UNIQUENESS OF THE PEOPLE OF UGANDA

UNIQUENESS OF THE PEOPLE OF UGANDA 

Uganda also dubbed the pearl of Africa is popularly known for its vast variety of nature with the most prolific and densely populated wildlife national parks and almost 11% of the world’s bird species making wildlife safaris in Uganda an ideal scheme for travelers.

Soaked by the waters of the Nile River, Uganda is blessed with beautiful landscapes including one of Africa’s highest points; the Ruwenzori mountains of the moon which are crossed by the equator but surprisingly covered by snow all year long.

However, these features are not only confined to Uganda, you can still find them in any other country on an African safari. But that one thing about the Uganda safaris that is so unique and can’t be found anywhere else except in the pearl of Africa, that’s her people of increasing levels of hospitality and friendliness.

Certainly, when Winston Churchill dubbed Uganda the pearl of Africa back then in 1908, he didn’t consider the people of Uganda, he over shadowed them with her magnificence, variety of form, color, profusion of brilliant life, bird, insect and reptile on a vast scale. But there is much more that Safaris in Uganda can offer other than wildlife, and these are the cultures in Uganda.

Uganda is culturally blessed with over 50 different tribes and each with different norms and traditions. Each tribe speaks a unique dialect, different practices, dissimilar cuisines and totally different songs and dances. And all these tribes are located in the four regions of Uganda.

The central region is mainly dominated by the Bantu ethnic group and the Baganda in particular, a monarch with one of the best kingship documentations in Uganda. Buganda is noted for her unique ceremonies like the introduction, initiation of twins, king’s coronation and the funeral rites where they all perform different dances and songs. About the central cuisines, Buganda’s staple food is matooke and the cultural attire is a kanzu for men and a gomesi for women. These attires are the highest form of creativity Buganda has ever had, they are affordable and you can easily get yourself one on your Uganda tour.

The eastern region is also largely reigned by the Bantu speaking people including the Bagisu, Basoga, Bagwere, Basamia, and so many others though it also has some Nilotics like the Iteso, Japadhola and others. All these tribes have different interesting cultural ceremonies with the most recommendable one being the Imbalu ceremony of the Bagisu, an activity that you couldn’t imagine of still happening in this highly modernizing world.

In the northern region we have the Acholi, Langi, Lugbara, Alur, and Kakwa among others. The Acholi and the Langi dominate the northern part, the Lugbara, Alur and the Madi dominate the west Nile region while the Karamajongs reign the north east. Their staple food is majorly Akaro a combination of millet, cassava flour and sorghum, plus Amalakwang which is a sour vegetable prepared with ground nuts paste forming the typical northern food.

The western region has the Batooro, Banyoro, Bakonjo, Bakiga, Bafumbira and the Bachwezi among others. The most common traditional dances performed on their ceremonies like okuhinjira (introduction) are the Entogoro and Ekitagururo featured with energetic stamping and tangling rhythms using the feet. The staple food here is the Eshabwe comprising of ghee skimmed from milk. In the southwest still, you find the ancient Batwa pygmies living in the jungles of Bwindi impenetrable forest.

A cultural safari in Uganda gives you a chance to have a bite on most of the varied traditional foods and beverages. Attend one of the traditional ceremonies and join a traditional dance or folk song, visit the spiritual healers, buy yourself a hand crafted souvenir back home, or perhaps have a two nights’ home-stay to experience the true life of a traditional Ugandan. Indeed Uganda is simply more than the mountain gorillas and other wildlife.