Africa.Jungle and veldt by Caravan and Sedan chair.

[drron]

If you are poor you have a mudbrick house.Get a little richer and get a brick house.

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That third building is obviously new.It is a mushroom growing area.Showing some initiative.Another newer crop is eggplant-

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We were taken further up the hill on a rough path to an area where the Batwa put on a show.Music,singing and dancing at first.

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The young fellow and woman had a ton of energy.

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[drron]

There were a few older people.These 3 fellows were all in their 80s.The fellow in the black was also energetic and the keeper of traditions.But more of that later.

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One of the performances was about one of the Batwa spirits.A fellow who did appear to have a marked disability(certainly he couldn't walk as he was seen later on all fours to get around)played the part of the spirit.

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[drron]

So the fellow in the black shirt becomes my favourite.He moves pretty well for an 80+ year old.

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He is also the keeper of tradition and obviously loves demonstrating some traditional skills.First showing how they make the traditional clothing from bark-

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Now making fire-

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But to create smoke so as to be able to collect honey.It was one of their traditional foods.

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[drron]

So Batwa dance videos-

[video=youtube_share;ZwF8Wtid1fo]https://youtu.be/ZwF8Wtid1fo[/video]

 

[drron]

[video=youtube_share;6_N6p5KXFCQ]https://youtu.be/6_N6p5KXFCQ[/video]

 

[drron]

Then came a demonstration of how they lived in the jungle.First a tree house-

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Then traditional grass huts-

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Then we talk with the Batwa.With the older ones it is through our guide as interpreter.I first asked the old men how they felt after being evicted from the forest.The man in black said he felt terrible and he has been unhappy ever since and doesn't think he will ever be happy.They all said they missed the freedom and ability to eat what they wanted without needing to pay.

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There is however a very serious side to this.It is estimated that 50-60% of the Batwa died of disease or starvation in the first 4-5 years after being evicted from the forest.Nobody really knows as the Batwa weren't ever counted in the census and officially still aren't.To the Government they are non people.So I asked them how the eviction affected their families.The fellow in the green hat lost 13 of his 15 children in that first few years,the man in black 8 out of 10 children and a woman in her 80s her husband and their 2 children.
They paid an extreme price so that I could experience the gorillas.

 

[OATEK]

There is however a very serious side to this.It is estimated that 50-60% of the Batwa died of disease or starvation in the first 4-5 years after being evicted from the forest.Nobody really knows as the Batwa weren't ever counted in the census and officially still aren't.To the Government they are non people.So I asked them how the eviction affected their families.The fellow in the green hat lost 13 of his 15 children in that first few years,the man in black 8 out of 10 children and a woman in her 80s her husband and their 2 children.
They paid an extreme price so that I could experience the gorillas.

The law of unintended (I hope) consequences at work. I remember drawing up life tables on Tanzania back in the 1980s that showed about half of all children died before the age of 5, so anything that further disrupts vulnerable communities is bound to make the figures much worse as you found.

 

[drron]

Unfortunately I doubt the consequences were fully unintended.The Batwa in other areas are still very much worse off than all other tribes.All Batwa still get no government assistance at all.Around Buhoma they are mostly doing pretty well because of tourism-at least we are making restitution for the government's previous inhumanity.
Batwa do suffer great discrimination.Again in this area it is uncommon but one of the young women in the following photos was forced to leave school after a vicious assault.I hope we made a bit of a difference.It was obviously distressing for them to talk about these issues but I got the distinct impression they were happy that some people do understand some of their problems.So here are our farewell pics-

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Two grandmothers of the same age-

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Then down the hill to the village and the craft display.Mrsdrron bought 4 small baskets.

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So to the views as we walked back to the road-

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[drron]

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Before we climbed the 91 steps at the lodge I was photographing some flowers-

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Then out from the bushes came a troop of baboons-

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Later I tried out mrsdrron's new camera taking bird pictures-

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[drron]

After a good review from JohnM she bought a Sony HX90V.after taking these photos I am sold on it.All the birds are a long distance away.the camera has a 30X zoom.

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Every evening a local came and sang songs and played a local harp.these are mrsdrron's pics with her camera-

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[RooFlyer]

After a good review from mrsdrron she bought a Sony HX90V.after taking these photos I am sold on it.All the birds are a long distance away.the camera has a 30X zoom.

