Why is Uganda called the Pearl of Africa? | Reference.com Why is Uganda called the Pearl of Africa? A: Quick Answer Uganda is called the Pearl of Africa as a result of Winston Churchill's reference to the East African country in this manner in his 1908 book, "My African Journey." Churchill's use of the descriptive metaphor was inspired by his impression of the country as an example of magnificence in its "variety of form and color" and its "profusion of brilliant life." Among its many notable landscape features, the landlocked nation contains a significant portion of the largest lake on the African continent, Lake Victoria, and is home to the Nile River's Murchison Waterfall. Full Answer A British colony until its independence in 1962, Uganda contains mountains, valleys, widespread savannas and supports a great diversity of wildlife. National parks and primate nature sanctuaries afford international researchers opportunities for field studies and help to promote tourism. More than 1,000 species of birds can be found in Uganda, representing over half of the bird varieties in Africa. As a result of regular rainfall and an extensive supply of fresh water, there are wetlands and dense rainforests supporting a wide array of vegetation.

Transitions of power in the Ugandan government have not always been peaceful and the dictator, Idi Amin, who seized power through a military coup, ruled the nation between 1971 and 1979 to the detriment of the nation's economy and human rights protections. Although initially viewed in a favorable light by the West, the most recent government, headed by President Yoweri Museveni since 1986, has come under criticism for its participation in the Second Congo War, poor human rights record and widespread corruption. | Facts and Information about Uganda | Queen Elizabeth National Park Located in the South Western part of Uganda, and covering approximately 2000sq.km, this beautiful park once hosted herds of elephant, buffalo and other herbivores in addition to the occassional lion. However, the wildlife was decimated during the civil war ad is just currently recovering. Kazinga Channel Launch Trip A popular tour in this park is the boat trip up this channel whereone can spot thousands of hippos, birds and other river wildlife. You may also be lucky and spot elephant and lion.

Nature Walks The Maramagambo forest, in the South Eastern part of the park, provides for excellent nature walks. Kyambura Gorge This beautiful gorge, in the Eastern corner of the park, is home to various primates and plenty of birdlife. Walking safaris can be arranged starting at the ranger post at the Gorge. Bwindi National Park Formerly known as the 'Impenetrable Forest', the park covers over 300sq.km, and is home to one of the largest surviving populations of the Mountain Gorilla, numbering about 320 individuals. Although the site of an infamous kidnap incident involving tourists in 1999, security is now significantly improved and the park is considered by many as safe for travel. With more than 350 species of birds, including several endemic and endangered species, this park is also a ornithologist's delight. Forest Walks - There are some interesting walks in the area surrounding the park headquarters at Buhoma. Muzabijiro Loop Trail : A 3 hour walk with stunning views of the Virunga volcanoes and the Rift Valley in Congo.

Waterfall Trail : A 3 hour round trip walk which takes you to a 30m waterfall on the Munyanga River. Munyanga River Trail : This relaxed half hour trek is outside the park, although surrounding the park headquarters. For more information on the park, please contact us . Lake Mburo National Park This 260sq.km park is dominated by the 5 lakes here, the biggest being Lake Mburo. The vegetation is generally savannah with scattered bush and acacia trees. Wildlife in the park includes animals which you are unlikely to see in other Ugandan parks, such as eland, topi, roan antelope, impala and the more usual zebra, hippo and buffalo. Murchison Falls National Park Located in the Northern part of Uganda, this is the largest park in the country and is recovering well from the poaching that reduced the wildlife population of the 1960's. Wildlife ranges from few lions to much larger numbers of elephant, buffalo and hippo. However, the Murchison Falls are a superb attraction and are said to be the biggest spectacle along the 6700km length of the Nile River.

Launch Trip : This 3 hour trip starts from Paraa and reaches the base of the falls. Daily scheduled departures are at 9am and 2pm depending on demand. Budongo Central Forest Reserve Located just south of Murchison Falls Park, this smaller park is a good place for birdwatching and Chimpanzee tracking.The ' Royal Nile', a stretch of the forest, is known as the best place in Uganda to see some of the 350 species of bird here. Kidepo Valley National Park Located in the extreme North East of Uganda, in an unstable area, this park offers some of the best scenery in Uganda and is home to animals not usually found in other Ugandan parks, such as cheetah. Other wildlife includes predators, such as lion and leopard, elephant and other herbivores such as zebra and buffalo. The Nile - Jinja Jinja, on the shores of Lake Victoria,is a significant but quiet town, where most tourists come to see the source of the mighty Nile River. The town is also a base for white water rafting. Other places of interest around Jinja include the beautiful Bujagali Falls, where it is also possible to camp.

