Ciao Uganda

Uganda has been a great place to travel through, not least because it offers cheap options throughout. It also has a variety of outdoor activities to keep the passing travellist satiated. The natural beauty of the country is immense, and with over 1,000 bird species, it is very much an ornithologist’s paradise.

It is green and fertile, and should be self-sufficient. However it has been somewhat reliant on outside aid – indeed almost half of its GNP comes from foreign aid. Really shocking considering the richness that the country has to offer. As Maurice noted, my friend from Fort Portal, he has spent 16 years trying to get the money reduced, but to no avail. They are crippled by love.

The population explosion is enormous, not least witnessed first-hand in Kampala, not least with the strength of Catholicism. The lack of smokers hasn’t helped matters. Fortunately the death-toll on the roads is doing its best to keep the situation under control.

The people have been polite, helpful and friendly without being over-bearing. Again, like Rwanda, shoes are seen as a major status symbol.

Since the far north of Mozambique to this point, i have been regularly assaulted with the ubiquitous “Mzungu” – a label for all “whites”. It has been explained to me on several occasions that it is not an offensive term. It can refer to skin colour, but also as a mode of travelling – zigzagging around. Nonetheless at best it has been a constant irritation and at worst i have loathed it. I don’t shout out in London “oi – Black person!” to every Afro-Caribbean person i meet, although Sue who has been in Uganda for 20 years tells me she responds to the Mzungu call with “Yes, African?” In Jinja t-shirts are available with the words “Mzungu is not my name” – a little too late for me. Fortunately “mzungu” is never heard in Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt - i morph into a faranji - a foreigner.

My next posting will be from the bowels of Ethiopia. You might have a bit of a wait.