Uganda 2024, part 1 (Masindi)

Most people on this planet never get a chance or opportunity to visit Sub-Saharan Africa and explore its beautiful and interesting places. I was fortunate enough to go back to Uganda for work in mid-2024 and although I mostly visited the same places as in 2023, throughout my stay I felt an incredibly strong sense of gratitude towards higher powers, a feeling that persists to this day. I once again have the impression as if I had lived here in a past life, which is why I feel such strong positive emotions towards this wonderful country in the middle of Africa and its people.
The map that follows shows the places where I stayed for varying lengths of time on this occasion and these are also the places where I took my photographs.

Everything, of course, started at Entebbe International Airport where our hosts greeted us and then transported us to Masindi.

However, because of some business in Kampala, we had to stay there for a while, which included refreshing ourselves with coffee and freshly squeezed mango and passion fruit juice (in my case). After a long flight, it’s best to start with familiar and beloved flavours.

Refreshment in Kampala

In addition, Uganda is known for its coffee production (which is the main export of the country). It is particularly interesting that Uganda is one of the few countries in the world that has its own indigenous coffee species that grows wild around Lake Victoria. This is Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora var. robusta or simply Coffea robusta), which is now cultivated worldwide and makes up about 40% of the global coffee production.

After this nice and refreshing break, and once we finished our business in Kampala, we headed north. First, we drove through the city and after a while the road took us through green areas where human settlements were sparser.

Uganda has over 49 million inhabitants, with about 1.7 million living in the capital city, with a note that the greater Kampala area is home to nearly 7 million people. This means that in Kampala, you can see both modern buildings and dilapidated shanties.

Kampala, a detail

As I’ve said, at some point, it started to be much greener along the road.

Sights along the road

However, the main highlight was when the road took us through the Luweero region and the town of the same name. This area is known for its agricultural production, especially pineapples that are grown here and were now in peak season. Numerous juicy fruits were lined up near the local market and along the road, and the trade was bustling. Some people were buying pineapples to take with them, others were delivering fresh supplies of this wonderful fruit, while some (like us) were simply enjoying pineapples that friendly vendors and their assistants peeled on the spot.

Pineapples by the road

Since this is a well-known spot on the main road heading north from Kampala, local buses also make brief stops here. It’s a perfect opportunity for a break, trade and refreshment – whether it's fruit, refreshing drinks or some kind of barbecued chicken on wooden skewers.

Break by the main road

We made a brief stop at another place, as well, where I happened to encounter a woman selling honey. I had just arrived in Uganda, so I wasn’t really interested in buying anything, but I was so excited to be back that I wanted to capture everything I came across, including this woman. She was a true merchant – in exchange for posing, I had to buy a jar of honey. I didn’t regret it at all.

Price for the posing – a package of honey

In Masindi, we were greeted by some team members who had arrived earlier. To start with, I was thrilled by the fruit we had after lunch.

Fruits in Masindi

In the previous photo, at the bottom left, you can see two types of passion fruit. The darker ones are from the Passiflora edulis species, which I’ve eaten many times before (and I love them). The lighter green ones are from a species also known as the sweet calabash (Passiflora maliformis) that I had never tried before. It is less tangy, but has an exceptionally hard shell, which requires either skilled use of a knife or breaking it open with a hammer or stone. My hosts taught me how to open it with a knife and where to start. It’s all about technique!

This fruit is known around the world by two names – passion fruit and maracujá. It makes sense to use both. Maracuja is simply the Portuguese or Spanish name for passion fruit, originating from the classical Tupi language used by the indigenous people of Brazil, as passion fruit comes from South America.

On the other hand, the Latin name Passiflora was given by missionaries in Brazil in the early 18th century as part of their efforts to convert local populations to Christianity. The flower of this plant has parts that can be associated with the crucifixion or Passion of Christ, hence the "passion" and "passio" in Latin.

Besides the fruit we enjoyed after lunch, our kind colleagues also treated us to a delicious barbecue for dinner. And where there’s tasty meat, there’s also great beer. As usual – local one.

Preparation of dinner in Masindi

Local beer

I was quite tired, so after a well-filled stomach and a cold beer, I quickly went to sleep.

Of course, I came here to work, but I dedicated my free time intensively to photographing birds. They almost woke me up every morning, while I could see them in incredible numbers. At first, I thought there would be fewer species than I had photographed the previous autumn, reasoning that some birds that wintered in Africa had returned to Europe where it was already summer. But no! The biodiversity in Uganda, in this case within the avian world, was as rich as ever. I managed to see some "old" species again but also photographed some new ones.

