Kidepo Valley National Park, Uganda - Photo credit Mudo Eve AKA @nze_eve
Dear Amos Wekasa,
I’ve followed your work promoting tourism in Uganda over the past few years. I’ve watched you speak and greeted you briefly in a line for food at some conference. The other day, I read you wax eloquently in a WhatsApp group about your strategy to invest in marketing Uganda. You also you praised the work done on Ugandan upcountry roads by UNRA and testified that you spend most of your time on the road. I related to that. I’m based in Kampala now, but have traveled to Entebbe, Masaka, Mbarara, Kabale, Ibanda, Kasese, Fort Portal, Murchison, Gulu, Kitgum, Moroto, Kidepo, Soroti, Mbale, Jinja and places in between.
I’ve followed your work promoting tourism in Uganda over the past few years. I’ve watched you speak and greeted you briefly in a line for food at some conference. The other day, I read you wax eloquently in a WhatsApp group about your strategy to invest in marketing Uganda. You also you praised the work done on Ugandan upcountry roads by UNRA and testified that you spend most of your time on the road. I related to that. I’m based in Kampala now, but have traveled to Entebbe, Masaka, Mbarara, Kabale, Ibanda, Kasese, Fort Portal, Murchison, Gulu, Kitgum, Moroto, Kidepo, Soroti, Mbale, Jinja and places in between.
Mountains framing Uganda's Kidepo Valley - Photo credit Arnold Mugasha AKA @ShotByMu
Recently, I had the chance to go on another beautiful road trip with my friends at #KoiKoiUG, this time to Kidepo Valley National Park. It’s so picturesque and full of the kind of wildlife that excites (like lions)! But of course, you must know this already. You’re a master at this Ugandan tourism thing, and I am just a student.
I don’t know if you’ve met the makers of #KoiKoiUG at Kafunda Kreative, but they have struck on a powerful model for Ugandan tourism promotion by picking up on the symbiotic relationship between talented upcoming photographers and the contemporary desire to slay and post great pictures on social media.
I don’t know if you’ve met the makers of #KoiKoiUG at Kafunda Kreative, but they have struck on a powerful model for Ugandan tourism promotion by picking up on the symbiotic relationship between talented upcoming photographers and the contemporary desire to slay and post great pictures on social media.
 Working on my roadtrip hairstyle - Photo credit Arnold Mugasha AKA @ShotByMu | They also recruit bloggers to come along, and trips are open to the general public (with limited spaces that sell out fast). Please come with me on one of these trips if you can. It would be awesome to travel with you. As a fellow traveller of Uganda, let me share my experience of Kidepo Valley with you, and everyone else who reads this and has thought about how to improve the tourism industry in Uganda: The good and bad; the ugly and beautiful. Please allow me to be free and generous with words as I paint a picture of travel to the extreme ends of Uganda… |
Roland Byagaba of Writivism, captured by Mudo Eve AKA @nze_eve
A beige and green bus tagged with the word "GALVANIZE" rattles over UNRA's speed bumps carrying 22 #KoiKoiUG travelers upcountry to experience and promote local travel across Uganda. This time we are posting across social media with the hashtag #KoiKoiNE, because we're headed to the North East (Kidepo Park in Karamoja) with our collection of Ugandan photographers, bloggers, and whomever booked a seat online for an affordable Ugandan adventure. I fit into the last category this time – though I’ll you tell the story anyway – having sent 400,000 UGX ($108 USD) Airtel Money to Kafunda Kreative leadership to cover 3 nights and 4 days of transport, food, accommodation, and activity fees (which is the most affordable long weekend roadtrip I know of).
My phone pic of one of our #KoiKoiUG bus mates, Deon Sekiranda. I've taken the seat just behind the bus doors, placed my bare feet up on the stairs' railing and slid open the window on my left to temper the heat with a breeze. Sun blushed and dust clinging to sun-screened skin, it's a relief when the wind fills with the smell of rain and - after a dozen hours on the road from Kampala - the light takes on the golden quality of a conclusion. It takes us about 13 hours to reach Kidepo after passing through Gulu for something to eat (I enjoy the karo, or is it ‘kalo’?).
#KoiKoiNE benevolent dictator Fiona Komusana, enjoying the bus vibes. Photo credit Mudo Eve AKA @nze_eve As the hours pass on the KoiKoi bus, debates break out amongst busmates, usually about feminism and similarly contentious topics of our time, with travellers twisting in their seats and shouting over a playlist of Ugandan classics that roar from someone's mobile speaker in the back seat. Radio's sweet melodies play (RIP) and his voice stings the heart with beauty and loss. May God have mercy on Moze’s soul.
