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Published: September 28th 2007
Aston
Our chimp-tracking guide, Aston The country is famous for all the wrong reasons - most people, when they hear the name, think instantly of good ol' Idi Amin and his reign of terror, or, if they are more of a current affairs buff, perhaps the peasant-slaughtering, god-bothering Lord's Resistance Army, who are still running wild in the nation's north. But regionally, Ugandans have a reputation for their honesty, friendliness, and joie-de-vivre. From what I've seen, your average Ugandan loves nothing more than to have a beer, flash you a smile, welcome you warmly, and, of course, tell you about how great God is. Yes, they are a very Christian bunch (apart from the Muslims, naturally), and God and Jesus manage to creep into the most unlikely of situations. One guy in Kampala informed me that God made it possible for the British to colonise and exploit Uganda. When I asked him why God let the Brits kill all those poor Africans in the name of Queen and Country, he said, 'that
The view
Looking down to the lake from Bynoona Amagara hostel was a miscalculation'. On whose part, God's or Britain's, he did not say.
There is a definite feeling of moving onward and upward here in Uganda. There is barely a mention of the terrible history of the 1970s, when Amin tore the country apart, killing around 200,000 of his compatriots. Since those troubled times, Uganda seems to have gotten back on track - Kampala, the capital, is buzzing with activity, music and busy-ness (plus the worst traffic I've seen in Africa); the government, if not
entirely democratic, is fairly tolerable; and things are looking so good, the Commonwealth have decided to hold the next Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) right here in Uganda, later this year. Queen Liz herself will be coming, and she will even pop down here to the far south-west, to visit the only National Park in the world named after her (it's called Queen Elizabeth NP, obviously enough). Having all these VIPs swanning around the place has led to a surge of patching up the infrastructure: the power supply in Fort Portal was out all of one day as they were installing a new high-density power line for Her Maj's accommodation in the park.
Cruising into Amagara
Our canoe glides along Lake Bunyonyi, to the Amagara hostel, on the peninsula of an island After leaving the Masai Mara, I returned to Nairobi, and hot-footed it straight to the Ugandan border. Luckily, the southern section of the country has avoided the terrible flooding that has cut off the north, and so I was able to grab a matatu (minibus) to Kampala, passing the 'real' source of the Nile on the way (I say 'real' because Burundi and Ethiopia also claim it).
Kampala is just another big African city, of raggedy slums, pollution, and dust. But it does grow on you: it is built across seven hills, not far from Lake Victoria, so its natural setting is a little more choice than most African capitals. Also, it has some great Indian food on offer; and, coming from Big Bad Nairobi, Kampala feels like the friendliest town on earth. I stayed in my first proper 'backpacker' place (you know, dorm beds, pool table, cheap beers, lots of other scruffy muzungus) in a long time, and we even had MTV in the bar on which to watch the trainwreck that is the MTV Music Awards. I spent my time in Kampala chasing up visas (hard work, especially Rwanda - my thanks to the Canadian Consulate for
Boda-boda view
View from the back seat of a boda-boda, or motorcycle taxi, Fort Portal making that one happen), checking out the museum (no displays updated since about 1975), and soaking up the aircon, food court and cinema at the city's one western-style shopping mall (Evan Almighty, what a crap film). To zip in and out of the gridlock, I used the reliable network of boda-bodas (motorcycle taxis), and only got grazed by a car once...
From Kampala, I travelled westward, to the town of Fort Portal (named after one of the Brits who either claimed or subjugated Uganda a century or so ago). There's not much to see in Fort itself, but it serves as a base for trips to view the incredible natural beauty in this part of Uganda. Fort sits at the northern end of the Rwenzori Mountains (known sometimes as the Mountains of the Moon), and the surrounding area is full of tea estates, crater lakes, and forests chock-full of primates. In fact, that was my main reason for coming - to visit Kibale National Park, a forest reserve with the world's highest density of primate life (if we're not counting human cities, that is). There are 1100-plus chimpanzees in the park, and for an exorbitant sum - US$95, in
Chimp tracking
Aston, our chimp-tracking guide, leads us through the Kibale Forest in search of some large primates fact - you can go and track them, and, hopefully, find them (no refunds if you don't), and then spend some time with these distant cousins. I
really wanted to go and see the mountain gorillas, but it costs a whopping five
hundred US bucks for the pleasure of an hour of their company. Chimps - less impressive, but a lot cheaper too. More my style.
