Entebbe and the Kasenyi Fish Landing

August 28, 2024

Entebbe, Uganda

 Yesterday was a day of rest, recovering from the trip over.  We are five on this pre-Rwanda extension to Uganda, and everyone seems lovely.  The hotel is an oasis of peace, quiet, and air conditioning, with the chaos of a busy city just down the street from our hotel.  Four of us went out to dinner last night at a local restaurant and had a nice meal.

This morning we met up with our Uganda guide, Alex, and began by touring Entebbe in the Land Rover (three rows, all with great windows).  As we drove around, Alex gave us some facts about the country.  First, although there are elections, they are not to be trusted.  Everything is corrupt, and the poverty is extreme.  Catholicism is the most prominent religion, but there is a growing number of Muslims, who currently make up 12% of the population.  Yet he emphasized that most people’s survival is on the cusp, and nothing else matters, not holidays, religion, not anything .  There are 47 million people here in a country the size of Oregon, with half being under 18 years old.

Polygamy is legal here and widely practiced, not only by Muslims but also by Christians.  Polygamy pre-dates the coming of Christianity and has survived.  The poverty is so extreme that most people live on under $1 per day.  And yet, there is no food shortage, as most people also live outside the cities and survive on subsistence farming.  Youth unemployment is 76%.  There is no national health service, and many die of preventable diseases, primarily malaria.

There clearly is some wealth here, as we drove past some beautiful estates, all behind high walls with barbed wire atop them.  And, Alex emphasized, that the corruption is so severe that it’s hard to do anything without paying bribes.

 Even in the wealthy areas, the roads are unpaved: 

And where they are paved, the potholes are abundant.  We stopped for a moment at the oldest Catholic church here, and what was more impressive than the church were what are called “Lake Flies.”  The are a bit bigger than our cluster flies, and the clusters are enormous.  In this photo, all the blurry dots are flies; 

Luckily, they don’t bite or sting.  We drove as close as we could get to the control tower where the Israeli hostages were held during the 1976 hijacking and subsequent rescue by Israeli commandos.  Alex told an abbreviated story of the incident, but it included a perspective which I’d never heard—that is, that Idi Amin had angered the heads of state of all of his neighbors, and that as a result, Kenya was complicit in the rescue, allowing overflight and refueling.  I need to check this part of his storytelling. 

We passed the Virus Research Center, funded by multiple international sources, including our CDC.  Alex was effusive in praise of the US government’s aid and said that Ugandans follow our elections very closely, with anxiety about the future of US international relations. 

We then headed for an amazing place, the Kasenyi Fish Landing.  This is a spot on the shore of Lake Victoria (the second largest freshwater lake in the world, with Superior being the largest).  We drove an incredibly dusty and bumpy road.  Many motorcycles here have sunshades: 

 At the entrance to the Landing were these “Guidelines,” none of which seemed to be in effect. 

The fishing boats are elsewhere.  What are here are smaller transport boats which go out and meet the overnight fishing boats in the morning and bring the fish catch to shore.  Most of the catch is lake perch and tilapia. 

The fish are packed into bags 

We did see a lot of men coming and going with bags of ice, and I presume the bags of fish get iced down.  The primary market for these fish is local and the EU we were told.  People live here, too, and there is a food hall: 

Selections include barbecue, cooked fish, and corn and plantains: 

The butcher store is not what we’re used to: 

The intestines, omentum and stomach are for sale:

 The grocery store has a lot of tomatoes today:

 There is a boat repair shop: 

And we passed a large area where very smelly silverfish were being dried.  Although they are used for human food, most go into animal feed: 

On the way out, we passed the (sponsored) local police station. 

After our visit to the Fish Landing, we went to a local restaurant for lunch and now we’re back at the hotel for a siesta.  Late this afternoon we’ll go for a boat ride on Lake Victoria, and tomorrow we fly to Murchison Falls National Park.  More then.