In a forest in Uganda, a gorilla looks up and meets your eyes.
Nearly half the world’s mountain gorillas live in this one green country, and you can walk in on foot until a wild family lets you come close. Only three countries on Earth will ever give you this, and it is only the beginning.
Thirteen kinds of primate in a single forest canopy.
Nearly half the world’s mountain gorillas live here, in the forest of Bwindi, and you meet them on foot, a silverback an arm’s length away, watching you with the eyes of a cousin. They walk in only three countries on Earth. And they are only the beginning: the chimpanzee, our nearest kin, is five thousand strong in these forests, and Kibale alone holds thirteen kinds of primate in one canopy.
Nearly half of Africa’s birds, in a country the size of Great Britain.
All of Canada has recorded 717 kinds of bird. Uganda has 1,093. Two dozen of them live nowhere else on Earth, and a single forest, Bwindi, is the only place that holds every one. The crowned crane on the flag wears a crown of gold and dances.
The youngest country on Earth still crowns kings.
A king crowned at three
In Tooro, King Oyo took the throne in 1995 as a three-year-old, reported as the world’s youngest reigning monarch.
A king his chiefs elect
Next door in Busoga, the king is chosen by his own chiefs, a crown that is voted, not only inherited.
Greeted by name
In the west, people carry praise-names used in greeting, a kindness built into the language itself.
The longest river on Earth begins here.
At Jinja the Nile slips out of Lake Victoria and runs 6,650 km to the sea, farther than Canada is wide. The lake it leaves is the second largest body of fresh water on the planet, after Lake Superior. To the west rise the Rwenzori, the Mountains of the Moon, a name Ptolemy gave them 2,000 years ago, believing their snow fed the Nile. The snow is still there, on the equator.
Lions rest in the fig trees. Giants cross the grass.
In the Ishasha plains the lions climb up and lie along the fig-tree branches, one of the only places on Earth they do. Elephants move in herds, the giraffes stand taller than a house, and Uganda keeps more Nubian giraffes than any park on Earth. Down the Kazinga Channel the hippos gather by the hundred. All of the Big Five live here, with room in it for you.
Pick what calls you. We plan the trip around it.
Come and explore Uganda.
Tell us what you would love to see, the gorillas, the birds, the river, the kings, all of it, and we will plan the trip with you. The whole of East Africa is yours to explore with Bashem.