Soon the playlist switches to the Black Panther soundtrack and a new theme begins to find its footing in our journey: Wakanda is Uganda, and Black Panther is our pride!
Soon the playlist switches to the Black Panther soundtrack and a new theme begins to find its footing in our journey: Wakanda is Uganda, and Black Panther is our pride!
 Joel Jjemba - a member of our #KoiKoiUG leadership and First Family, poses Wakanda-meditation-style for @ninnojackjr |  Crazy Koikois at Aruu Falls doing the most to represent Wakanda=Uganda! Photo credit Mudo Eve AKA @nze_eve |
My phone pic of the GALVANIZE bus parked in Karamoja The final stretch of marrum road towards Kidepo Valley National Park, draw out, with sun setting and a periodic sign to say you’re still far. Someone speculates that we’ll arrive after the park closes and will have to sleep in the bus, keeping out watch for lions.
I don't worry though. What's the point? We'll get there when we get there, and things always work out in Uganda 'somehowly.'
Sure enough, we make it to Uganda Wildlife Authority's Apoka Rest Camp and begin to unpack. My usual travel bestie didn't make it, so I've sign up to share a room with a talented young photographer and sweet as pie KoiKoi sister named Mudo Eve. She spent the trip experimenting with “lighting painting photography,” as we sat still and she waved her DIY light saber behind us through a long exposure, with beautiful results.
It is my 5th time travelling with KoiKoi and I'm used to the low-rate hostels we stay in. Like I said, it is an affordable trip. Plus, I've lived in plenty of less than ideal accommodations as a student and young professional over the years and usually take it easy, but the shortcomings of these UWA accommodations strike me harder this time, probably because I've spent the last few months working from a new 5-star spot in Kampala named Skyz Hotel (as a consultant to assist in building up the marketing and communications team).
I've become used to correcting an errant comma, a waiter forgetting to include the perfect biscuit when serving a latté, and straightening table mats so they are Obsessive-Compulsively aligned. It’s my first time working with a hotel, but I was a waitress and bartender for many years so I understand the importance of making sure our guests’ experiences are top quality. Obviously I'm not paying 5-star rates in Apoka, but it got me thinking about the need for HR training and investment in the accommodations, because did I mention they were sold out far in advance? In my amateur opinion, what I saw was demand to expand the Kidepo tourism business.
Sunrise view from UWA Apoka Rest Camp, as captured by Joel Jjemba AKA @JoelJjemba
One review on Trip Advisor describes Apoka accommodations as distinctly "uncharming" – despite being tucked into one of the most beautiful landscapes ever. The house they offer us has so much wasted space, with two kitchens and not one cup, plate or cutlery anywhere to be found. The cupboards are missing doors. The floors are dirty. The sheets are strewn with lizard poo. There is no soap or toilet paper and certainly no complimentary bottled water. They knew how many of us were coming – we booked months in advance – yet they offer us 4 beds for 7 people, though none of us are married or particularly in the mood for experimenting with such intimacy after 14 hours on the road. I like Eve, but sharing a bed with her on night one of our Easter weekend getaway gets a hard "no" from me, and we set off back to the main rest camp to inquire after extra mattresses.
Checking in with the Kampala office through social media while visiting Manyatta village. Photo credit Pius Enywaru AKA @enywaru on Twitter and @penywaru on Instagram
Upon our return, I consider negotiating our reentry to the collection of bandas by the main office, kitchen and campfire, only to be warned by our #KoiKoiUG companions that "the toilet situation is really bad here guys." Two dirty, broken toilets are meant to cater for all our non-self-contained bandas and half a dozen tents, each accommodating two people, plus the staff and people like me who hang around to eat and gather for activities. The toilet doors do not close, and I think about something Patrick Bitature said recently about how this strips you of your dignity. These toilets again have no toilet paper, but it is brought in response to our requests, which makes me wonder: why really would they not take care of this ahead of time, knowing people are coming? This is what I mean by a need for training and investment.
I'm told the Apoka Rest Camp also has 14 self-contained bandas, but they had already been booked for Easter by January. Apparently there is one other hotel nearby that is significantly more expensive – around $300 a night. That’s not my level, to be honest. What do you think of this gap in the market for good service and decent lodgings at around $80 or 300k per night? Do you have any friends who could build a hotel in Kidepo Valley like that? Because I would stay there, and from the look of Saturday night at Apoka Rest Camp, the place would probably attract all sorts. The lady tending bar told us she had a profitable weekend.