Kampala The capital of Uganda, this lush green city is built on 7 hills and gives off a certain vibrance day and night. By and large, safe to walk around, visitors often find it welcoming and relaxing to be here, not least because of the friendliness of the people. Things to do Cultural : A good place to visit is the Uganda Museum, although it could have more in way of exhibits. The Kasubi Tombs are also worth a visit. Constructed in 1881, the buildings contain the tombs of the kings or 'Kaballas' of the Buganda tribe. Activities : White Water Rafting ranging from one to three day trips and longer, start from outside Jinja on the Nile, and offer varying degrees of difficulty, including class 5 rapids. Mpanga Forest Reserve Just approximately 40kms from Kampala, is this newly grown forest, just over 50 years old. Known for its birds, monkeys and butterflies, the reserve is a nice break for those in Kampala who may have a day or less to spare. Mount Elgon This park covers the mountain upto the Kenyan border and is relatively new.

The mountain is an extinct volcano with diverse vegetation zones and a range of fauna and flora. A challenging mountain to trek, it is also rewarding as it is less frequented compared to Mount Kenya or Kilimanjaro. Established routes are few and can still be challenging to follow due to adverse conditions even during the dry season. Best time to climb is from December to late March. Accommodation Uganda offers a host of hotels and accomodation options. For more information on hotels in Uganda, please Contact us . Climate Uganda enjoys equatorial weather conditions ranging from the warmth of the lowlands to the coolness of the highlands. Certain parts of the country are fairly humid while others get higher than average rainfall, mainly during the rainy seasons. Mean emperatures are between 21c to 31c all year round. Wet seasons are March - May, October - November. There are no climate extremes such as very hot summers or very cold winters and even during the rainy season there are still some sunny intervals.

The Pearl of Africa | My experiences in Uganda The Pearl of Africa The Pearl of Africa April 24, 2011 by naomicurwen Did you know that a natural pearl begins its life as a foreign object, which accidentally gets stuck in an oyster’s soft inner body? To ease the pain the oyster creates a smooth, hard crystalline substance around the foreign intruder. This will eventually create the beautiful gem called a pearl. Miraculous how something so lovely and beautiful can be the result of pain. Another thing about pearls is the fact that they are hidden. They are not so easily discovered where they are deep into the ocean, concealed in an oysters shell. Unlike gemstones which must be cut and polished to bring out their beauty, the pearls need no such treatment to reveal their magnificence. They are natural beauties! Why all this blabbing about pearls? Well I’ve been thinking that every name has its meaning. When you give a name to someone or something you give it according to your impression of it. This means that a name often describes some characteristics reflecting its owner. After being 7 months in Uganda I have gotten many experiences helping me understand why the country is called the pearl of Africa.

Let me share some of them with you. Like I said a pearl is born out of pain. Now the history of Uganda reveals tremendous suffering and trials. It has taken a long journey to become what the country is today. Its people have endured colonization, the independence war, unstable governments, the terror rule of Idi Amin, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, poverty, debt, the 20 year old civil war between LRA (Lord Ressistance Army) and the government resulting in 30 000 child soldiers traumatized for life, corruption…the list is long. One would think that all of this would be unbearable, that the people and the culture would simply fade away. But that is not the case. The Ugandans have endured, they have kept their cultures alive and moved on to become the inspiring people they are today. In other words a painful history has eventually created a beautiful pearl of a country. Now what is so beautiful about it? One thing which has fascinated me about Uganda is that despite the small size of the country it is so rich on culture. I have lived in the south and travelled to the west, east and north. Every place you go is different and unique from the previous one you’ve been.

