More about Uganda

“The scenery is different, the vegetation is different, the climate is different, and, most of all, the people are different from anything elsewhere … in the whole range of Africa” Sir Winston Churchill

The Republic of Uganda is a lush & fertile landlocked country in East Africa, bordered on the east by Kenya, the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. One-half of Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa (the second largest freshwater lake in the world), lies within Uganda, and is considered the source of the River Nile that eventfully makes its way to the Mediterranean Sea.

The country’s current population is upwards of 26 million.

Prior to independence from Britain in 1962, Uganda was a prosperous and cohesive African country. Its great beauty led Winston Churchill to refer to it as the ‘Pearl of Africa’, but sadly since independence a long string of tragedies left Uganda shattered and bankrupt, broken by tribal animosity, nepotism, corrupt politics and military tyranny.

The current President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, came to power in the mid-1980’s after the infamous reign of Idi Amin, and has had the difficult task of bringing stability, development and progress to a volatile and much damaged region. The economy of Uganda has great potential and is endowed with significant natural resources including ample fertile land, regular rainfall and rich mineral deposits…

Despite considerable efforts by government and aid agencies, the country’s levels of AIDS and HIV infection are still of great concern. Conservative estimates cite that up to 10% of the population is infected with the disease. In some remote villages the infection rate could be as high as 1 in 4. Added to that, 70 000 Ugandans also die every year from Malaria because of the difficulty of access to medicine and health facilities.

The AIDS epidemic has directly contributed to the huge number of orphaned children throughout the entire country. Approximately 51% of the population is under 15 years of age. More than 2 million of those children are orphans.

To find out more about Uganda, see our links page.

Disclaimer: We’ve tried to make the information on this section as accurate as possible, but it is provided ‘as is’ and we accept no responsibility for any errors.  We will endeavour to keep this information updated as much as possible.