We have arrived in Uganda; we like to think of this country as the garden of Africa. It is unbelievably green, wherever you look it reminds you of a Botanical Garden, it is really beautiful.
We are confident in saying that this might be the most pleasant country to travel in we have been so far. The people are extremely relaxed and welcoming; on top of that crime is so low that it is considered one of the safest counties to travel in. Wherever we have been so far, from Kampala and bigger cities to very tiny villages it feels just normal to walk around without being asked for anything (exceptions like always are the tourist-spoiled kids). There are almost no white people around and despite that we do not attract public attention like in other places we have been. When people notice us, they seem surprised, in a pleasant way and that it is. It feels almost as if they do not want to disturb you. The children in remote places crack down laughing when they see the Umzungus (white people), we have not figure out why this happening but its fun.
Once you start having a conversation the surprise that you have seen previously is confirmed, people are genuinely happy to see you in their country and thank you for visiting. Most people speak very good English and communication is easy.
Although it is a poor country and from a development aspect it is reminding us of Mozambique (back to cold bucket showers) there is a lot of agriculture and people pride themselves in supplying neighbouring states like Kenya and Sudan with food. So, although poverty is there is no great lack of food.
Maybe it is the fact that people do not have to rely on foreign help to feed themselves (white help as it is most of the time the case), or that they have not yet gotten used to tourism (and white people giving away sweets, pens etc) like other places or maybe because there was no bloody struggle involved with the white people when Uganda gained independence that there is such a relaxed attitude towards us.
So far we have been spending most of the time in cities and villages than in national parks and the nature. The reason for that is easy, we cannot afford the parks, it is insane but the prices for foreigners are horrendous. We could get ourselves into the park but Cruisi, with a foreign number plate, needs to pay 150 US Dollars per day to get in and we are not allowed to get on foot into the park.
We cannot even get annoyed at that as the source of the problem seems too easy to spot. Uganda’s main tourist attraction are the famous Gorillas, yes they are impressive and this is about the only place (with Rwanda and the Congo) where one can see them so, people are willing to pay 500 US Dollars for one hour (!) with them. When the government and the people realise that the foreigners have that sort of money to spend on natural attractions then all of the sudden everything is announced a national park or reserve. Who would not do the same?
Funnily enough an article in a local paper we bought was expressing exactly this and raising the point that there are so many more natural attractions that could be used as tourist draws only if the government would increase the available infrastructure around them! So it seems that in the future the whole of Uganda could be a huge park. And why not? It is so beautiful that wherever you are it feels like it.
The use of all this money seems partly well thought of, the roads are really good, there are schools everywhere and people are not begging. But when speaking with the people they are not happy with their government. The president, Museveni, has been in power now for almost 30 years. The people in power before him, shortly after independence, did horrible things and this part of the country’s history is very dark.
Museveni has managed to keep peace and take the country forward. He got re-elected in February but it is believed that the elections were manipulated. People are getting tired and are in need of a change, but as with so many African leaders once in power for so long it is hard to get them away. Since February the country has seen an inflation of 28% as the government has spend use amounts on weapons, tanks and other army equipment which are used to suppress the increasing demonstrations that are happening. 
When people hear that Fred is French, they joke about how nice it would be if Sarkosy did the same to their country as he did to Lybia... Not the best of sign for what might come... We hope the best for this nice country and people.
No comments:
Post a Comment