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Uganda, November 16, 2014

My week in Uganda is coming to a close. I have a flight at 0700 tomorrow morning to Johannesburg and tonight is my last night in Uganda - also known as the "Pearl of Africa"

When I was planning this trip, no one in my circle of friends or any of my work colleagues have been to Uganda. A common retort back to me when people heard I was planning to go to Uganda was "WHY" "What is there it see in Uganda" "Is it safe?" "What about ebola?"

This is what I have learnt about Uganda:
Firstly, it is very safe in the areas I travelled to. Of course you need to keep away from the Northern section which shares a border with South Sudan as there are occasional incursions by the military and rebels.
In the week I have been here I was only slightly concerned on one occasion when I had stopped for a lunch break at a lodge overlooking the Kazinga Channel.
A huge, and I mean huge Maribou stork (stands about 1 meter high) took a liking to my lunch. I had to scare it away and then I hightailed it out of there and finished lunch in the inside restaurant :)

English is widely spoken. It is the main language of commerce, education, politics and tourism. I never had any problems getting people to understand me.
There are also many, many dialects spoken. My guide told me that he speaks 14 dialects in addition to English.
I felt rather pathetic when he questioned what languages I spoke. My smattering of tourist Indonesian and Spanish just seemed so insignificant.

Life in Uganda for the average person is very hard.
There is no system of social security, education is free but the public education system is very basic.
This morning we passed by a quarry.
Picture this, people actually breaking the stones sitting down with hammers. The stones are broken down into smaller pieces and then graded according to the size.

I also passed by a timber mill.
There was no circular saw or chainsaw in sight. The logs were placed on a high platform. There was a man on top of the platform with a large two ended saw and there was a man below the platform holding the other end of the saw. They split the logs in a sawing up and down motion.

There are eucalyptus trees everywhere in Uganda. They were introduced in the 1950's as a quickly grown cash crop for the local people and as a means to control erosion. After the rain the smell of the gum trees is quite overpowering and very surreal.

Ugandans walk everywhere! During the past week I have been in some very remote locations and then low and behold a person will just appear on the road side carrying a sheaf of logs, a basket of charcoal or baskets of vegetables. Often there were groups of children, some no more than 3 years old walking along the road.

Ladies in Uganda have equal rights and equal pay.
It is rare for a lady in Uganda to drink coffee or to ride a bicycle as both are considered to be very unladylike.

Toilets........
I know travellers always have this sense of apprehension about toilets. I am happy to report that any of my preconceived ideas about toilets have been unfounded.
Even the most out of the way toilets had toilet paper, disinfectant blocks and liquid soap. You either stop for a "short call" or a "long call". I will leave you to figure out which is which!

Wi fi is available literally everywhere and it is free. We could learn a lot about that in Australia. How many times do we have to pay for wifi even when we are staying at the flashiest hotels and they still try and sting for wifi?

No smoking anywhere
In 8 days in Uganda I never saw anyone smoking! Apparently 4 years ago the President declared a "jihad" on smoking in public. Ugandans have enough challenges without the public health and individual health issues that smoking tobacco brings.
If you smoke you do so in your house as it is illegal to smoke in public. If you have a tobacco related health condition then you are required to pay for your own health care. There is no advertising for tobacco, I never saw cigarettes in the shops. Phase two of the Presidents tobacco "jihad" is to have it completely banned from the country!

Some other random information and trivia:

The national emblem is the Ugandan Crane

The national soccer team is called the Ugandan Cranes

There are no Zebras of Giraffe in Uganda

No one talks about Idi Amin

Police Officers wear white uniforms which are always in pristine condition

60% of the worlds 860 remaining Mountain Gorillas are located in Uganda

Petrol is the equivalent of $1.70 per litre

600ml bottle of coca cola is the equivalent of 40 cents.