Category: History & Culture
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Our Stories:
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Ancient MasterCard
70 mm, f5.0, 1/160s, ISO800 When I first started travelling, traveller’s cheques were still a thing (though I don’t think I ever made much use of them). So was bringing cash — usually USD back in those days — to be turned into local currency at dodgy foreign exchange counters, or expensive hotels. I remember…
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Shockingly Humble Beginnings (Lake Bunyonyi 2002)
This is the second instalment of a weekly series that marks 20 years of Edirisa and 10 years of the Gorilla Highlands Initiative. Click here for Part I. On my second day at Uganda Martyrs University a collision occurred. A “front of the library, books dropping” kind of affair, ha ha. Little did I know…
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It All Starts Here (Uganda Martyrs University 2001)
In 2021 we celebrate 20 years of Edirisa and 10 years of its offspring, the Gorilla Highlands Initiative. We will take you through our colourful history with a weekly story, year by year, and we can’t start anywhere else but on the equator. Here, at Uganda Martyrs University, Edirisa was born as a student club…
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Kisiizi Falls: From Tragedy to Hope
I consider myself privileged to live right beside of one the gems of the Gorilla Highlands region, the 30m/98ft Kisiizi Falls. This beautiful waterfall gives life to Kisiizi Hospital, Uganda’s remarkable upcountry health institution where I work — in stark contrast to the tragic history of the place. Having experienced the peace and tranquility around…
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Rwanda’s Hidden Historical Landmark: Imbabazi, a Center For Hope
We are opening the last week of our Regional Attractions theme with Rwanda’s hidden jewel, the home of the famous Roz Carr presently known as Imbabazi — a Center For Hope. This is a historical landmark not to miss when you travel between the Virunga volcanoes and Lake Kivu, especially if you’re cycling or hiking.…
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The Lake Bunyonyi Poem
TRAVELLERAfter a night in ruins at a late disco –its relentless thump and monstrous decibelpitched on nearly till dawn outside my window – I am come to Lake Bunyonyi, and all is well. After a month of hurtling round Uganda –my days stretched out in an endless pell-mellof bus and over-filled taxi in road-delirium –I am…
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When Lions Ate Letters
Lions used to be common in the lower altitudes of the Virunga volcanoes but are now are locally extinct, along with the leopard. Historically they gained a bad reputation as man-eaters around the Western Rift Valley (our members can learn more about the Rift Valley in the In-Sights). The two lions that infamously attacked railway…
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100 Years Ago Dr Leonard Sharp Revolutionised Lake Bunyonyi
There are three islands on Uganda’s Lake Bunyonyi’s that are connected through the deeply fascinating story of Dr Leonard Sharp, an English missionary (pictured above, driving in Kabale in the 1920s). Today, Bwama Island is best known as secondary school, while Njuyeera (also known as Sharp’s Island) and Bushara serve as tourist accommodation facilities — but…
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Sacred and Cursed Tree
The tree called ekiko among the Bakiga is usually known as flame tree but also red-hot poker tree or lucky bean tree in English. Its Latin name is Erythrina abyssinica. This tree is indigenous to the Gorilla Highlands region and found in various other parts of the world, up to 2,000 m/ 6,500 ft above sea level. It grows to 12 m/ 40 ft, with…
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