My gallery of bird photos in Masindi starts with Uganda's national bird – the grey crowned crane (Balearica regulorum). I saw it only once and that was in flight, so I’m very happy that I managed to capture it.

Grey crowned crane

There were, of course, other birds as well.

Pied Crow (Corvus albus)

Common bulbul (Pycnonotus barbatus)

African thrush (Turdus pelios)

Lizard buzzard (Kaupifalco monogrammicus)

Red-eyed dove (Streptopelia semitorquata)

Double-toothed barbet (Lybius bidentatus)

Eastern plantain-eater (Crinifer zonurus)

Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta)

Black-headed heron (Ardea melanocephala)

African blue-flycatcher (Elminia longicauda)

Black kite (Milvus migrans)

As I’m mentioning birds of prey, I can say that I often saw larger black birds in the sky and it was clear to me that they were birds of prey as well, though I couldn’t identify them at the time. When I returned home, I learned that one was the Wahlberg’s eagle (Hieraaetus wahlbergi), while the other was the lappet-faced vulture (Torgos tracheliotos).

Wahlberg's eagle

Lappet-faced vulture

I also managed to photograph them while they were flying together in the sky.

Lappet-faced vulture and Wahlberg's eagle

One of the birds I find most charming is quite different in terms of the species, size and colour. It’s the lovely red-cheeked cordonbleu (Uraeginthus bengalus). Here are a couple of pictures where this delightful little bird is beautifully displayed.

Red-cheeked cordonbleu

Needless to say, there were other small birds, too.

Northern Black-Flycatcher (Melaenornis edolioides)

Tawny-flanked prinia (Prinia subflava)

Black-winged Bishop (Euplectes hordeaceus)

Bronze sunbird (Nectarinia kilimensis)

Copper sunbird (Cinnyris cupreus)

Scarlet-chested sunbird (Chalcomitra senegalensis)

African pied wagtail (Motacilla aguimp)

And there were different other birds of all shapes and sizes.

Meyer's parrot (Poicephalus meyeri)

African green-pigeon (Treron calvus)

African openbill (Anastomus lamelligerus)

Yellow-fronted canary (Crithagra mozambica)

Red-headed lovebird (Agapornis pullarius)

Speckled mousebird (Colius striatus)

Piapiac (Ptilostomus afer)

In the morning, the piapiacs often landed around the house where I was staying. Although they didn’t wake me up completely, their calls were quite piercing.

Rüppell's starling (Lamprotornis purpuroptera)

Northern grey-headed sparrow (Passer griseus)

Black-and-white mannikin (Spermestes bicolor)

Brown babbler (Turdoides plebejus)

Again I also saw representatives of various weaver bird species, but I didn’t delve into details about them.

Weaver

I occasionally saw some swallows in the sky, but although they were relatively numerous, they were fast and far away, making it difficult for me to photograph and later identify them.

Some swallow species

However, I did manage to see, photograph and identify two species of kingfishers. These were the striped kingfisher (Halcyon chelicuti) and the woodland kingfisher (Halcyon senegalensis).

I found the woodland kingfisher especially charming and I was thrilled when I discovered its favourite spot to perch with prey in its beak. There were ALL SORTS OF THINGS there!

Striped kingfisher

Woodland kingfisher

I also photographed it on a wire while it was singing. It must have already been quite full.

In addition to the wonderful birds, I managed to see (and photograph) some other interesting animals in my surroundings. For example, a grasshopper from the Acrida genus and an African mantis (Sphodromantis gastrica).

Grasshopper from the Acrida genus

African mantis

I also saw and photographed a few flying insects that briefly paused to pose for me. One was a dark-shouldered skimmer (Orthetrum hintzi) and the other was a butterfly, Danaid eggfly (Hypolimnas misippus). The butterflies were especially challenging to photograph; I saw many of them and some looked very colourful, but they were constantly flying around without stopping, making it practically impossible for me to capture them. Therefore, I’m particularly pleased that I managed to photograph at least one.

Dark-shouldered skimmer

Hypolimnas misippus

I was very intrigued when I saw and photographed winged termites! Namely, adult reproductive termites, the alates, have wings and become active during the rainy season. Interestingly, they are used in human diets due to their high fat and protein content. I haven’t tried them myself and I'm not sure if I want to. I photographed them both in October and now during the European summer, and it’s interesting that in both cases I saw them in large numbers in the morning, after a night of rain. It was clear that at some point their wings had fallen off, while the termites then proceeded further on foot.