There is Kampala which is always busy, the streets are never empty. You can actually tell the time at night without a watch, just by listening to the noises outside. Disco music means somewhere between ten and three, stray dogs barking means the time is between three and four, cries from the mosques means it’s five and the rooster crowing means it’s 6 and the Ugandans start roaming the streets again! Then there is the west which is coated in beautiful green hills and lakes. You can see volcanoes, go for boat trips, go gorilla tracking in the mountains and the night is so dark and clear you can see the Milky Way. It is so peaceful. Then you have the north, which is hotter than the other places. This is where you find the national parks with elephants and all sorts of animals, including beautiful waterfalls. The people of the north have been through a lot. The LRA ravaged the north and most of the child soldiers were kidnapped from the northern districts. Many therefore struggle with traumas. Yet the history has not managed to remove the smiles of their faces. At last the east which is also hot and has many mountains you can climb.

The point is that every place is different which makes the country extremely interesting. There are so many tribes and languages I don’t know in how many ways I’ve been taught how to greet during our travels. Every tribe has its own dances and traditions. Even the food varies from district to district. Another thing, which I consider the true beauty of Uganda, is the hospitality of its people. I came as a stranger yet they never hesitated to welcome me into their lives. They meet you with open hearts and take care of you as if you were one of them. They are always concerned with your well being. It is difficult to explain and definitely something which needs to be experienced in order to fully understand. Let me just say that despite the fact I was far away from home and the well known, they made me feel at home and made me feel loved. It has made me think about how we welcome newcomers in our own culture. It is not easy to be “the new one” here. We are sceptical and keep to our own business. My impression is that we still have a lot to learn when it comes to hospitality. It is true that pearls are not easily discovered. At first Uganda may seem somehow chaotic.

People everywhere at all times, the shouting of Mzungu every time you go out, crazy traffic…things may seem out of control at first. But if you give it time you discover the beauty of the country and of the people. You discover that people don’t keep to themselves inside but enjoy the fellowship with each other on the streets. Yes they do call you Mzungu, but after a while you become their Mzungu, and if you give it even more time they will call you by your name or even give you a local name (my names were Birungi and Nalubega, from two different tribes). The traffic is crazy, but it gets you where you want, and you can have many interesting conversations in the crammed taxis! My experience is that beauty takes time to discover. But once you have discovered it you will find things charming rather than annoying! In Latin pearl means unique. It is exactly what I’ve found Uganda to be: unique. An experience unlike any other. Mzungu!! Ogenda Wa?? April 14, 2011 by naomicurwen That was the question we got from several confused and scared Ugandans this morning!

Me and Mary had plans to go to a hotel to sunbathe, but outside our apartment there was complete chaos and not the peaceful Kalerwe we are used to. Mzungu, where are you going?? Don’t go to Kalerwe, go home, teargas! This was what people were shouting as they ran away from the direction we were heading! Our plan was just to take out some money and then go to the hotel, but we quickly had to turn. Down in Kalerwe the police had attacked some demonstrators with teargas, and all the roads were blocked by burning tires. We were very close to the bank when a teargas bomb came in our direction and caused instant tears and stinging pain. It’s the first time I have ever been affected by teargas, and I must say it is powerful stuff! We got hold of a boda and drove in the same direction everybody was running. After taking many detours we finally reached the hotel where everything was unaffected. The place was completely peaceful, and the opposite of the situation a few kilometers away. It is now calm and safe to go back home. I’ve figured out that what caused all of this was just a simple, completely peaceful demonstration.

The fuel prices have gone up lately therefore a demonstration encouraging people to walk to work has been started. Since the election in February people have feared that riots would take place and the police have been extremely alert using teargas whenever it seems like a riot will start. Sadly they decided to use teargas and create complete chaos due to the most peaceful demonstration you can think of. Besigye, the president candidate opposing the current president Museveni was involved and probably one of the reasons why the police freaked out. He got shot in the hand, and several other demonstrators were shot, so we were lucky we only were affected by teargas. Besigye and all the leaders of the opposition have been arrested. All of this due to a peaceful demonstration… SpAdeS, rAkeS and HoEs! April 5, 2011 by naomicurwen Picture groups of 100 students in each with rakes, spades and hoes roaming the streets of the slum in Mulago – it is what my week has been like. Riots? Not exactly, but big enough to make the news headlines of Uganda.

