"Unfortunately, the banana varieties grown in Uganda are low in essential micronutrients, particularly Vitamin A and Iron. To increase these levels, Dale and his team in Australia are collaborating closely with Ugandan scientists at that country’s National Agricultural Research Organization. The NARO team, led by Dr. Wilberforce Tushemereirwe, has made important contributions – developing research protocols, conducting field trials, and planning distribution of new, more nutritious banana varieties to Ugandan farmers. The NARO team’s involvement is a great example of young African scientists playing a major role as full partners in using state-of-the-art science for development of new products important to agriculture and health in their own country."
Dad’s Coming to Town
For the next week I will be entertaining my first visitor from home, my father. I’m excited. Though I have been having an absolute blast living in Kampala, spats of home sickness are inevitable. Sometimes you just want a cheeseburger. Sharing my new home with my dad will help him understand and I’ll take comfort in knowing that at least one person back home has seen my life in Africa.
Initially, we talked about meeting in Tanzania. We thought it would be fun to see the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. After some reflection, I suggested that he come to see Uganda. There is a tremendous amount to do here. In fact, Lonely Planet recently gave Uganda its stamp of approval. Here is our itinerary for the week:
Sunday: Visit Ggaba Port to buy fish from local fisherman for lunch.
Monday-Tuesday: Lake Bunyonyi, one of the deepest lakes in Africa.
Wednesday: Trekking with mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Friday: Game drive in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Fort Portal
Recently I wrote about my crew of weekend warriors. This past weekend we definitely lived up to the name. Fort Portal is about two hundred miles west of Kampala and took between five and six hours to reach.
We set off just after lunch on Friday, and packed sandwiches for the drive and the next day’s lunch. The sandwiches were a team effort. I created a Google Doc to take orders and shared it with my roommate, who picked up the sandwiches on her lunch break the next day.
The drive was absolutely gorgeous. I stuffed a thumb drive full of live concerts including The XX, Radiohead and M. Ward, which served as our soundtrack for the drive. We sped through lush green forests over bumpy roads. The road gently curved through verdant tea plantations as we approached Fort Portal.
Our group stayed at Lake Nkuruba Nature Reserve in bandas, or small huts with either tin or thatch roofs. The reserve was about forty-five minutes past Fort Portal town on a poorly maintained dirt road; I was again thankful for the Rav4. Friday night we ate local food and crashed pretty early (after a game of “Celebrities,” a derivative of taboo and charades).
Saturday morning our group split in two. Half of us went for an early bike ride; half of us slept in to catch up on some much needed rest from the previous week. I was in the latter group. The few of us that stayed in had a leisurely breakfast and set off without a destination in the Rav4. We drove in the general direction of some caves and a waterfall we heard might be a good thing to go and see. We ended up finding a valley with a river running through the base of two large hills. We pulled over and had picnic amongst the random goats that grazed on the hillside.
We then called the rest of our group and it turned out they had just finished biking to an area that was about a ten-minute drive from our picnic. We met up and went for a hike…
My roommate said it was about to rain and asked if we were still up for it. We were up for a little adventure… However, it didn’t simply rain, it POURED. We were all unprepared for the weather; I was wearing a cotton shirt and trainers. Within minutes we were drenched (see above). A few times we stopped to assess whether to continue on with the hike. We forged ahead. We scrambled up the slippery slopes of the largest hill in sight.
Despite the rainclouds, the view was still tremendous. At the top, we had a 360-degree view of several crater lakes and the Ugandan countryside.
Rather than driving all the way back to our bandas to change into dry clothes and then returning to Fort Portal, a trip that would have taken over an hour, we decided to purchase second hand clothing in town. For $3.00 I had a new button down dress shirt and was dry, happy and hungry. We went to Piers and finished off a pretty epic day with pizza and drinks. The weekend warriors win again.
Bill Gates advises Uganda on oil cash
Mr. Gates is right. This is a huge opportunity for Uganda. Transparency will help ensure that the benefits of this windfall are more equitably distributed.
"Uganda will try to balance competing pressures to bring its deficit and inflation under control while making a push to take advantage of an oil find and develop infrastructure in its 2011/12 budget."