I had prepared myself for a
Gorillas in the Mist-style experience of sitting in the midst of a troop of chimps, perhaps helping them with their grooming, or with the tearing apart of a red colobus monkey. No such luck. Chimps are intensely shy (that's perhaps why there's more of them than there are gorillas), and they love to spend time way up high in the rainforest canopy. So even finding them can take a fair bit of luck. But find them we did, around 12 all up, including bubs and teens and adults, clambering, scratching, weeing, eating figs, and generally acting like chimps, about 20 metres up in the forest canopy. So far away and so dark that I couldn't get any good shots (from a camera, not a rifle - you
Banana bike
A typically overladen-with-plantains Ugandan bicycle have to pay more for that), but it was pretty glorious seeing these incredible primates doing their thing completely in the wild.
Almost worth the 95 bucks.
After developing a stomach bug the likes of which my poor body couldn't quite handle, I went on a course of enough antibiotics to kill a horse, before moving on from Fort Portal, past the soaring Rwenzori mountains, to the lake-and-forest-ridden south of Uganda. My goal was the gorgeous Lake Bunyonyi, a large body of water that is home to about 30 small islands, lying at an altitude of 2000m. The climate, the scenery, the tranquility - how's the tranquility? - all add up to make this one of the most special places I've stayed. A dugout canoe took me to Byoona Amagara, a relaxed hostel with amazing food, a fully-stocked library, and free tea all day. So I sat there, on my strong antibiotics, drinking endless amounts of tea and reading as much Jared Diamond and Richard Dawkins as I could stuff into my head. Four days there, and I clean forgot where I was in the world. That is, until I took a stroll beyond the confines of the hostel,
Lake view
The sun sets over Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda where I encountered an enterprising local, who greeted me with the inevitable, 'Hello, mzungu' (white person), and then asked me to give him some cash.
That's right, I remembered,
I'm in Africa. Tom's Top Five of Uganda
1. The Ugandan people. Absolute diamonds - friendly, funny, and welcoming.
2. The scenery. From snow-peaked mountains, to lakes lined with cute farming terraces, to wildlife-laden forests, Uganda is very pretty to look at.
3. The hostel culture. Unlike many African countries, Uganda has a collection of backpacker-oriented hostels, with libraries, internet, movies, good food, and pool tables. A great place to meet people after staying in Ethiopian brothels and Kenyan truckies hotels.
4. Chimp tracking. Not as romantic or as up-close and personal as gorilla tracking, but a hell of a lot cheaper.
5. Lake Bunyonyi. Not many places where you can hire a canoe for 3 bucks and row around to a bunch of islands all day, bird-watching and reading...
Tom's Bottom Four of Uganda
1. Kampala traffic. The worse I've seen in Africa...and I even got bumped by a car at one point. Lucky they go so slow!
2. Nile Special beer. I
Lake Bunyonyi
View over Lake Bunyonyi blame the beer for my behaviour that drunken night, not my own drinking habits...
3. Mzungu, mzungu! In Kenya it was a novelty, but after a few weeks of being referred to by my skin colour, I'm getting a just a
little tired of it.
4. The price of gorilla tracking. US$500 is just a little too much for an hour of mountain gorillas.
*****
Africa Country Count: 12
Uganda Overland Kilometre Count: 995km
Africa Overland Kilometre Count: 22,165km
Next Country: Rwanda
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Waderlusting
Grace Choe
Missing Uganda!
Thanks for reminding me how great Uganda was... and you accounted everything so well. I miss the people, Lake Bunyoni, and Backpackers! Did you meet Frankie there, Alon and the freindly female staff? :) And you're right... after Nairobi, Kampala is heaven. Seems like you and I are having similar experiences... although I ended up opting out of Ethiopia last minute b/c of the nonstop rain. Enjoy the rest of your travels!