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In July and August 2002 I planned to go to the Uganda and the Democratic Republic of The Congo. Unfortunately because of the civil war in Congo I had to confine my travel only to Uganda. Nevertheless Uganda has so much to offer, that 2 months was not enough to visit all interesting places in the country.
	Like many of its African neighbors is Uganda a poor and underdeveloped country. The long period of wars and dictatorships led the country to the ruin. Only slow recovers Uganda. The spoors of the tragical past could still be seen in the towns, villages and in the nature of the country. Perhaps the biggest treasure of Uganda is its amazing nature, which attracts increasing amount of tourists from all over the world. The government recognized the relevancy of the intact nature for the welfare of the country and intensifies the efforts for the nature conservation. There are 10 national parks in Uganda and many game reserves. These game reserves and other protected areas have the important function as connection between the most precious natural areas. Because of the dramatically raise of the population density in the last century the isolation of the last remaining pristine areas was got an increasing problem for the nature conservation. The 2 last populations of the mountain gorillas in Bwindi and Virunga mountains had a natural connection until the 40th of the last century, making a genetical exchange possible. The advancing settlement destroyed the natural bridges between the 2 remaining mountain gorilla populations. The 2 small, isolated population could be the biggest problem for the preservation of this great animals.
From my journey I'll especially remember the lush, green, tropical vegetation, the very dusty or very muddy roads, depending on the dry or wet season, and the many children giving the "Mzungu"-alarm by entering a village ("Mzungu" is Eastafrican name for the white people). It was an overwhelming experience to observe the famous, huge mammals of Africa in their natural environment. Surprisingly I was just as fascinated by the beautiful, fantastic colorfully, tropical birds of Africa, which can be only very seldom seen in the numerous films about the animals of the black continent. The Uganda's people are very friendly and humble. Although they are very poor there is no crime against the tourists and only very few crime at all. It's the contrary of the other African places, e.g. Nairobi, which is called "Nai-robbery".

Water        Mountains        Savannas        Forests