Coined the "Pearl of Africa" by Winton Churchill as he journeyed through Uganda in 1907, Uganda is Africa's hidden treasures. With the death of Idi Amin in 2003, the ghost of Uganda's unstable past can be put behind it and Uganda is ready to show the world why it was named the "Pearl of Africa".
Uganda is a landlocked country situated in East Africa, bordered by Kenya, Sudan, Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania. Covering an area of 235,796km it is similar in size to the UK or the state of Oregon in the USA. Situated on the equator with the majority of its land above 1200 meters, Uganda is a tropical "Garden of Eden". With its many Albertine Rift lakes, tropical rainforest, wide acacia dotted savannahs, and snow capped Rwenzori Mountains (the "Mountains of the Moon"), Uganda is one of the most habitat diverse and scenically beautiful countries on the continent.
Thanks to its diversity of habitats, Uganda is home to many of the plains game including lion, leopard and elephant, over 1000 bird species, as well as, two of the rarest primates in the world the chimpanzee and the mountain gorilla.
Uganda is home to a number of different tribes and groups which can be split into Bantu and Nilotic speakers. The tribes and people of the south, dominated by the Buganda around the Kampala area, speak languages with Bantu origins. Those in the center and north, the Acholi, Lango and the Karamajong, speak languages with Nilotic origins. English is the official language and is widely spoken. The recent population survey in 2003 estimated Uganda's population at 24 million. Kampala, Uganda's capital accounts for approx. 5 million. The population growth rate is high at 3.5% due to a high birth rate, an average 6.6 children per female!
While Uganda's main exports are currently coffee and fish, Uganda's fast growing tourism industry will soon become Uganda's no.1 earner of foreign currency.