Every evening a local came and sang songs and played a local harp.these are mrsdrron's pics with her camera-
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Welcome to the HX90 club ( at least 5 AFFers have bought in the past year). I find it not quite as good as its predecessor - new one has slightly lower resolution and an inferior grip, same zoom. But the compactness for what you get can't be beaten!

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

Welcome to the HX90 club ( at least 5 AFFers have bought in the past year). I find it not quite as good as its predecessor - new one has slightly lower resolution and an inferior grip, same zoom. But the compactness for what you get can't be beaten!

After seeing so many good photos on AFF taken with the Sony HX90 I decided to get a more compact Sony than the interchangeable lens Sony I had. And I am very happy with the new camera and I got it on sale, AND the GST back because I bought just before this trip AND a $50 eftpos card from Sony as well !!

 

[JohnM]

After seeing so many good photos on AFF taken with the Sony HX90 I decided to get a more compact Sony than the interchangeable lens Sony I had. And I am very happy with the new camera and I got it on sale, AND the GST back because I bought just before this trip AND a $50 eftpos card from Sony as well !!

Watch out for high humidity messing with its electronics though... .

 

[love_the_life]

Watch out for high humidity messing with its electronics though... .

I had a camera totally seize up in Cairns once - wet season, hot and humid. Unfortunately I was supposed to be taking photos at an outside event
After the camera sat for a while indoors it seemed to be fine again.

 

[drron]

I certainly found the HX90 to be more versatile than my larger Sony.Although not as much zoom-30x v 50x it was much quicker to focus so you could actually catch the bird in the photo.Probably will buy one prior to our next trip.

Tuesday and we must leave Bwindi.I did enjoy the stay here.Up at 0600,early breakfast and off with Moses heading for the airport a bit before 0700.leaving the National Park a duiker scurried across the road right in front of us.Even at this early hour lots of people walking-

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We were able to see the sunrise-

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Lots of bananas.Most are not for eating.Banana beer and banana gin are the 2 most popular tipples-well they are really cheap.

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So remember this school?

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Well we stopped here and looked around.School begins at 0700 and finishes at 1800.298 pupils.It is a private school so parents pay to have their kids here-

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Those prices are Ugandan shillings-4000 to the US$ so $US10-20 for the year.Orphans and many of the poorer families are free or reduced rates.The results looked OK but a lot dropped out before the final year of primary school.It is a church run school.Here is the kindergarten.The sayings up on the wall probably wouldn't pass muster here.

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[drron]

The children do appear quite happy-

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But we weren't here just to do a tour.We had $US100 that we thought we would have to pay for visas but didn't.So we talked things over with Moses and he took the $100 and bought food staples.Mainly maize flour.The less well off kids get fed brekkie and lunch.Porridge for brekkie and the flour cooked up into maize meal/bikkies for lunch.Suplemented with fruit or veggies from the school garden.When you see kids walking to school the more well off will be carrying lunch boxes.some will be carrying things such as hoes to work in the school garden.others will bring firewood so lunch can be cooked.So a lot of practical education.

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You are more than repaid by the smiles.Here is mrsdrron with our driver Moses.

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And the woman who runs the school.Not the headmaster but a deacon from the village Anglican church-

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[drron]

Some of the signs around the school probably wouldn't last long in Australia.

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Now you may wonder why would poor Africans pay for education when they can go to a government school for free.You would think it crazy that this primary school has 298 pupils whilst the government school in the village has less than 50 pupils.The parents here value education.The private schools pay higher wages than the government schools and have more teachers for any given number of pupils.Because of the wages they attract better teachers.It was the same at the hospital we visited.Because of better pay that hospital has attracted local specialists.The 3 government hospitals in the area have none.

Time to leave as we have a plane to catch.We leave on a high.

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[drron]

On the drive to the airport-

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Through Kihili the largest town in the area.It has the only official bank brabnch in the whole area and people come from miles as wages often paid into a bank account.

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That is a large church plus school on the outskirts of town.
But we are headed for the exec lounge at KIH-

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You had to go through security to get in.wanded by a woman.alarm goes off and you are invited in.

 

[drron]

A8112. KIH-EBB. ETD-0945. Take off-0940. ETA-1115. Landed-1050. seats-anyone you want.
Our caravan has arrived.Moses stays and waves as we take off.

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The golf course just after takeoff then the west Ugandan countryside-

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[drron]

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Getting closer to Lake Victoria and you can see how travel by land is difficult-

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We now turn past Entebbe-

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