Sitting here in a very echo-y classroom at the Forestry building here at Makerere University. Haven't posted anything here in quite a while--it's been pretty crazy, and on top of it, I haven't had much interesting to say--but I figured it was about time to put up an update or two.
Spent last week out in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Western Uganda. QENP is a one of Uganda's great places to see animals, and I wanted to see some African animals before I leave Uganda this year. And on top of it, it was my last chance to get out of Kampala for any period of time before my forestry course started here in the city. Kampala has kind of been growing on me, but it's by far the most chaotic place I know of.
Early last week, I took a bus up to Fort Portal, which is a medium-sized town in Western Uganda, in beautiful, green, hilly country. The bus ride took me out of the city and through lots of agricultural land. Lots of banana plantations, and as you start to get closer to Fort Portal, you start to see tea plantations, which were introduced by (who else?) the British during the colonial period. It seems like tea production has declined in some areas, but it's still a substantial industry.
Tough work, harvesting tea. Standing out in the sun all day with a pair of hedge clippers putting tea in a basket slung on your back. Makes me think of the tobacco picking that used to take place back home in Connecticut. Hot days working hard out in the sun. Glad I never had to do it. Sounds like many of the locals are interested in getting more FDI to build up the tea industry again, though. I was repeatedly urged to buy land in Western Uganda by locals, including one young couple who spoke very little English and were hoping I would buy some of their property. I have no intention of buying land in Uganda, and it's hard to tell how representative these conversations are, but it is striking how different those attitudes are when compared to
Spent two days in Fort Portal--a pretty, comfortable town, but not much going on. Met a couple of US Political Scientists doing work on climate change and conflict. Basically, will climate change lead to more civil wars and so on? Not clear from my discussion with them what the answer is, but it sounds like they have found some evidence of civil conflict, protests, and riots being associated with droughts and other extreme weather events which might be associated with climate change.
Also in Fort Portal, met up with a British couple who was also looking to move on to the park. Together, we rented a car and driver and headed into the park. Saw lots of animals over the course of three days (lions, warthogs, water buffalo, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, and even a leopard). I will write more about that later.
After my three days in the park, headed back to a guesthouse outside of Fort Portal--The "Chimpanzee Lodge." There are chimpanzees nearby, but I only saw monkeys and baboons (the raccoons of Uganda). The lodge is also an old tea plantation, and I had the pleasure of sleeping in a wall tent there. Good times. Made me feel like a boy scout again.
And now, after a six hour bus ride across Uganda in a bus with no opening windows (very hot and not a little smelly) I'm back in Kampala. More on that later as well.
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