it for fresh juice, and guests are welcome to pick ripe fruit to enjoy themselves — look for fruit that has turned purple, or has started to develop its purple colour.
Our own sheep also provide the lamb used for dishes such as Chef Herbert’s lamb chops.
Interested in what's growing?
Guests who are curious about the gardens are welcome to have a member of the Orugano team show them around. Or simply explore as you walk through the lodge — much of what we grow can be seen around the cottages and pathways.
Breakfast Before Your Trek
A day in Bwindi often starts early, so breakfast is arranged around your planned activity.
Breakfast may include pancakes, sausages, bacon, vegetarian spring rolls, eggs prepared to your preference, fresh fruit, fresh juice and toast, with coffee, tea or milk.
Guests trekking gorillas in Nkuringo normally have breakfast before walking to the nearby briefing point. For activities requiring an earlier departure — gorilla trekking or habituation in Rushaga, or hiking in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park — breakfast is served earlier so you can eat properly before setting out. Your packed lunch and drinking water are prepared before you leave.
Dining Times Around Your Activities
We adjust breakfast around your day’s programme rather than expecting every guest to follow the same schedule. As a general guide:
| Activity | Breakfast |
|---|---|
| Nkuringo gorilla trekking | From around 7:00 AM, then departure for the briefing point |
| Rushaga gorilla trekking | From around 6:30 AM, with a packed lunch prepared |
| Gorilla habituation in Rushaga | From around 6:00 AM, followed by an early departure with a packed lunch |
| Mount Sabinyo and other early mountain hikes | An early breakfast by arrangement, with a packed lunch |
Dinner is generally served in the early evening, timed around guests returning from their activities. If your itinerary requires an unusually early start, please speak to us the evening before and we will arrange your breakfast accordingly.
Packed Lunches for Days in the Forest
Gorilla trekking and mountain hiking can last several hours, and once you enter the forest there is nowhere to buy food. For these days our kitchen prepares a packed lunch for you to carry.
A typical packed lunch includes fruit, juice and your choice of sandwich — chicken, avocado, ham and cheese, cheese and tomato, salami and cheese, or bacon and cheese. Plenty of drinking water is provided.
If you have particular dietary requirements or preferences, please tell us in advance so Chef Herbert can prepare an appropriate alternative.
Dinner After a Day in Bwindi
Dinner is a relaxed three-course meal, and the menu changes each day of your stay. Rather than serving the same fixed menu every evening, Chef Herbert plans a different menu each day, taking into account fresh ingredients, guests’ preferences and any dietary requirements shared with us.
A dinner might begin with cream of pumpkin soup, followed by butter chicken with naan bread, mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables, and finish with a crêpe and chocolate sauce.
On another evening you might be served cream of mushroom soup, then lamb chops with rosemary potatoes, gravy and blanched vegetables, with fresh fruit salad and strawberry sauce to finish.
Our lamb comes from sheep raised at Orugano.
These are examples rather than a fixed menu — part of the experience is that dinner changes from one evening to the next.
Local Vegetables & Vegetarian Dining
Vegetarian food isn’t treated simply as the meat removed from a standard dish.
Chef Herbert plans meals around the guests staying at the lodge, and our gardens give the kitchen access to herbs, lettuce and traditional vegetables when they are available.
Vegetarian guests are particularly encouraged to try some of the local greens grown around Orugano. Their flavours can be quite different from familiar European or North American vegetables — including some distinctly bitter varieties — but trying them can be part of experiencing the food of southwestern Uganda.
We can also cater for vegan and gluten-free diets and many common food allergies.
Please tell us about allergies or special dietary requirements when booking. Advance notice is important because Orugano is in a remote mountain location, and it allows Chef Herbert to plan your meals properly.
Dining With Views of the Virunga Volcanoes
The dining area looks towards the Virunga mountain range, giving meals a strong sense of where you are — high in the hills of southwestern Uganda, between Bwindi and the volcanoes.
There is also a verandah where guests can relax with tea, juice or popcorn while taking in the surroundings. It is particularly pleasant at the end of an active day, when there is nowhere you need to rush to next.
Evenings Around the Campfire
As the temperature drops in the mountains, guests can gather around the campfire after the day’s activities, in its sheltered timber surround. The campfire is normally lit in the evening, unless guests prefer to retire early.
It is a simple part of staying at Orugano: dinner, a warm fire and a quiet evening in Nkuringo before another day exploring Bwindi and the surrounding mountains.
Drinks & Refreshments
Tea, coffee and drinking water are available to guests throughout the day.
Filtered and purified drinking water is provided in the rooms. Bottled mineral water is also available for guests who prefer commercially sealed water.
Alcoholic drinks are available and are charged separately. The selection includes Ugandan beers and spirits, wines, rum and a range of international spirits.
Depending on the season, fresh juice may include passion fruit harvested from vines growing around the lodge.
What Guests Say About the Food
“The meals were very tasty and every member of staff did their best to look after us and welcome us.”
— 240AbbieS, Oxford, United Kingdom · Tripadvisor
“The food was excellent. Views were amazing. Staff was wonderful… engaging and attentive. They put hot water bottles in our bed, made popcorn for us at night and invited us to hang out at the campfire every night.”
— Sandy w, Frederick, Maryland · Tripadvisor
“The food is great and we enjoyed a nice dinner.”
— Corine N, Nieuwkoop, The Netherlands · Tripadvisor
Stay, Dine & Explore Bwindi
Dining at Orugano is designed around the reason most of our guests have travelled this far: to experience Bwindi and the mountains around it.
Start with breakfast before the forest, take a freshly prepared packed lunch on your trek, and return to the lodge for a hot meal and an evening around the campfire.
Full-board dining is included with your stay.