Oh Uganda!

Unfortunately due to lack of power and Orange network connectivity, I am just getting around to posting.  If someone wants to call Umeme, Uganda’s power supplier, and request for no more outages so I can blog and have access to the outside world more frequently, please feel free. 

Back to the post…

As we celebrate Independence Day today, October 9^th, with pork and speeches by local officials, I wanted to give some quick facts about the Pearl of Africa.

- Gained independence in 1962 from Great Britain

- President Museveni had been in power since 1986, after much political instability

- The land area is 96,456 square miles, including 17,600 square miles of open water or swampland

- Uganda is 26% lakes and rivers

- Approximately one-half of Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile River, lies within Uganda

- The climate is equatorial that is moderated by altitude

- The rainfall varies from more than 84 inches around Lake Victoria to about 20 inches in the northeast

- Vegetation is heaviest in the south and thins out to savanna and dry plains in the northeast

- The flag includes the colors red, yellow, and black, representing blood and brotherhood, the sun, and the color of the people

- There are 1061 species of birds in Uganda

- Uganda is home to over half of all Mountain Gorillas in the world, 480 out of 880

- Uganda’s famous motorcycle taxis were used to transport people between the Kenya border and Uganda border… Hence boda boda

- 10 million Ugandans, a third of the population, have cell phones

- When Ugandans build a mud house the women do most of the work, the men only build the roof

- A favorite treat in Uganda is pan-fried grasshoppers

- Uganda is known for their pineapples

- Uganda is the youngest country in the world, with half of its population under the age of 14 years

- Uganda was recently named ‘2012 Best Tourism Location’ by Lonely Planet and over 1 Million tourists visit Uganda every year

- Uganda has the largest number of water bodies than any other country on the African continent

- Around 50% of Uganda’s population survives on less than one dollar a day

- Uganda’s Official Motto – “For God and my County.”

- Uganda is Africa’s banana republic as it grows more bananas than any other nation – except Brazil – over 50 varieties

- Home to more butterflies of every color and species of chimpanzees than any other East African country

- The most bio-diverse country in East Africa

Pretty darn grateful and lucky to live here…