It all started with a small idea sometime in January; little did I know that it would come to this. I’m talking about our environmental week that has been going on from Monday 28/3 to Thursday 31/3. We were attending a workshop in January that among other things taught us about the five core programs of CHRISC: sports, HIV/AIDS awareness, capacity building, Christian values and environment conservation. Now St. Martin is a part of CHRISC, yet we still hadn’t seen any environment conservation program there. So that is how we came up with the thought that we should have an environmental week where we teach the kids about environment conservation. We thought of some games, discussing the topic with our kids and maybe buy some trash cans for the school which they could get on Thursday. Gradually our idea developed and we wanted to try and take our kids with us to the slums of Mulago to do community clean-ups. After discussing this with teachers from school and the national office of CHRISC we got permission and help to go through with our ideas. I never imagined that the week would turn out to be so great; it has become my most favourite week of our exchange!

Mulago before the clean-up: It took a lot of preparations: buying needed equipments (rakes, spades, hoes, brooms, gloves, plastic bags, trash cans and posters for our slogans!), getting enough CHRISC uniforms for the kids, asking permission from the government and planning how to organize the clean-up by dividing Mulago into sections! With lots of help from teachers and CHRISC members we managed. I would also like to point out that it was a donation from Mary’s aunt’s church that made all of this possible. So thank you so much auntie Bjørg! On Monday we started with an introduction to the topic by having a “spelling relay” whereby after a lot of jumping back and forth the kids would have enough letters to write the word environment! Then we discussed the topic with our kids and it turned out that they know a lot from before: The environment is our surroundings We keep it clean by sweeping, planting trees, picking garbage, rinsing water… If we clean the environment we can avoid germs and diseases like cholera and diarrhoea. On Tuesday and Wednesday we went out in the community (100 at a time) and picked trash!

I am so proud and impressed by our kids, not once did I hear them complain. They encouraged each other and didn’t give up despite the fact that the slum is like a big rubbish heap. There is A LOT of garbage. They even cleaned the dirty trenches where rubbish heaps up and blocks the drainage which causes Mulago to be one of the areas worst affected by cholera. They did all of this with a smile which makes me so proud of our kids. The community was both surprised and impressed about the fact that primary school students came to clean their mess. Therefore some even joined us voluntarily, and the one word that describes the atmosphere in the slum those two days is gratefulness. Media even showed up and made a very positive news article about the clean up which was shown on national TV! So the last few days several people have said they saw us on TV and were so pleased with the work of CHRISC that they would like to donate money to the organization!! Our last day was Thursday when we had a word puzzle which with the right answers would spell the word dustbin! The first group to get it right got their sweets as we usually do on Thursdays. Then we got the dustbins we had bought for St.

Martin and gave them to the school. What an amazing week, big thanks to everyone who contributed and made this possible! The results: MASAKA next! March 29, 2011 by naomicurwen As you know a part of our work is to visit the various CHRISC districts to have workshops. We’ve been travelling around talking about leadership, first aid and teamwork. The only district remaining was Masaka (three hours west of Kampala) so on Thursday and Friday (24-25/3) we paid them a visit. The only difference this time was that we went all by ourselves – just me and Mary! Waiting for the bus to fill up! Our boss gave us a budget on Wednesday, asked us to write our program for the two days and gave us two instructions: buy the stationary you’ll need and meet at the taxi park 06.30 tomorrow morning. So we went with some money, bought flipcharts, markers, pens, excercise books, tape etc. packed and managed to be at the taxi park at 07.00 (well, we were only half an hour late!). We still had to wait for the bus to fill itself up so it was no problem!

The bus delayed so when we finally reached Masaka they were waiting for us, which meant no time to waste – our workshop started straight away! After a bumpy bus trip and waking up at 06.00 (which never happens voluntarily!) I’m not really sure how we looked (although I have my suspicions). But we completed the workshop all by ourselves for the first time! teamwork: writing letters without talking! It went very well, our group was interested and even after we finished we remained discussing and talking with the youth of Masaka (they have so many questions about Norway!). In the afternoon Mary and I went strolling around in Nyendo (a place 3 km from Maska town where our hotel was). It wasn’t really that much to see, so when a taxi driver suddenly appeared and offered to drive us very cheaply to Masaka town we were not difficult to persuade! We found a second hand market and a street full of materials where Mary went crazy! At last it had become dark and a boda driver helped us find a place to eat. We ended up at some hotel which served a delicious chicken.

