I have stupidly left my camera lead back at Kireka, so no new pictures, so I thought I would just post a picture of Uganda, to refer to, and the famous crowned crane, which is protected here and which I snapped at the zoo at Entebbe.
On the map, Kinkizi is far to the West, past Rukungiri and towards Kisoro. You can see Kitgum to the North, where I visited last week.
Will post again in the next couple of days...
Would love to know more about the local diet. Do you eat alongside of the indigenous people or do you find other food?
ReplyDeleteWhat of the water? Drinkable by your standards? How clean are the kids you see and what of their general appearance?
The most favourite local dish is matooke - it's actually unripened bananas, but tastes more like a kind of mashed potato. It's eaten steamed and mixed with a variety of things, like beans, beef, fish (Tilapia) vegetables or even perhaps chicken, on special occasions. Matooke is kind of ok, but not too often!
ReplyDeleteUgandan food is actually pretty good in comparison to that in other African countries - my sampling of Kenyan cuisine and Nigerian was that Ugandan is nicer - the meat is of a higher quality (but still not high enough), the flavours of greens more palatable and the sauces are reasonable.
Breakfast is usually Katogo, which is matooke with groundnut sauce and mixed with meat. My hosts in Lyantonde added intestines to theirs, which, as you can imagine I didn't try. There seems to be no problem with eating offal in Uganda, but it looks disgusting, although obviously very nutritious.
I tend to have eggs, in Spanish Omelette format and chips are often available. A spanish omelette usually comes in between 2500 and 3500 shillings (less than £1), which is very reasonable. Chips are the same price, though.
Cheese is VERY expensive and not ever so good - I'm not sure why. You can pay 15000 shillings (£4-£5) for a small piece. Ham and bacon are very rare to find, although pork is available.
The water is in no way drinkable without boiling and it really isn't worth the risk, when you can buy certified bottled water for around 15p (25c) for 500ml or 30p for 1.5 litres. The kids on the street are not usually very clean - in most places water is hard to find and sold for an amount per jerry can, usually 50-100 shillings. It's also incredibly dusty everywhere and you can find yourself caked in dust at the end of a day of travel. Having said that many of the Ugandans take cleanliness very seriously, as they are aware of the dangers of poor hygiene.
All in all, I can't really handle the local cuisine, except in small measure and I'm no different from most non-African visitors. African food is not really something to savour, although I guess there must be some delicacies!