We are tourists after all. We spent Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday getting up-close to the flora and fauna on the eastern side of Uganda, not far from the border of Kenya. 

Sunday morning, Noah and I hiked through rugged terrain to reach the first and second waterfalls (there is a third). This took us far off the highway on a goat trail of steep hills and slippery wet paths. The original jungle has been almost completely replaced by banana and coffee groves, the lowlands are for rice, sugarcane, and tea. Everything must travel in and out on the backs and heads of humans via these trails. Needless to say, there are no fat people living here. 

It’s hard country inhabited by hard-working people.

Hauling 50 gallons of water on bicycles is a common sight. 

Peter, our guide, seemed to have little trouble with the terrain. We passed through a few private lands where the owners collected a small fee from each of us. Peter has a college degree and has a son who is about to enter university. Peter is of the Sebei tribe that straddles the border with Kenya. Each tribe has a different language, most originating in Bantu. I’m not sure if the language of the Sebei is a Bantu language. Ron, our driver, guide, and friend, can communicate with most people in their native language as long as they are of Bantu origin, but if not, English is spoken.

Ron here is waiting for assistance for an overheated engine.

There are at least 17 different tribal groups in Uganda. Some still have kings; others not.

Except for in the remotest areas, men in Uganda wear western-style clothing and women wear long dresses, often of very bright colored fabrics. Men never wear shorts and women must keep their knees covered. Religion is very important and  

Christianity is taken very seriously. Roman Catholicism is very prominent and it’s not hard to imagine the next pope coming from this region of the world.

Catholic Church at Nagongera near Tororo in eastern Uganda

Above the middle falls we met back up with the women of our group, and Ron, our driver, at the trailhead. The afternoon was totally consumed by our drive back to Mukono.

Monday morning.

We dropped Maggie and Noah off in Kampala then Cathy, Carly, and I headed west with Ron at the wheel. Overnight, Ron had managed to find us a four-wheel drive van with a removable top that would enable us to stand and get a better view of wildlife.

We took the more northern route that passed through villages and market places as well as tea plantations and banana groves. The roads are much better here than in the east and we were able to make better time. There are always police checkpoints set up along the highways. They mostly check to see if the drivers have the correct license and proof that taxes are paid. No one, not even the police, pay much attention to the speed limits. When we approach village marketplaces, there are speedbumps that force us to slow to a crawl.
Southwest of Entebbe we crossed the equator.

Tourist stop.

West of the Bagunda kingdom, there are forest preserves to protect the wildlife and native plant species. Unfortunately, Uganda’s fast growing population requires more and more land for subsistence farming. We passed dozens of active fires that were set to clear hundreds of acres of forest for squatters’ homesteads, gardens and orchards.

It could be easily argued that over population is Uganda’s most serious problem. It is one of Africa’s fastest growing countries for two main reasons. The first is that men believe their status is enhanced by the number of children they sire and by the number of women they seduce. Secondly, there is no social security safety net for older Ugandans; the more children a couple has the more family members they will have to take care of them in their later years.

Typical street scene in Tororo

There is a third cause for Uganda’s burgeoning population: the Catholic church’s decree against birth control. It is high time for the church to acknowledge that we have indeed been fruitful and we have indeed multiplied to the extent that we are on the verge of catastrophic calamity. We have been lucky so far with bountiful harvests, but a couple hot dry years in certain areas of the globe and we will find ourselves in serious trouble. When we enter a home in Uganda, we are always given water. Ugandans tell us water is a blessing. Gas and oil are luxuries; water is life. There are few machines or tractors; cultivating, planting, and harvesting are virtually all conducted by hand. With a youth unemployment rate over 80%, Uganda has plenty of labor. It’s a hard life. People in Uganda can expect to live an average of about 50 years.

We have felt very safe throughout our visit, but a nation with such high unemployment will not stay quiet for long. Already there has been some unrest at the universities. More on that in another blog.

Queen Elizabeth Park lies in the far west along the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). I find it a bit odd that Ugandans have kept the name 40 years after the colonial era.