Driving home on a boda was the best part of the day – it was completely dark and the stars were so bright you could see the white Milky Way! Magazines, facemasks and chocolate was our program at our hotel – we sure know how to enjoy ourselves! The next day we toured around a secondary school where they usually have their local group trainings. It was so idyllic, surrounded by green hills and a view of Lake Victoria. After we attended a choir competition! CHRISC Masaka is in the process of changing from using sports to using MDD (music, dance and drama) to reach out to the youth. The competition was between 8 primary schools, which all performed a song and a poem with drama. It was amazing; some of the choirs were incredible good and sang polyphonic (they were in primary!!). Our bus trip home became rather interesting, as travelling in Uganda usually does. It was packed as normal, but they found two flip seats for us in the gangway. Due to lack of space we had to sit with our luggage on our laps. It did not take long to realize that right next to Mary was a box with the heads of two cocks sticking out of it!

I laughed at the rather sceptic look on Marys face and was very pleased that I was seated on the row in front! But as a passenger got off this situation changed, to Mary’s amusement: She moved one seat to the left and I had to take her seat next to the two still alive cocks. Great! When the bus was as packed as possible we stopped to let some passengers off (at least that is what I thought). Suddenly the bus driver looked at me saying: “mzungu, you first stand!” Okay, I stood up trying to hold my luggage while balancing on top of some sacks full of corn at the same time. Then a mother and her baby boarded the bus and squeezed in further back. So we were absolutely not letting people off but stuffing more people in! But I still got my seat next to the lovely, now half dead, cocks. Here are some random pictures from the past weeks: First aid week at St. Martin Pizza made in a casserole! Without an oven, you become creative food wise 🙂 Two of the teachers at school, and baby Grace: Back to normal March 9, 2011 by naomicurwen At the beginning of feb my parents came to visit me.

It has been so nice to finally get to show them what my life is like down here. You can explain as much as you want on the phone, but it will never be the same as experiencing it. So I’m glad they found the time to come and see for themselves what I have been trying to explain. We spent some days in Kampala visiting St. Martin, our office, the local market, the second hand market in town and my church. Then I joined them to Kenya where we spent nine good days in Mombasa (I was thrilled to see the beach and the sea again!!) and Nairobi. It has been good with some time off, just relaxing and clearing your head. But even though I’ve enjoyed having a holiday it feels great to be back to normal. St. Martin and the kids, choir practice, Frisbee trainings, friends, boda trips, fun with Marie Louise (who is the best team mate ever by the way!), I just love it here. The past weeks at St. Martin have been great with new themes and new ideas. This year we have introduced quiz Thursday! Every week we have games and teach the kids about a certain theme (ex. HIV/AIDS, teamwork or first aid).

On Thursdays we divide them in groups and arrange a quiz with tasks and questions related to the week’s theme. The kids love it and get really excited as they run from one post to the other trying to answer. By now they have understood that the best team wins sweets, so they are paying extra attention to the teachings during the week! On your marks, set set(as they say here!!) GO ! Caterpillar, try catching the other tail but don’t let go! HIV/AIDS questions 10 shots, how many times can your team hit the bucket? Make a team photo 🙂 It is something special with St. Martin that just makes you happy, and it makes you feel appreciated. All the smiles, the teachers sharing stories with you during lunch break, learning new games and the excitement of the kids when you teach them a new game…it just makes you smile! I remember the first day back at St. Martin after my holiday. We stood under the huge tree in the middle of the school yard waiting for a new class. They came running as they always do, the girls racing trying to be the first one to grab hold our hands! We organized our usual circle, all the kids so happy and excited.

It felt so good to be back. As I was watching all the children standing there in the circle, ready to play a new game, the girl standing next to me squeezed my hand hard. I looked at her as she smiled up to me saying: thank you for coming back. Then she squeezed my hand even harder as if scared that I would leave again. It made me feel so happy, but at the same time I was thinking of the time we really do leave and won’t be back for a long time. I’m going to miss St. Martin so much, right now I’m just glad we still have some time left. CONTRAST February 11, 2011 by naomicurwen Recently I experienced what you could call a culture shock. Not in the terms of missing home, being tired, longing for what is well known, cultural misunderstandings etc, but through experiencing contrast. Of course contrast has been a huge part of this exchange and something I’ve had to deal with all along, but this time it was so extreme. In one day, or actually just a few hours, I went from the reality of the slum to the luxury of a hotel so beautiful it was difficult to fathom what I was actually seeing.

