Kasubi Tombs

It’s been an exciting first two weeks in our household.  With the holiday weekend, we decided to take advantage of having an extra day and headed off to go see the Kasubi Tombs, part of the Buganda Kingdom and on the UNESCO World Heritage list.  Unfortunately, in order to get there, you have to cut right through the center of Kampala.  As we’ve previously mentioned, Kampala has some of the craziest and worst drivers you will ever see in your life.  Not only is the driving bad, but there are basically no street signs, traffic lights, stop signs, lines in the street, sidewalks, basically anything and everything we’re used to back home.  We’ve also found that no two maps are the same and seem to have different street names for the same street, making driving all the more difficult when you’re unfamiliar with the area.  Needless to say, our drive getting there and home was rather eventful and full of lots of traffic.  Pretty sure a snail passed us as we waited to move an inch at a time.  I never thought that two cars could get so close to each other without touching.  It’s a different feeling when you white knuckle the car’s “oh crap” bars at 5 mph!

It was only when we finally arrived, that we realized someone had stolen the reflectors off our car while we were sitting in the unrelenting traffic.  We knew that someone kept coming up to and bumping into our car, but weren’t really sure what was going on.  For safety reasons we’ve been told to just keep our windows up and doors locked while driving, so we basically just had to let it happen.  We’ve since been told that there is a big market for replacement parts, and things get stolen from cars all of the time.  There are even stories of people going to buy replacement car mirrors, only to be sold their mirrors back to them.  Basically, it’s the saying, “This is Africa,” so it just is what it is.  Needless to say, we won’t be buying reflectors for our car anytime soon.

The original rings in the Bujjabukula, the traditional reception hut.

Our guide showing us how the homes are made.

The cemetery where the family members of the King's families are buried.

We were the only tourists at the tombs and we had our own guide who provided us with a wealth of knowledge on all the different Kings, how marriage between tribes worked, the people who still live in the homes surrounding the palace, and some of the natural habitat in the area.  Unfortunately, in March 2010 the main palace was burned down, and since a lot of the work will be done by hand and we’re on Africa time, it is very slowly being rebuilt.  For the price and significance, I still recommend seeing it even if part of it’s closed, it was under $10 US for the two of us.  We also got a beautiful painting of the Grey-Crowned Crane, Uganda’s national bird, painted on a type of tree bark found at the tombs.

Our tree-bark Grey-Crowned Crane.

Here are my other 2 purchases from the Valentines Bazaar, a ceramic pot & a hand carved Ankole cattle horn (hard to tell from the photo, but baby elephants design).

On our way out, Greg asked about what the Ugandans drank before beer and wine were introduced.  Our guide told us that it was a drink made out of bananas, and took us across the street to buy some from little kids selling it on the side of the road.  Greg opted for one of the smaller sizes, which was in a little mountain dew bottle.  It has a cloudy color to it, possibly some dirt in it, but you can definitely smell the alcohol.  It cost less than $1 US and we were told that was more expensive than normal.  We have yet to try it, but I have a feeling that will have to wait until a weekend in case it makes us sick.  Might run it through a coffee filter first to get some Mother Nature out of it.

I’m not sure either of us knew what we were signing up for when we took this job, but so far it is proving to be the adventure we hoped for.  We’re looking forward to many more experiences and a lot more exploring in this exciting new country and culture!