Uganda

[j44ke]

Spent the last (just shy of) month in Uganda birdwatching on a tour with my father who is 85. His request. Terrific trip. He did really well. Even hiked up the mountain to see gorillas. Birds were amazing, the guides from Uganda were brilliant and had super powers, and local guides in the villages we visited excelled above and beyond (everyone in Uganda seems to know what a Green Hylia looks and sings like - amazing.) All Ugandan owned lodges with solar power and water management innovations, plus hearty food where vegetarianism is default and fish and Ankole beef are extras. Bananas like from the gods. Pineapples like you've never eaten.

And the birds. Did I mention the birds? Zowie.

Small assortment of pics: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBwY5p

[sk_tle]

Thanks for sharing, looks like a super nice trip!

Where are the sound recordings? ;-)

[j44ke]

Thanks for sharing, looks like a super nice trip!

Where are the sound recordings? ;-)

There is one video with the stilt-walker and co. dancing in traffic. But I think most of the music East Africa listens to is Congolese. The bird song in the morning I should have recorded. Cacophony is an understatement.

One downer was the elephants with wounds and amputations from poachers’ snares, especially near the DRC border in Murchison Falls area, and the dwindling number of lions.

[open roader]

My sister served as a volunteer nurse in Kampala circa early 2000's. This photo collection resembles hers - the colour palette is the same. She said Uganda was a roller coaster for the emotions of a westerner - uplifting and inspiring only to be often deflating and depressing only minutes later. She claims the locals don't see the horrors like a westerner does, nor do they see the extraordinary beauty as life for most is a struggle and a day to day proposition only.

Great pics.

[lumpy]

Spent the last (just shy of) month in Uganda birdwatching on a tour with my father who is 85. His request. Terrific trip. He did really well. Even hiked up the mountain to see gorillas. Birds were amazing, the guides from Uganda were brilliant and had super powers, and local guides in the villages we visited excelled above and beyond (everyone in Uganda seems to know what a Green Hylia looks and sings like - amazing.) All Ugandan owned lodges with solar power and water management innovations, plus hearty food where vegetarianism is default and fish and Ankole beef are extras. Bananas like from the gods. Pineapples like you've never eaten.

And the birds. Did I mention the birds? Zowie.

Small assortment of pics: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBwY5p

My girlfriend studies the indigenous bird guiding culture and business and has spent a lot of time with bird guides in Uganda. Who were your guides? There's a good chance she's interviewed them. Did you use Bird Uganda?

[j44ke]

My girlfriend studies the indigenous bird guiding culture and business and has spent a lot of time with bird guides in Uganda. Who were your guides? There's a good chance she's interviewed them. Did you use Bird Uganda?

The primary tour company was WINGS out of Tucson AZ, but their local presence is Journeys Uganda owned and run by Paul Tamwenya. Paul is definitely a full-on leader, not merely someone hired for local regulatory matters. He knows the birds as well or better than anyone. A leader in all senses of the word. When we ran into other groups, you could see the respect other leaders have for him.

[j44ke]

My sister served as a volunteer nurse in Kampala circa early 2000's. This photo collection resembles hers - the colour palette is the same. She said Uganda was a roller coaster for the emotions of a westerner - uplifting and inspiring only to be often deflating and depressing only minutes later. She claims the locals don't see the horrors like a westerner does, nor do they see the extraordinary beauty as life for most is a struggle and a day to day proposition only.

Great pics.

Thanks.

That sounds like a natural self-preservative reaction to what the country went through, not just from government but also from HIV/AIDS epidemic. I understand that in the late 80's/early 90's, the perception on the ground was that everyone was infected or that at least death was unavoidable. So whether it was Idi-Amin throwing people off Murchison Falls for sport or AIDS picking off your entire family one by one, life goes on.

[Ras72]

My sister served as a volunteer nurse in Kampala circa early 2000's. This photo collection resembles hers - the colour palette is the same. She said Uganda was a roller coaster for the emotions of a westerner - uplifting and inspiring only to be often deflating and depressing only minutes later. She claims the locals don't see the horrors like a westerner does, nor do they see the extraordinary beauty as life for most is a struggle and a day to day proposition only.

Great pics.

I've spent a week or two in several different countries across Africa. This was Sudan, Ethiopia, Liberia, Ghana over a span of 4 work related years. Every trip I returned home with similar thoughts as your sister. And I came away with photos of similar color palette, smells, foods, etc.
I always found it amazingly beautiful how the people seemed to be content with their current situation - as bad as it may be at times - only to find myself depressed when I compared it to my personal world. It made me grow to truly appreciate my 'conveniences' and shocked by the stupid shit my friends had on their bitch list. I'd tell them stories of these past trips. The happiness of the people. The lack of conveniences. Their question was the same, 'doesn't that make you want to help them?' And my reply was the same, 'No. I wouldn't want to destroy their lives with our conveniences' Caveat, of course, was the list of basic human needs - water, food, medicines, etc. Africa is a different world and one I'd recommend seeing to most people, at least once.