From seeing filthy kids with outworn clothes playing in the garbage, a man eating rubbish, tons of dust, women selling samosas to survive, the noise of crazy traffic, people yelling, stray dogs barking, children crying …going from this reality to experiencing a hotel with clean green gardens, ponds with birds, swimming pools, cafés, hair salons with expensive products, a calm, quiet atmosphere and tiles so shiny you could see your own reflection…shocking! These two completely different “worlds” were situated approximately 5 minutes from each other (by car). I’ve experienced contrasts like this before, between the slum and the city, but I never think I let it get to me like I let it this time. This time I put my defence mechanisms away and allowed my thoughts to flow; I allowed the shock to affect me. I felt sick, uncomfortable; I felt the urge to leave the hotel, which we did a short time after. The experience has truly made me think the last few days. Why did I react so strongly to this contrast? Doesn’t it resemble the gap between rich and poor? The difference between a developed and an undeveloped country?

The resemblance is clear; still I’m not constantly feeling sick even when I know how unfair the world can be. Was it just because the distance between the one and the other was so short, that the unfairness of it all became so evident? I think we often use distance as a defence mechanism. Distance allows us to be impersonal. It kind of gives us space so we don’t feel uncomfortable in our own skin. We speak of the rich and the poor, the us and them. We’ve all heard the statistics: 1, 2 billion extremely poor in the world, 40 000 children die every day due to hunger, 1, 3 billion without a home, 700 million still live in slum areas, 50 million refugees. But who are they really? Who are the statistics talking about? The fact is that we don’t really know. We don’t define who. We know the situation but we fear to know them. We keep a certain distance so that it doesn’t become personal. Because when it becomes personal, it also becomes painful and uncomfortable.

It is not so easy to shove the situation aside when you allow yourself to realize that the children who are starving could have been your own children, one of the child soldiers could have been your brother and the one dying due to AIDS could have been your own mother. When you come closer, you see that poverty has a human face. I think that explains my reaction. The comfortable distance is no longer there. Suddenly I find myself in the middle of it all, and I know some of them. I know that some of the 120 000 children living with HIV in Uganda are the children I teach at school. I know that my current neighbors are included in the statistics of people living in the slum. I know some of the uneducated women who dropped out of school because the school fees were too high. They are the ones I buy my vegetables from at the local market. I know some of the too many orphans and I know some of the girls who’ve been brutally raped due to war. Suddenly 4 year old Chancé (raped), 27 year old Sarah from the market and 13 year old Geoffrey (orphan) are a part of them and a part of the statistics.

It is not numbers any more, but facts about the lives of people I know. Suddenly it isn’t so easy to distance yourself. Maybe I reacted so strongly simply because I deep inside knew that the luxury hotel resembles me and my own sickening wealth. Updates January 25, 2011 by naomicurwen Okay, so there hasn’t been a lot of bloging lately. School doesn’t start until feb so January has been a mixture of some office work, some sickness and lots of travelling. Now when me and Marie Louise travel around we somehow tend to get ourselves involved in some rather interesting situations! So I figured I should update you on what we’ve been up to. I think I forgot to mention that we almost got stuck on the border between Rwanda and Uganda. This happened on our way home from Congo, partly due to bad planning partly due to our naivety! Time wasn’t on our side this day so we had to rush when we came to Kigali in order to reach our bus to Uganda. Therefore we ended up driving ahead without dollars, food or water (it became a long trip!).

It slipped our minds that entering the border without dollars to pay our visa could be a problem…but naive and positive as we are: no worries! It was not as simple as we hoped it would be! first we couldn’t find our shoes because it was dark, so we ended up going barefoot. We looked like a mess walking around on the border, sweaty and tired after the trip and no shoes (yet again we got loads of attention!). We still had a few days left on our Ugandan visa so we thought we could use that one and pay for a new one at the embassy, but nope. It turned out our visa was a single entry, and even though we smiled very nicely the border guard would not let us go. We tried to explain why we didn’t have dollars (due to corrupted police in Congo and too little time in Kigali) and that we were working in Uganda( which they found very hard to believe when we didn’t have a work permit to show them). There was no use, they were just laughing, informing us that with no dollars we would spend some nights at the boarder. What a stress!

