The Uganda countryside is very beautiful. Scenic, picturesque, rolling hills carpeted in green with a few rock outcrops the closer one gets to the Rwenzori foothills. Most of the land is cultivated, or in some other form of use. Land that is not cultivated for agriculture is often covered by extensive stretches of purposely planted eucalyptus or pine trees. There is precious little virgin tropical forest, but encountering such forests often offers sightings of baboons and other wild fauna.
It was quite an interesting road journey, really, between Kampala and Fort Portal. I am in this post attempting to put together my thoughts and observations of, and during, the journey itself when these are still fresh in my memory, so as not to lose them and to capture them for posterity.
The 296km highway itself was fairly good, but rough and uncomfortable on those stretches where the road surface had suffered neglect, and was undergoing maintenance at the same time. So it was a combination of smooth road for a while, massive potholes on different stretches, and then stretches with extensive roadworks disrupting the flow of traffic, with each scenario occurring one after the other. For these reasons the journey was more tedious and took longer than it might have taken otherwise.
The traffic was composed of ordinary private vehicles like ours, numerous brand new pickup trucks and 4x4s with government numberplates darting at high speed in both directions, many Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs), large buses, and smaller commercial vehicles, and also the ubiquitous Uganda motorcycles performing various functions. The motorcycle in Uganda appears to be an institution of its own. To be found everywhere, the motorcycle is undoubtedly the most popular utility vehicle, used for the transport of everything; from mattresses, to roofing sheets; from crates of soft drinks (colloquially known as "sodas") to entire families; the motorcycle is a fixture on the Ugandan road. The sight of a 5,000 litre polyurethane water tank balanced precariously on the passenger seat of a motorcycle was a sight for the ages.
These photos are of breathtakingly beautiful tea plantations in Kabarole District that I shakingly managed to capture with my phone as we approached Fort Portal, photos from a moving vehicle that do not do justice to just how spectacularly scenic the views truly were. Kabarole District itself, which is part of the Tooro Kingdom, had Fort Portal as its main town before 1 July, 2020, when Fort Portal was elevated to a city, and separated from Kabarole District. In that year, Fort Portal Municipality constituency became the Fort Portal City with an independent local government. The trip from Kampala to Fort Portal had us pass through towns like Mityana and Mubende.
Fort Portal is covered in bunting for the new king's coronation tomorrow. Yep, I caught sight of the Rwenzori Mountain Range from a distance, but we're hoping tomorrow to move closer to it to get a better look. We're hitched up for the night in some hotel, but tomorrow we won't be hanging around for the coronation. After viewing the mountains, we intend to visit some hot springs, then some caves, and then drive over to Bunyoro to visit the Murchison Falls National Park.
The streets of Fort Portal are very busy, but it's not clear if the streets are so busy this evening because of tomorrow's coronation. We went to see the Omukama's Palace, which is located on the top of a hill, and with visions in my mind of the famous Princess of Tooro directing preparations for tomorrow's events. As I'm typing this while lying back in my hotel room, it's close to midnight. I realise that I was awoken from my sleep by a loud uproar across the city. I looked out of the window and on the street in front of me, in the darkness I saw a large procession of people singing and dancing in unison, moving in the direction of the palace. *I heard after I woke up in the morning that the procession was of the new king himself surrounded by supporters as he walked the four miles to the palace. So I inadvertently stumbled into a royal coronation in real life.*
Day's end tomorrow should see us back in Kampala. (It didn't, and it was not until two weeks later that I made it to Murchison).
Okay, so I woke in the middle of the night to type this. As I said, I did not want the thoughts to fade away. I have to go back to sleep now, tomorrow promises to be an even busier day, after which I shall have more to report.
Postcript: I posted this contemporaneously on Facebook at the time, and then thought to share it again here on the blog.