I'm told the Apoka Rest Camp also has 14 self-contained bandas, but they had already been booked for Easter by January. Apparently there is one other hotel nearby that is significantly more expensive – around $300 a night. That’s not my level, to be honest. What do you think of this gap in the market for good service and decent lodgings at around $80 or 300k per night? Do you have any friends who could build a hotel in Kidepo Valley like that? Because I would stay there, and from the look of Saturday night at Apoka Rest Camp, the place would probably attract all sorts. The lady tending bar told us she had a profitable weekend.
Group shot of the #KoiKoiNE travellers - as taken by all photographers present, AKA @KafundaKreative
Anyway, Apoka supplies us with a couple extra mattresses to set up in the kitchens of our temporary home, which at least has a couple of functioning bathrooms for seven of us to share. Though the cold showers pour right onto the tile, which gathers around the toilet and stays there in a pool at your feet, and of course no slippers (flip flops) are supplied to help you walk on water when nature calls. This is not the kind of experience I want to offer tourists who come all the way to see what is truly a beautiful park.
Ah, but the trip from Kampala to Kidepo through Gulu has been long, and we accept it all. We sleep. We wake to day two of our adventure. Our trusty driver Paul Nsubuga arrives in the morning (on time) with the Shell-fuelled GALVANIZE bus to ferry us to the main UWA site in the morning to meet the rest of our KoiKoi travelling party for eating and adventure.
Ah, but the trip from Kampala to Kidepo through Gulu has been long, and we accept it all. We sleep. We wake to day two of our adventure. Our trusty driver Paul Nsubuga arrives in the morning (on time) with the Shell-fuelled GALVANIZE bus to ferry us to the main UWA site in the morning to meet the rest of our KoiKoi travelling party for eating and adventure.
Slaybudy enjoying the UWA Apoka Rest Camp rolex - Photo credit Mudo Eve AKA @nze_eve
At UWA camp, breakfast is rolex and fruit. For lunch, we line up in the scrappy kitchen for a man sitting on the ground to scoop rice and beans with a plate out of large metal cooking pans. (In no way does this resemble the buffet service at Chapter Two restaurant in Kampala, with its shining silverware and uniformed staff offering table service… But Uganda is full of glaring contrasts.) The Apoka Camp Site kitchen is too dirty and disorganized for me to entirely trust the food, but I eat anyway and they do make a pretty good breakfast rolex, plus there is something sweet about an experience so different from what you’ve been used to lately.
Manyatta in Karamoja, on the outskirts of Kidepo Valley National Park - Photo credit Arnold Mugasha AKA @ShotByMu
On the morning of his birthday, Ninno Jack Jr. greeted me with “can I shoot you?” I said yes. We went to a nearby junkyard and he captured the beauty of that place with me in it. There really are a lot of amazing Ugandan photographers, though one could argue that the beauty of Uganda makes it easy, or at least a joy to photograph.
See Ninno Jack Jr.'s results!
See Ninno Jack Jr.'s results!
 |  Kidepo Valley photoshoot by @ninnojackjr |
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Kidepo Valley National Park in Uganda was the first place I ever saw a lion close enough for it to count, and I saw two!
Queen Elizabeth National Park teased the thrill of a lion sighting, though it was too far away to really count. In Murchison Falls National Park, a leopard walked right out in front of my whole family at Amin’s old Pakuba Lodge and posed for us on video. It was glorious!
It takes nearly two days to fly from Canada to Europe and down to Uganda, at about $1500+ per return ticket, an exhausting and expensive journey. I testify with all my heart that it’s worth it to experience all the wildlife Uganda has to offer, the colour and fruit, music and art, and most of all the people. The country is overrun with kindness and clever conversations. But let’s be honest: the customer service and tourism facilities really need work.
It takes nearly two days to fly from Canada to Europe and down to Uganda, at about $1500+ per return ticket, an exhausting and expensive journey. I testify with all my heart that it’s worth it to experience all the wildlife Uganda has to offer, the colour and fruit, music and art, and most of all the people. The country is overrun with kindness and clever conversations. But let’s be honest: the customer service and tourism facilities really need work.
Beautiful Uganda - Photo credit Arnold Mugasha AKA @ShotByMu
I’ve used more words than are advisable for a blog post or letter, but so often we travel through life and never record our experiences. Telling Ugandan stories is what #KoiKoiUG is all about, and I think it’s what you’re about too, Amos. Thanks for sharing in this one with me. I hope that soon we’ll meet and I can listen to your stories of travel across the Pearl of Africa – and for anyone else reading this open letter, please leave a comment to join in this discussion with us!
Camera phone pic shot by Roland Byagaba at sunset in Kidepo Valley, Uganda
If there is a movement to invest in Ugandan tourism, please count me in! With so much beauty in one country, we have every reason to share the includible blessings of Wakanda/Uganda with others the world over. We just need to put our head together - and resources - to figure out how to make the very best of the Pearl of Africa.
