Hello My name is Abid and I am from Uganda, the most beautiful country in the entire universe. Uganda is famously known as the pearl of Africa and unfortunately the home of Idi Amin. The country is located on the equator which means it takes about a second to cross from one hemisphere to another. One urban myth that is constantly tested is whether water flows down the drain in different directions in the two hemispheres. Surprisingly it’s true. We always do that test over at the equator by just moving a few steps. Spooky.

Uganda is also touched by the East African Rift valley, tropical forests and a desert. The country hosts one of the few snow-capped mountains in Africa plus one of the deepest lakes in the entire world. The differences in altitude and geographical features means that there is always something exciting to see wherever you go in the country. Climate differences also vary greatly within this small country which is about four times the size of Belgium. Snow, desert, lakes, rivers, mountains, thick forest, savannah grassland, waterfalls, etc… mention it and Uganda has it. Even the great River Nile, the world’s longest river calls Uganda ‘mother’.

Since is landlocked, Uganda has all the land animals and some lakes ones that are quite interesting. Hippos, crocodiles, baboons, gorillas, lions, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, buffaloes etc. The country is also home to over 400 species of birds. Sometimes I just take my chair outside the house and see over ten species flirting with each other in the air. Seeing and hearing birds is the thing I missed most about Uganda when I went to Europe. The air sounded empty. Like it was a guitar missing a few strings.

I grew up in the Kampala, the party capital of East and Central Africa. True story, I tell you. People travel form the other neighbouring countries to have fun in Kampala. It’s a city with over 2 million people yet doesn’t have the insecurity problems prone to big cities. The result is a party everyday everywhere at any time. As the safest country in the region, Uganda is a favourite destination for foreigners to relax and work. Actually most don’t want to leave. I knew a Turkish girl who partied in Kampala until she had only her air ticket left. And she still didn’t want to go. I think the only city that I have travelled to that is possibly a better party city is Berlin. But only by a small margin.

Despite Kampala being an everyday party, my favourite place in the country has got to be Fort Portal, the capital of the Tooro kingdom with the youngest king and most beautiful princesses in the world. His aunt , Princess Elizabeth , was one of the first African models to appear on western magazines covers and is a trailblazer for most African supermodels such as Iman and Alek Wek. The beauty of the family simply reflects the beauty of the kingdom. Fort Portal is located at high altitude with cool temperatures all throughout the year. It’s surrounded by national game parks and cradled by the Rwenzori mountain ranges. The people are nice, women are pretty, food is plenty and the nature is wonderful. One stereotype about Ugandans is that they are party animals and its true. A party aint a party if there is no Ugandan in it.

One of the places I want to travel to is Japan and I want to find out if anybody still commits harikiri. If yes, I am sure I could suggest a few improvements to the process. But seriously, I just find the Japanese culture interesting and I’d like to know more. And of course eat some more sushi.