Entrance to Queen Elizabeth Park in southwest Uganda

Like other colonies, Uganda’s natural wealth was exploited by the British. Idi Amin bragged about being responsible for kicking the last British consulates out of Uganda. In response he added CBE (Conqueror of the British Empire) to his title. Yet people here have conveyed to us a respect for their colonizers for acquainting Uganda with the rest of the world. Americans are widely accepted, in no small part for electing Barack Obama.

We were told: "You used to be friends; now you're brothers."

On the way to Queen Elizabeth, I spotted my first monkeys in the wild. These were Eastern Black and White Colobus Monkeys. My attention was drawn by their long black tails that hang down from their perch. At one point, I saw about a dozen of them. As we neared the Rwenzori Mountains, we came across a lively group of baboons lounging at the shoulder of the road. Ron stopped so I could take some pictures. There was some kind of drainage pipe right next to the van through which a couple youngsters were playing. I leaned out to take a picture with my iPhone, but thought better of it when Ron warned that these little monsters will often grab and run off with things from the hands of humans. A couple days earlier near Jinja, we came across a baboon blocking the path of a bicyclist, the two were obviously having a heated exchange about right of way.

He's thinking how he can grab my camera.

Myawe Lodge http://www.mweyalodge.com/ is the ultimate expensive destination for European, American, and wealthy African tourists. On top of the hotel rate, there is a hefty per person per diem charge to enter the park. Since we had yet to pay more than $50 dollars for any night’s lodging, we decided to splurge.

Mongooses after their workout 

This was like a cross between Disneyworld and Jurassic Park. We were pampered guests with people waiting on our every need. But we were also in a nature preserve. At night we could hear hippos grunting outside our room. We were told to be careful leaving our room at night for lions commonly stroll the grounds. During daylight hours, we could plainly see water buffalo, hippos, and elephants at the waterfront. We took a boat ride where we got up-close and personal with all kinds of birds and waterfowl. We passed several crocodiles.

Before sunrise we picked up a guide and Ron drove us out into the bush. It wasn’t long before we passed buffalo, warthogs, hippos and elephants within 30 feet of our open-top van. Our hopes to see lions were soon realized. Lions are the top attractions in the park, so when there is a sighting, it’s not long before there is a crowd of vehicles all jockeying for position. Antelope are plentiful so lions don’t seem anxious about the next meal. Still, no one got out of their vehicles.

This is about as close as we dared get. And Ron kept the engine running.

Ron stayed at a hostile on the park grounds. Since we pay for his lodging as well as our own, this is expected. He’s led many groups here so he knows the park personnel and other drivers. Yet there is a “Driving Miss Daisy” thing going on that we don’t feel comfortable about. We invited Ron to both nights’ dinner at the lodge. He enjoyed being with us and we enjoyed having his company. Yet it was clear that this was not the way things are done at Myawe Lodge. There were no other Ugandans eating in the lodge dining room. The lodge seemed quite empty. Perhaps people are already frightened away by news of the nearby ebola outbreak.

We left the park early the next day to head back to Kampala. Ron’s mom has been in a clinic for several days with a flare-up of malaria. Most Ugandans have malaria. There is no cure. With drugs, you can put it into remission, but it can come back at any time. Ugandans don’t seem to get too worried about anything, but we knew Ron was concerned. We stopped several times on our way out of the park to watch the elephants who were lumbering along very close to the road. Several cows had babies by their sides. They made it very clear that we were to keep our distance. Ron says he never turns the engine off when elephants are near. In fact, he pulled away a couple times when a mother made threatening advances towards our van.

Never mess with a mamma and her calf!

At the main road, there was another police checkpoint. They had pulled over a motorcyclist and had no interest in us. This is some of the most beautiful country in Africa. Savannah grassland turned to mountain vistas with coffee, tea, banana, and pineapple plantations. The mountains are home to the elusive gorillas.

A couple days earlier I came down with a scratchy throat which I attributed to the ever present smoke and highway dust. But this morning it had escalated into a full-blown head cold.  Ebola has an incubation period of 13 days, so I’m pretty sure I have more to worry about from Uganda’s traffic than disease.

A couple mornings, a couple evenings, and all is relatively well.

Todd

Spelling is not one of those reasons