UGANDA
July to September 2018 - Kenya, Uganda, and Egypt with travel-buddy Embe
Greetings Earthlings. For context, check out our Kenya page... Good times! Crossing into Uganda, we immediately noticed a big difference in terms of development. We saw fewer motorcycles, more bicycles, less colorful paint, more plastic rubbish, fewer schools and less infrastructure in general. This we expected. The big surprise was that we suddenly saw vastly more mzungus (white people).
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Uganda is one of the poorest countries on Earth. It is also one of the best places for mzungus to see mountain gorillas and go white-water rafting on the Nile. Also, a lot of mzungus work for NGOs in Uganda. For us, travelling through an area with lots of Westerners created a cultural problem: the locals were less welcoming and more likely to overcharge us. And so it goes... As the world gets smaller with airports plus the Internet, it gets easier for middle-class humans to go anywhere on their two-week holidays. Indeed, it is now so easy to travel that it is simultaneously more difficult to have a real adventure. And locals do get jaded by constantly dealing with clueless tourists and missionary groups.
But that's cool, we get it, and we often found ourselves hanging out with locals analyzing the socially-awkward and inappropriately-dressed mzungus, most of whom never ride in public transportation, never eat in a local restaurant, and never sleep in any hotel that cannot be reserved online. It's shocking how much money they spend too, a fortune by African standards.
In contrast, we were able to maintain a $30 USD budget per day (for 2 people), excluding only airplane tickets. To travel this cheaply, we put up with uncomfortable "shared taxi" transportation (matatus), and we cannot recommend this to anyone except for real travellers with tiny backpacks who want to experience the real culture. If you just want to see gorillas and waterfalls and such, then go ahead and hire a private car and driver.
Did you know that Uganda hosts the world's largest refugee camp (at Bidi Bidi)? It seems that Ugandans tolerate Congolese and South Sudanese refugees patiently because deep down they know their turn might be next, and this is plausible. When we visited neighboring Rwanda 13 years ago, we researched the genocide and found that the root cause was simply too many people (the Hutu versus Tutsi dynamic was merely a catalyst).
In a region where environmental destruction is extreme, jobs are scarce, and nutritious food is often unaffordable, it is amazing that everyone still thinks it's a great idea to have a lot of children. This ignorance is tragically endorsed by government and religious leaders. We met some mzungu NGO employees promoting "family planning" in Uganda, and we wish them luck.
We also met intelligent Ugandans who emphatically agree that the consequences of overpopulation and ignorance are dire. Even educated and well-fed Westerners believe all kinds of crazy bullshit without critical thinking, and this makes us feel a bit pessimistic. So when considering the question of hope for humanity, one must ask, what exactly are we hoping for? Maybe a planet that still has wild animals plus abundant, clean fresh water? Consider the fact that the Cambrian explosion of multicellular life was only some 500 million years ago, quite quick for human apes to evolve from single cells, so looking to the future of life on Earth (without humans), no worries. Somehow travelling in Africa encourages us to look at the big picture.
Aside from reforming Global Capitalism, overpopulation is the biggest challenge facing Uganda, and indeed the planet, as we collectively struggle to prevent various environmental catastrophes. People like to blame this stuff on Bad Presidents or Big Oil, but from an African perspective our small planet simply has too many people already. Meanwhile the Capitalists ignore the urgent goal of Sustainability completely, in favor of GDP growth only, while ignoring Quality of Life. Here's an African example: all those slaves stolen from their homes and sent to the Americas had nothing to do with racism; the Capitalists created this market primarily to make profits from selling cotton clothes and sugary sweets in Europe. Africa could have become a prosperous place if the winds of history had blown differently... Meanwhile the Golden Years of Capitalism are over. This is now official because so many ecosystems are collapsing, and continued growth depends on an expanding web of debt - until our current financial bubble collapses, and it will. Hmm...
One day I was talking to a Ugandan boy overlooking a vast plain that recently had wildlife, and I told the boy it was possible to repopulate the animals. He replied, "Why? For Hunting?" This boy's dream was to find a wife "to produce many babies."
It is sometimes shocking to spend time with people who have zero education. Westerners often take their knowledge and critical thinking for granted, but these skills require good schools. Also, educated people have fewer babies on average.
We visited several beautiful lakes in Uganda, and we were keen to maybe go swimming, but nah. We didn't eat any fish either. Too much pollution! Note to ironically-named "conservative" economists (also known as Capitalists), no amount of development can reverse ecosystem collapse; your institutionalized greed is destroying Africa's wildlife while taking the profits away and avoiding tax too. Bad Capitalists! Western governments should think about giving money to Africa as reparations instead of aid, as grants instead of loans, plus all of Africa's "odious debt" should be written off immediately. Western consumption contributes more to climate change than African babies, so note to Westerners: now is a bad time to be fatalistic, complacent, or cynical. Now is the time for political activism, or else... Hey Pope Francis, this also means that you must come out in favor of birth control now. Sorry for the rant, but this stuff is crucial for Africa's future. We left Kenya feeling optimistic but Uganda pushed us back the other way. We would rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right, but we'll settle for realistic...
Uganda is a great place to see cool birds. We saw wild chimpanzees too ;-) And we did one wild-game drive in the Murchison Falls National Park, which was spectacular. There's a good reason why so many mzungus are here. Uganda is a nice place to visit! We always felt safe from crime (but not petty extortion), and most people have a positive energy, especially away from tourist areas. Many towns have Indian communities, and therefore tasty vegetarian food too :-)
We witnessed political violence where several people were shot and killed. You might have even heard of Bobi Wine, a popular musician turned politician (currently an MP) who was accused of treason and tortured by the government. We were on a matatu ride when protests broke out, blocking the road, then the military and police arrived... Front page news.
We saved the most relaxing place for last, the Ssese islands on Lake Victoria, an oasis of calm located near to the Entebbe international airport, from where we flew to Cairo on our way to Europe...
In summary, Africa, what a trip! It's worth repeating that we had a fabulous time! We will miss the warm and welcoming African vibe, where people help each other get through some rather difficult lives with a sense of humor.
PS: Our travel buddy Embe made a VIDEO. Enjoy!
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