Uganda: Pearl and Harmony of Africa
Uganda...the Pearl of Africa
Uganda...the Heart of Africa
These are two of the many names given to this small and incredible country in the middle of Africa that we are now going to explore with the words of Ivan D’Ambrosio.
Uganda is a friendly, unspoiled, magical country. It is home to half of Africa's bird species, thousand of varieties of butterfly, lions, leopards, elephants, giraffes, crocodiles, chimpanzees and the most marvellous of all animals: the mountain gorilla.
It is also incredibly beautiful, the landscape providing scenery such as the ethereal Rwenzori mountains - also known as The Mountains of the Moon - and Bujagali, where the Nile starts its 6 month journey to the Mediterranean sea. Uganda is covered by amazing lakes, including lake Bunyonyi, an enchanted place out of time, where traditional canoes are the only transport between the small rural communities on secluded islands.
The cultural diversity here is impressive - over 30 ethnic groups live in Uganda, each with their own language, culture and traditions. A journey in Uganda can take you on an emotional exploration into the heart of Africa, where everything is entwined in harmony and balance, part of the rhythm of nature.
Imagine now that you are the explorer of this adventure. Your flight has just landed. After a long queue at the customs desk, you find your guide waiting for you. You step out into the dust and chaos of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. Most of the roads, even in the town centre, are un-surfaced. People are at every corner, either selling something or simply standing. But only 10 kilometres from Kampala lies Africa’s kingdom.
The journey is gorgeous - the roadside is thick with vegetation; you pass by hundreds of colourful markets and villages, interspersed with banana plantations filled with birds. The variety of landscape in Uganda is impressive. In just a few kilometres, you can move from savannah to mountain forest, then to rain forest like that of Semuliki National Park where hot springs display their unique colours beneath the steam.
Uganda is a land of rivers, lakes and waterfalls, as 30% of its landmass is covered by fresh water. Among the many lakes, Lake Mutanda provides the most stunning views, while Lake Bunyonyi gives the chance for an exploration in a traditional canoe to meet the locals who will happily introduce you to the simple routines of their daily life. Lake Bunyonyi is also the centre for the production of artemesia, a natural remedy to cure malaria, which remains the major cause of death in Africa. Lake Bisina is a remote algae-covered lake, its lovely water lilies making it a truly magical place. Lake Albert will offer the chance to see the rare and fascinating shoebill, a bird that only exists here. Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa, with over 80 islands forming the complex of the Ssese Islands, offers supreme relaxation on a white sandy beach, away from the noise of crowded tourist places.
Lake Victoria, is also the place of the source of the Nile - Bujagali falls - and the world famous and most exciting water rafting experience in the world. It does not matter if it is your first time or your hundredth - one big wave down the grade 5 rapids and you will be off the boat; a bigger wave and the boat will be up-side-down. There is no escape! You can also take a boat to the source of the Nile - a journey that will inevitably make you reflect on the explorers of the past who made this same journey in search of the crown jewel of Victorian exploration.
The source of Nile is also a great place for quad bike tours to remote local villages to meet the locals and of course thousands of children that will greet your passage with a constant sound of “Jambo muzungu”. A local traditional doctor can tell you about the origin of the universe and the causes of disease, and demonstrate his rituals.
Traditional African Medicine is not just superstition, and it is certainly is not a dying art. About two thirds of the African population commonly use these remedies and they are now gaining international attention in a bid to recognise their therapeutic effects.
Among the many populations, the predominant are Bantu speaking groups, who are also the most modernised. However, there are many more traditional groups, like the Karamajong and the Batwa Forest people. The Karamajong, who live towards the north east, are a group of Nilotic origin who are directly connected to the Masai of Kenya and Tanzania. They still live as they have for centuries, retaining a very strong tribal identification. Entering one of their villages and spending time with these people gives a profound sense of respect for their culture and heritage.
Moving west, towards the borders with Congo and Rwanda, you will encounter the Batwa Forest People, part of the ethnic group commonly called pygmies, although this is not a name they like, preferring to be called 'forest people'. Their culture is possibly one of the oldest surviving cultures in the world, and it is a real privilege to be taken into the forest by them, and shown their ways. However, their way of life is quickly disappearing thansk to progressive deforestation, mismanaged conservation projects and politics, where the Batwa voice is not heard.
Other populations and other activities. In the Toro kingdom, one of the 4 kingdoms of the republic of Uganda, it is possible to meet representatives of the royal family and discover how they make perfumes and tools for the kings. At the same time you will meet the simple people who will show you how they make pans out of used parts of bicycles, how they brew local banana beer and how they perform their traditional dances. Everywhere you can watch people performing their daily activities: the farmer and his cows with huge horns; people making bricks from simple soil; people at night who capture grasshoppers, that will be fried and sold; people cutting trees with tools that you cannot believe; people extracting oil from palm seeds, the old lady making marvellous terracotta pots with nothing but soil and her hands; the family who invites you for dinner… everything is a unique experience forgotten by us, the muzungu, a hundred years ago.
