Uganda
IDENTITY CARD
Name of the country : Uganda
Capital : Kampala
Official religion : Roman Catholic 33%, Protestant 33%, Muslim 16%, indigenous
beliefs 18%
Political system : Republic of Uganda
Number of inhabitants : 25,630,000
Climate : tropical; generally rainy with two dry seasons (December to February,
June to August); semiarid in northeast
Hours away from Paris : 8 hours
Time differences between Kampala and Paris : +2 hours
The most popular dish : matoke
KAMPALA
The City has kept its traditional charm, and was the greenest city in Africa. What's more today Kampala is the heart of Uganda, the centre of commercial life and the seat of the government. It is a modern metropolis, there are beautiful gardens and parks for its citizens and visitors. For the tourists there are big hotels and the best international hotel of Uganda is in Kampala, there are also art conferences about African art. There are a lot of choice of traditional restaurants in the City, you can taste very good and different dishes from Europe. And every Sunday you can visit the big market of Kampala.
KIDEPO
One of the most spectacular park of Uganda is Kidepo Park (1.344sq.km).
The park is located at 840 km of Kampala by road. In this park you can watch
a lot of animals, like: elephants, zebras, buffalos… and over 200 kinds
of birds. Kidepo Valley is the most peacefull park of Uganda, the park contains
mountains and savannah landscapes. In the Natera Hills you can see the higher
peak of Uganda wich measure 2360m, the mount Lotukei.
In this park you can track gorilla. When you track gorilla there are two groups
of six persons and you track during two hours. These rare animals are hard to
find and that why makes tracking is an exciting adventure.
Lake Mburo Park
It is situated between Masaka and Mbara in Western Uganda. It
is the only park which have an entire lake. There are also four other smaller
lakes.
In this park you can see aardvak, porcupine, hyrax, hippopotamus... There are
357 birds species like crested rane, shoebill stork, marabou stork and bronze-tailed
starling. When you are in this park you can walk and see a lot of beautiful
animals, but it is better if you rent a car because you can cover longer distance
and see much more animals. You can also go on the lakes with canoe to see herons
and other water bird, but take care of the crocodiles. If you want to stay few
days in the park you can sleep in chalets, there are available for single or
double occupancy.
The river Nile source
The River Nile is the greatest and the longest river
of the world. The Nile cross Africa from the south to the north in Egypt. In
the 18th and 19th centuries the dream of many Europeans explorers was to find
the source of this famous river. Only one succeeded John Speke in 1862 the other
died. The great River Nile take is source, he had searched so long for, on the
banks of Lake Victoria.
Now the source of the Nile is famous in the world, and many people go to visit
this famous place.
Yoweri Kaguta Musevi
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has been politically
active since his student days at Ntare School, Mbarara. He studied political
science and economies at the University of Dar-es-Salaam, he was graduated in
1970 with a Bachelor of Arts. In the government that succeeded Amin, Museveni
served briefly as Minister of Defense, Minister of Regional Co-operation and
Vice Chairman of the Military Commission. On February 6th 1981, Museveni with
some thirty young men, organized the National Resistance Army to oppose Obote
regime, a tyrany, which torture the population.
Museveni became President of Uganda on January 26th 1986, after five successful
year of guerilla against the regimes of Milton Obote and Tito Okello.
Apollo Milton Obote
Apollo Milton Obote was born the 28th december
1924 and was President of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and from 1980 to 1980. Obote
began his political career in Kenya, after studying law in the United States
.When he return to Uganda, he founded the Ugandan National Congress (UNC) in
1955 and was elected to the colonial legislature in 1958. After several years
Obote was elected prime minister in 1961. He assumed the post on April 25 of
1962, with Sir Edward Mutesa, the kabaka (king) of the Baganda as president
when Uganda gained independence in October 1963. As prime minister, Obote was
implicated in a gold detournement affair. Obote having himself declared president
on March 2, 1966. His rule was destabilized by the army. In 1971 he was exiled
by his army chief, Idi Amin. After the fall of Amin in 1980, Obote was reinstated
as president. It has been estimated that from 100,000 to 300,000 people died
because of the fighting between Obote's UNLA (Uganda National Liberation Army)
and others military groups. He was deposed in 1985 by Lt Gen Bazilio Olara Okello.
Why does Uganda speak English ?
The official language of Uganda is English because
it was colonised from 1894 to 1962 by English explorators who where searched
the source of the Nile and after independence the government decided to have
English for official language to do not have ethnics problems. But Uganda's
people speak Bantou's languages (swahili) or nilo-saharian languages. There
are about 35 languages in Uganda. English still the second language after Swahili
and is spoken only by 6 per 100 of the population. Now, English is teach at
school and official publications and the majority of newspaper are written in
English.