Cultural experience en route your gorilla tracking safari.

Uganda supports more than 500 mountain gorillas living in Mgahinga National Park and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. When one arrives in Uganda, it is about people as much as gorillas. If it weren’t humans, gorillas and other creatures wouldn’t exist in the real sense. Small as Great Britain is, Uganda has a population of thirty million or more and is split into more than 55 ethnic groupings.

Though in this article we will take you through the many ethnic groups you are likely to meet on your drive from Kampala to Bwindi Impenetrable national Park or Mgahinga National Park for your gorilla tracking safari, you may not really appreciate how all these 55 ethnic groups behave.

In the center you will discover the Baganda who fervently believe in their Kabaka (King), the Banyankole and the Hima who adore their Cows, the Bakiga who are in love with sorghurm and Irish potatoes, of course the Batwa and Bafumbira.

The Baganda people of Central Uganda.

Said to be at the core of Uganda’s culture, the baganda are well-known for their reverence and monarchy they show their king, Kabaka of Buganda. One individual remarked that you cannot control the Baganda without their Kabaka; in fact, the present President restored them to maintain peace with the Baganda after Obote destroyed the kingdoms in 1966.

The amicable Baganda people like ground nuts and Matooke as well as Oluwombo, or chicken made from banana leaves. If you would like to observe this, make sure you visit Uganda at any given weekend to attend one of their introduction ceremonies; they enjoy dancing Bakisiba and Maganda where girls shake their waist as if it has no bones.

Originally farmers, their major diet is matooke. The Baganda have turned to trade to make a livelihood as urbanization has left insufficient area for banana farms. The Baganda people have kept a cultural path in Buganda wherein one may visit several locations to study their history and royalty as well as their culture. You could visit Lubiri, Mengo, Kasubi tombs, Buddo’s coronation site.

The Banyankole of Mbarara, Kiruhura, adjacent districts

People’s behavior will start changing after you have crossed the Equator and reached Lyantonde. More animals than plantations will start to show you. This suggests that, as it is often known, you have arrived in the land of honey and milk. Ankole has a mix of growers and livestock keepers. Now having a more fixed existence, the bahima who used to migrate from one area to another graze both Friesian and the well-known Ankole Long horned cattle.

They specialize on creating cow gee and other milk products and enjoy milk goods. To them, the cow is everything and they respect it more than others. Make a date to stop over at Igongo Cultural Center, where their history is well recorded, if you want more knowledge about their culture. Typical farmers, the Bairu subsist on tilling the ground and their main meal is millet; they have just begun cultivating additional crops such bananas, cassava and so much more.

The Ankole kingdom was opposed when kingdoms under the present administration came under rule as it was seen to have generated more issues in the past than fostering peace. This results in the deteriorated state of many Ankole cultural sites and lack of visibility. Although the Baganda seem the same, the Bahima and the Bairu of Ankole differ obviously. Whereas the bairu have flat nose and small features, the Bahima are distinguished by long faces and nose.

Kigezi’s Bakiga, bafumbira and Batwa from Kisoro

These cover much of Southwested Uganda in areas like Kabala, Kisoro, and Kanungu. The circumstances the Bakiga live in make them tough and powerful individuals. Unlike the Baganda, the Bakiga had a dispersed form of government and lacked a strong ruler but chiefs. Their great traditional dances are well-known, and visiting the House of Edirisa in Kabale towm helps one understand much of their culture.

Of late, they have also begun cultivating apples; they like raising sorghum and Irish potatoes. Conversely, the rufumbira language of Kisoro on the other hand is more Rwandan than Uganda, so the bafumbira there are more like those of Banyarwanda.

Mostly grown as farmers, they reside in the Boarder of Rwanda, Congo While the Batwa were left homeless after gazzatting most forests as national parks and forest reserves, their culture is now alive and can be appreciated if you take on the Batwa experience in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or the Garama Cave trail in Mgahinga National Park. The Batwa are a minority group who used to occupy forested areas in south western Uganda.

Combining your trip to the gorillas with cultural encounters will make it even more fulfilling. More to see than the gorillas exists here.