Uganda 12: July 22, 2004

A day at the (goat) races.

Kentucky may have the derby and Great Britain the Royal Ascot, but in Uganda we've got goats. And where you've got goats, you know that racing can't be far behind. And where you've got goat racing, you've got boozing expatriates dressed up in their finery cheering on tomorrow's dinner. Liz was resplendent in her zebra hat, showing a flair for haberdashery heretofore unknown. Billed as Kampala's premier social event, the goat races attract a crowd of several hundred Ugandans, Indians and Westerners, who come to wager on the goats while imbibing. With my lengthy history of goat ownership, I felt confident that Liz and I had selected a winner, who we named Stu. Stu was resplendent in a bright gold number 10 jersey was he confidently trotted up to the starting line of the 6 million shilling fifth race. Alas, Stu got stuck, spending most of his time casually munching on the grass amongst a throng of confused, baa-ing quadrapeds. Regardless of Stu's humiliation, we enjoyed ourselves, sipping on Bloody Marys (God bless consumables shipments) and soaking up the sunshine. Liz had a little too much . . . sunshine and nodded off soon after dark. I got to enjoy an evening in our unconditioned hotel room with a pleasantly snoring wife.

Opening of Lugogo Mall.

Kampala recently saw the opening of its first modern strip mall. Befitting the importance of the occasion, President Museveni came to give a rousing speech praising the mall, built by two South African retail stores, as a mark of Ugandan progress. Both English language newspapers carried banner headlines the next day. Now imagine President Bush opening up the new Safeway in Olney. Ugandans were thrilled with the opening, with hundreds of people milling around at the Shoprite grocery store and Game electronics and consumer good venue. Clean, light, fair prices, good quality products. Ugandans were quite proud. Though Kampala already had many small shops where locals could buy appliances, electronics, and sporting goods, this had a huge selection in modern, and bright surroundings. For many visitors, it was a family day trip. Criticising materialism doesn't make sense in a place where people have so few possessions. A strip mall really can be a sign of progress.

Queen Elizabeth National Park

Following the Ambassador's July 4th reception (actually held on the 2nd), we needed a break. I can only make so much small talk in a crowd of 350 milling about in the Ambo's yard. My policy at these receptions is to drink a lot of water, so that I can use an empty glass as an excuse to go back to the bar (trying that with vodka only leads to trouble). It works, but by the end of the evening, I'm doing some leg crossing.

With our friends Shawn and Kathleen we drove out west to Queen Elizabeth National Park. I had stayed there briefly in November for work, but it was exciting to get an entire weekend. Its the middle of the dry season, so the lions were hard to see. Additionally, Shawn's car didn't have a CD player, so we were stuck with tapes, and neither Shawn nor I had bought a tape since the mid-80s. Thus, we were left to attract wildlife with a mixture of Madness (mine) and Duran Duran (not mine). While the lions kept their distance, one leopard, seduced by the sounds of 80s synth-pop, sauntered on by. Flustered by our good luck, I fumbled the camera and only got a photo of its tail disappearing into the tall grass.

We had better success on the boat cruising the Kazinga channel, between Lake George and Lake Edward. As we floated by just before sunset, we saw scores of hippos, herds of buffalo, a solitary elephant feeding, and several open-mouthed crocodiles. Similarly, we had a terrific time on our forest trek in Kyambura Gorge. Located in the middle of the park, this 100 meter deep canyon cuts through the park like a knife wound. On the top, broad and dry savannah, down and inside, cool and damp rainforest. We saw another pod of hippos floating 30 feet away in the small river that winds through the valley, snorting and shuffling about in the water, keeping a constant eye on us. After another 30 minutes, we spotted two chimpanzees up in a tree enjoying a casual lunch. A few pictures later and we were on our way home.

Eastern Uganda

The next day, I got up early to head east to the Kenyan border for work. Much of the road east recently has been repaired and is in surprisingly good condition, though there is a 20 km stretch where the cars weave drunkenly (in some cases with drunken drivers) across two lanes of pot holes. I stopped by the border to speak with Ugandan customs about smuggling and counterfeiting. They claimed they didn't see much of it. American exporters would beg to differ. We've got our work cut out for us there. I also went up in to the Sekulu Hills to view the site of a planned phosphate mine, which, if it gets off the ground will represent the largest capital project in Uganda and will provide employment to hundreds. Of course, it will also necessitate the removal of several thousand squatters now occupying small shambas (farmsteads) in the hills in which they grow millet and maize and about USD 100 million to upgrade the railroad to the port in Mombassa. No problem.