Winged termites after a rainy night

I also saw and photographed some slightly larger animals, such as the colourful rainbow agama (Agama agama). It is so beautiful and interesting that I couldn’t decide which photo to share, so I ended up posting three!

Rainbow agama

On several occasions, I saw smaller monkeys around the place where I was staying, but they were far enough and quickly moved away, so I didn’t attempt to photograph them. However, one day I encountered a herd of Ankole cattle, which are raised in central Africa. The specimens with their enormous horns were especially impressive.

Ankole cattle

Of course, in addition to animals, I also focused on some plants; they were at least easier to photograph. I captured a beautiful teak tree (Tectona grandis). The wood obtained from it is considered to be of the highest quality in the world. Fortunately, this particular tree grows freely and without any care in the world.

Teak tree

I also photographed another tree, the jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), that can grow to a quite impressive height (from 9 to 21 meters).

Jackfruit tree

What is particularly interesting is that its fruits are the largest fruits in the world, as they can grow up to 90 cm in length and 50 cm in diameter, with a weight of up to 55 kg. Of course, they start out much smaller, as shown in the following photograph.

Young jackfruits

In the photo of the jackfruit tree, you can see some quite beautiful and large fruits in the canopy, and here’s how I saw them from the ground.

Jackfruits

One of my friends from Uganda, Erickson, climbed the tree while I was standing on the ground. He cut down one of the fruits from the canopy which started to fall down, while I quickly reached out and caught it mid-air. It was no small feat – the fruit certainly weighed over 10 kg and I was very proud of myself. However, the fruit had to be turned upside down and left like that for a day or two. After being cut, the huge fruit exudes a milky white sap that is extremely sticky. Therefore, the fruit is first placed with the cut end facing downwards.

After a couple of days, when the fruit was fully ripe, we could all enjoy it together. But first, it needed to be cut by someone who knew how to handle it. That was Deborah.

Freshly halved jackfruit

There was still sticky sap between the edible flesh, but this was managed by using edible oil to thoroughly grease the hands and the knife.

Getting the jackfruit ready to eat

Despite this, I ended up getting quite sticky, but I also learned how to remove the sticky residue from my fingers. As for the fruit, I found it very delicious, especially since I was involved in its harvest.

One of my favourite tropical fruits is mango, but by the time I was in Uganda, the main season had already passed. Mangoes were available at the market, but they usually needed a bit more time to fully ripen. However, one day, another Ugandan friend of mine, Wickrief, picked up a small mango that had just fallen from a nearby tree and gave it to me. Although small, it was fully ripe and I thoroughly enjoyed its wonderful flavour.

Mini mango

Since my Ugandan friends know that I love fruit (and birds), one day they brought me a fruit I had never heard of before. It was jamun or Malabar plum (Syzygium cumini).

Jamun

I immediately bit into a small fruit, splitting it open with my teeth. I went through the seed, which isn't too hard, but is very bitter and has a lovely green colour.

Jamun

They then explained that only the flesh around the seed should be eaten and that was a much more delicious and sweeter experience.

Jamun

Speaking of fruits that were completely unfamiliar to me, I should also mention that one day I saw a large fruit high up in the tree canopy, hanging like a lantern.

Unknown fruit

I asked my Ugandan friends what tree it was and they explained that the fruit didn’t belong to the tree, but to a vine that was growing alongside it.

The vine and the tree

It was difficult for my Ugandan friends to tell me the name of the vine or liana since it has various names in the different languages spoken in Uganda, while my hosts didn’t know the exact English name. I struggled a bit when I got back home, but eventually I discovered what it was. The plant is called the oysternut in English, but its Latin name is Telfairia pedata. The name comes from the fact that the fruit I first spotted contains numerous shell-shaped seeds with an edible nut inside. The vine itself can grow up to about 30 meters in length.

Erickson was the one who said he would bring me these nuts the next day and then he showed me how to remove the fibres from them. Breaking them open was simple and it was also important to peel off the green outer layer from the nut itself. The nut had a flavour similar to Brazil nuts, but it was flat like a shell (hence the name), almost like a coin with a diameter of 3-4 cm.

I was so fascinated by the whole process that I only remembered to take photos after I had eaten the nut. So, I only photographed two whole nuts that Erickson told me were “male” and “female,” and needed to be planted together, side by side.

Oysternut

And finally, I photographed a plant with a charming flower that I hadn’t seen before. It’s called Chinese violet (Asystasia gangetica), subspecies A. g. micrantha, which is believed to originate from Africa. This plant is significant because it’s loved by bees, butterflies and other insects. Also, in some areas, the leaves are eaten while the plant itself is used in traditional African medicine.

Chinese violet

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