During a visit to the Royal Palace of the Buganda King in Kampala, Uganda, I found an artisan selling local themed paintings in the Souvenir shop. On a closer scrutiny, I realised that the painting was made on some sort of a thin, soft cloth material. On enquiry, the artist proudly mentioned that the cloth was...
Mountain Gorilla tracking: The opportunity, to be in close proximity for a magical hour with a family of our near cousins – the Mountain Gorillas, in their natural habitat can be a scary but exhilarating adventure. This adventure can be experienced only in two places (3 countries) in the world – the Virungas massif and...
‘Tree climbing Lions’ – much of a marketing hype is made by the Parks and Tourism boards to attract tourists to places where Tree climbing Lions are prevalent. Two destinations that have made the most of it are Ishasha sector in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda and Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania. Can Lions climb trees? Generally,...
Overview – Queen Elizabeth National Park Safari par excellence! In addition to spectacular landscapes, Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) boasts the most productive Safari experience in Uganda. Set against the backdrop of the jagged Rwenzori Mountains, QENP's magnificent vistas include dozens of enormous craters (Volcanic) with their scenic lakes carved by rolling green hills, the panoramic...
Overview – Kibale National Park Kibale National park, known as the primate capital of the world due to its very high density of primates, is about 5-6 hours west by road from Kampala. The Park is about 795 sq kms in size and contains one of the loveliest and most varied tracts of tropical forest in...
To quote Arthur C Clarke, humanity will be judged on how we behave towards other intelligent creatures of his own world. And with regard to Chimpanzees, we are faring quite poorly. Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives and we share 98.7% of our genes with them. However, humans have been very cruel to them resulting...
Uganda used to have a healthy population of both the Eastern Black Rhino and the Northern White Rhinos. But years of internal strife and wars, encroachment, rampant poaching and hunting, lead to the extinction of the Rhino. The Northern White rhino was last seen in 1982 in Murchison Falls National Park. Similarly, the last Eastern Black...
Oft ignored and considered only as a pitstop when visiting Murchison Falls National Park, Budongo Forest reserve deserves its due! A moist semi-deciduous forest, Budongo is famous for its massive mahogany trees and high biodiversity. Though attacked viciously by extensive logging and encroachment over the years, Budongo has managed to survive till date. However, the...
Uganda – the Pearl of Africa, has been on my bucket list for quite some time now! I have been long fascinated by the lure of pristine wildlife areas and of course, the star attractions: the Mountain Gorillas and Chimpanzees in the tropical rain forests! For magnificence, for variety of form and colour, for profusion of...
Murchison Falls National Park, at nearly 3,800 sq kms, is the oldest and largest protected area in Uganda. Along with the contiguous Karuma and Bugungu wildlife reserves, the size of the protected area goes up to around 5,000 sq kms. Murchison straddles the Victoria Nile as it cuts across through multiple rapids and waterfalls in its...