In Uganda, the present and past are all mixed together. Close to the very tiny Kumi town, an old guide will show you Nyero rock paintings - ancient, mysterious paintings that clearly resemble European neolithic forms of art. You cannot avoid thinking how modern and ancient still coexist here, with your guide, wearing old trousers, showing you the ancient paintings, and with his mobile phone in his pocket. There is no contrast or contradiction, all looks normal.
Water falls contribute to the grandeur of nature in Uganda. Sipi falls are a series of three falls one above the other in the middle of a thick mountain forest that is densely inhabited by friendly local communities. It is impossible not to stop and stare at the rainbows forming in the sun at the bottom of the falls. Murchison Falls shows the magnificence and power of water. The beauty and strength of this unstoppable mass of water makes people hold their breath and contemplate. And the majestic sound of the water falling will give you a sense of inner silence
Murchison Falls National Park is also the land where typical African animals can be seen in their natural environment. Buffaloes, elephants, giraffes roam all around this vast park. It is an explosion of life - plants, trees and animals, all there, all in perfect balance with Nature.
Even the terrible crocodiles that live at the meeting point of the Victoria and Albert Nile, seem in complete harmony with the stunning green and lively rivers and the complex ecosystem made up of hippos, birds of all kinds, antelope and elephants.
There are no rhinos left in Uganda, one of the many consequences of Idi Amin’s dictatorship that ended at the beginning of the 1980s. The times of Amin are one of the very unfortunate chapters of African recent history. Uganda, only now is recovering from the profound destruction caused in those years.
Clearly, the damage caused by Amin is not the only problem Uganda faces today: in certain areas, towards the border with Sudan, there are still situations of atrocity and violence, like the child-soldiers and the attacks of rebels, even at times against humanitarian missions.
But the biggest problem of Uganda today is not war or poverty, but corruption - it does not allow the nation to progress and makes it increasingly dependent on international support.
However, there are signals of hope that at some time in the not too distant future this country will begin to shine. Among the many small and large initiatives, the Rhino Fund is reintroducing both black and white rhinos in Uganda. Paying a visit to the centre will allow you to understand more about the African ecosystem, and seeing the rhinos only a few metres from you in an open environment is a really exciting encounter.
Going towards South-West, Kibale National Park is the home of one of the highest concentration of primates in the world. The main attraction for a tourist is trekking into the forest in search of chimpanzees. After a few hours of walking you will be as little as ten metres away from them. They will be cleaning each other relaxing and looking curiously, while you do cannot stop taking photographs. What are they really thinking as you pretend to hide behind a tree, taking pictures of them?
Queen Elizabeth is another famous national park, known worldwide to be one of the only two areas inhabited by tree climbing lions. It is a very strange and emotional sight. The lions are often in the trees above your car. One jump and they probably would get you. But nature is made of respect and rhythms. Lions climb trees when it is too hot, to have a chance to rest and refresh and when they already had their food. In nature predators do not kill if there is no a reason. A lion would not kill its prey if he was not in need of food. A great lesson that humans have clearly forgotten.
And after watching all the other African animals, there is still one animal to encounter. Many people from all over the world come to Uganda only for this reason. It is the single most emotional, extraordinary, almost mystical experience in Africa: the mountain gorillas. It is impossible to describe it in words. You are left without speech at being in the presence of the gorillas and you will wonder more than once who is more human between us and them. Mountain gorillas are a critically endangered species because of mankind. You will learn to appreciate their fragile eco-system and their way of life. Looking in their eyes, so incredibly human, full of a humanity that we often lose in our daily lives. You will sit in the ground for a second, thinking who is really in the right place in this world, you or them?
And still thinking about the gorillas, to end a journey in the heart of Africa, deep in contact with the power of nature, you will climb Nyirangongo, an active volcano named in local language “the mother of the bad spirits” because with its regular eruptions it destroyed in the past and will destroy again and again in the future. One more reminder for mankind: we can destroy our environment, but at the end of it all, nature will have the final word.
Climbing up to the summit is an exhausting experience, but when you have reached the summit there will be no memory of tiredness, cold or thirst. All your attention will be captured by this primordial display of power: the boiling fires beneath you, the incredible columns of smoke, red lava and destruction.
Your journey in Uganda is over. The smiles of people who own nothing but their happiness, the look of a gorilla so perfectly part of his nature, the power and destruction of falling waters and boiling fires will have taught you a final lesson. Passing time, progress, wealth and the stress… this is our life, but what can their meaning be here in this land in the heart of Africa?
Uganda, land of eyes - Rita De Santis
Eyes of children
who wait
for a sustainable future
without hunger
or guns
Eyes of children
who demand
the right
to exist
without begging
for rubbish.
Eyes of women
who wait
for their pregnancy knowing,
wrapped in the colour
of their cloths
bright, almost holy.
Eyes of men
alert
who are afraid
who even smile
at times.
Eyes of animals
who listen
to the rustling
of the ambush.
Eyes of gorillas
that retain
the conservation
of a species,
and a distant
sadness
of violated
lands.
Eyes of the green
eyes of the water
in Uganda
the world
is an ocean of eyes
It is our responsibility
not to take away
from those eyes
the dream
of a better world.