We returned to the bus where the driver was ready to go, so we got our bags out explaining that we kind of were stuck here. Luckily some of the passengers understood the mess we were in and miraculously they had 100 dollars extra, the exact amount we needed! The driver gave us one minute to pay and get back in, we were running like crazy on our bare feet! Ha ha, it was absolutely not funny there and then but now days it truly is! The past two weeks we’ve been travelling to northern Uganda to arrange workshops about leadership, teamwork and first aid. While in Arua we met some politicians who were staying at the same hotel as us. We were just chatting with no clue that they actually worked for president Museveni (our boss told us later that those guys are big men!). So we exchanged our numbers and they invited us to join a student arrangement after our workshop! We went, and it turned out to be a gathering for 300 students from all over Uganda who were supposed to elect a committee of 12 to represent the students in parliament! It was very interesting, they nominated each other and had campaigns before the elections.

It was also a bit embarrassing because the leader noticed us and we had to come in front and present our selves in the microphone. It all ended with us being police escorted back to the hotel (our new political friends wouldn’t let us walk home in the dark!). Here are some pictures from the past two weeks: CRO (Child Restoration Centre): Mountain hiking! Baking! We’ve been making so much good food this weekend. To our excitement our friends in Mbale have an OVEN!! So we’ve made pizza, baked potatoes, cake and buns 🙂 Uganda | Fauna & Flora International Fauna & Flora International Mountain gorilla Uganda is a landlocked country in east-central Africa, full of mountains, rivers, lakes and forests, all drenched in abundant rainfall. Winston Churchill famously waxed lyrical about it, saying “…for magnificence, for variety of form and colour, for profusion of brilliant life – plant, bird, insect, reptile, and beast – for the vast scale… Uganda is truly the ‘Pearl of Africa’”. Bordered in the south by Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa, Uganda contains the fabled “Mountains of the Moon” – the ice-capped Rwenzori Mountains.

The country contains a huge diversity of habitats from tropical and afro-montane forests, to savannahs and wetlands. In fact, the Convention of Biological Diversity ranks Uganda as one of the top ten countries in the world for biodiversity, particularly for mammalian diversity. The Albertine Rift which runs along the west of the country is particularly known for the large number of endemic species it supports. In Uganda, Fauna & Flora International (FFI) has developed an innovative conservation initiative aimed at integrating cultural values into the management of national parks, focused on the Rwenzori Mountains and Lake Mburo National Park. In addition, through FFI’s active involvement in the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, we are helping to conserve mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga National Park. Our work in Uganda Cultural values and conservation at Lake Mburo and the Rwenzori Mountains FFI is working to build local support for protected areas through innovative initiatives at the Lake Mburo and Rwenzori Mountains National Parks within the Albertine Rift. We aim to show that integration of local cultural values into park management can improve relations between park staff and neighbouring communities, resulting in more effective conservation.

Results so far are positive – for instance, a cultural village has been constructed at Lake Mburo National Park to enable Bahima pastoralists to showcase their “beautiful cows” and to explain the cultural value of these animals to tourists and young Bahimas. FFI USA FLAGSHIP Conservation of black and white rhinos in East Africa The successful conservation of rhinos in relatively small secure fenced areas has been pioneered in Kenya. FFI is financially and technically supporting the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya to conserve their rapidly growing population of over a hundred black rhinos and white rhinos. The conservancy also generates surplus animals for re-stocking other areas. We are particularly involved in an initiative to re-establish the northern white rhino . The last four breeding individuals were translocated to the conservancy from a Czech zoo in December 2009. FFI is also part of the East African Community Rhino Management Group, which exchanges expertise and rhinos between the East African range states. Support to the East African Wild Life Society As the oldest conservation organisation in East Africa, the East African Wild Life Society (EAWLS) has benefitted from support from FFI.

It has been extremely successful in combating rhino and elephant poaching in the past, but was struggling to function by the mid 1990s. FFI has helped to rebuild EAWLS’ conservation capacity and is currently supporting them in the development of a regional conservation plan focusing on their coastal and marine programme. The overall goal is to conserve biodiversity and improve the livelihoods of coastal communities through the sustainable management of coastal and marine resources in Kenya. International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) Fewer than 900 mountain gorillas struggle to survive in Central Africa’s forests. The IGCP, a partnership between Fauna & Flora International, the World Wide Fund for Nature and the African Wildlife Foundation, supports transboundary protected area authorities in three countries to improve conservation of gorillas and their mountain forest habitat. The IGCP also improves local livelihoods, helping to mitigate threats to this Critically Endangered species. Take a closer look

Question: Which country is known as the Pearl of Africa?
Answer: Uganda