Thanks sharing the story Jorn. The photos bring back a flood of memories.

[j44ke]

Evidently 85% of Ugandans go to church on Sunday. Meanwhile it felt like half the passengers on the plane to and from Uganda were American evangelicals. Most of the overheard conversations were about "helping" the Ugandans. But if there are already 85% of Ugandans going to church on Sunday, they obviously have a solid relationship with their own church and their own god already. And I saw plenty of houses being built by Ugandans. And the community support organizations we saw in the villages appeared to be operated by Ugandans. People were getting help or helping or supporting and being supported. How exactly were the evangelicals helping?

We were eating along the side of a steep road and a young guy pushing a heavy 3 speed with rod-controlled brakes came up the road. It was very hot and he was sweating through his clothes. I threw him a bottle of water which he drained in a second. Then he said what do you want from me? Are you trying to (insert expletive) me? I said you looked like you needed a drink, so I gave you one. He said then you are my savior and I thank you. I said I am not your savior and I don't need thanks. I had a bottle of water and you looked like you needed one. He grinned and went on up the hill.

The lead guide, Paul, was explaining that most people work in Kampala but come back to their home village nearly weekly. Trips back to the village are not easy, but people do it because they feel relaxed there. Comfortable. Meanwhile most of the houses have dirt floors, albeit well swept ones. There isn't a lot of furniture. Most people appear to use the houses for sleeping only, maybe some food prep, but otherwise everyone is outside - eating outside, shopping outside, walking places, pushing their bikes, riding on a motorcycle taxi (called boda bodas) - doing daily stuff. But yes, I guess they did look more relaxed than in Kampala. Heck, I was more relaxed in the villages than in Kampala.

On the way back to the lodge for dinner one evening, the drivetrain on one of the trucks broke a U-joint. Everyone piled into the working truck and two guides stayed with the broken truck. When we got to the lodge, Paul said he'd contacted his mechanic and the mechanic was on his way to Kampala to get the part and repair the truck tomorrow morning. No one believed the repair was going to be faster than 24 hours, but it was a nice area with lots of birds so no one felt too badly about an extra day there. By 11AM the next morning the truck was fixed. The mechanic had his guy drive him to the bus and then went by bus to Kampala and then returned to where his guy was waiting then they went back to where the truck was and climbed underneath and installed the part and then drove the truck to where we were bird watching. In the meantime, his guy had driven another truck to our lodge so that when we got up early in the morning we could go birdwatching and head towards our next location. So the mechanic actually caught up with us on the road. We lost maybe 30 minutes of birdwatching time? Incredible. Add to this how bad the roads are in the area where we were birdwatching and the use of a bus to get to and from Kampala with a u-joint AND a drive shaft assembly (to make the repair quicker and simpler) and complete lack of sleep over about 18 hours. Incredible. The mechanic and his guys were all laughing and feeling pretty proud of themselves - deservedly so.

I spent those several weeks learning a lot.

[open roader]

I've spent a week or two in several different countries across Africa. This was Sudan, Ethiopia, Liberia, Ghana over a span of 4 work related years. Every trip I returned home with similar thoughts as your sister. And I came away with photos of similar color palette, smells, foods, etc.
I always found it amazingly beautiful how the people seemed to be content with their current situation - as bad as it may be at times - only to find myself depressed when I compared it to my personal world. It made me grow to truly appreciate my 'conveniences' and shocked by the stupid shit my friends had on their bitch list. I'd tell them stories of these past trips. The happiness of the people. The lack of conveniences. Their question was the same, 'doesn't that make you want to help them?' And my reply was the same, 'No. I wouldn't want to destroy their lives with our conveniences' Caveat, of course, was the list of basic human needs - water, food, medicines, etc. Africa is a different world and one I'd recommend seeing to most people, at least once.

Thanks sharing the story Jorn. The photos bring back a flood of memories.

My experience same after visting Morocco in 2005. It took me a couple of weeks to get normalised to the culture shocks, the lack of what we take for granted on a daily basis and the need to just live and let live. Upon returning to Spain via the ferry I experienced the bleating of western lifestyle less than 4 mins after disembarking - another dose of culture shock. Indeed it's a complete cliche, however, travel, esp. far and wide to the harder ends of the earth does truly broaden the mind.

[Ras72]

Visited Rabat in 2014. Morocco didn't give me the same 'harshness' as the places I mentioned above. Hence the reason it was omitted from the list. Rabat was 'equipped' (nice restaurants, hotels, tourism, etc) and seemed to know and want what the western world has developed into. It seemed like a real metropolis. The medina in Fes was an interesting place though.

Sorry Jorn for the thread drift.

[j44ke]

I will add that strong-arming pharma into making antiretroviral drugs available in Africa at cheap or free prices may be the best thing the world has done for Africa in forever.