A gap year in Uganda
Gap years in Uganda
If you’re looking for luxury accommodation, coach tours, and turquoise oceans, look away now. But if you like your coffee strong, your beds hard, and your dinner wrapped in leaves, Uganda is your dream destination. With a natural capacity to wow and enthral, this country has much to offer to the traveller who likes a challenge. Even its tourist attractions are reserved for the most determined. Trek the hard, flinty Impenetrable Forest in search of the Mountain Gorilla, and pack your swamp shoes for a spot of birdwatching. When you’ve finished battling through rainforest, prepare for the hardest job of your life. How do you feel about making a difference in Africa’s most forward-thinking country?
Gap Year Opportunities
Uganda is the perfect place to embark on some meaningful travel. Not only is it a dazzlingly beautiful and vibrant place to be, but there’s also a real need for keen volunteers and new knowledge.
From WaterAid to Oxfam and VSO, the world’s biggest charities have presence in Uganda. Dozens of projects are short-staffed… you can work with orphans, volunteer at a chimpanzee sanctuary, help out with basic healthcare services, play football with street children, or provide food and counselling to the elderly. Environmentalists have the unique opportunity to work at the Jane Goodall Institute, where chimpanzees are retrained and rehomed.
About Uganda
Right in the heart of Africa, Uganda deserves to be just as popular as its more tourist-friendly neighbour, Kenya. Geographically it’s divided into savannah and rainforest; the jungle is home to the famous gorilla and the plains to the majestic lion. If flying direct to Uganda, you’ll see the wondrous Lake Victoria the moment you land: languishing on the equator and divided between Uganda, Tazmania and Kenya, this is the world’s largest tropical lake – and the source of the Nile. Uganda’s capital, Kampala, is spread over a hilly landscape and just as vividly cosmopolitan as any other African city.
Development right across Africa is seriously hindered by the AIDS pandemic, which is slaying not just people but expertise and resources. In Uganda an estimated 1.1 million adults have contracted HIV; 80% are aged between 15 and 45. Uganda also has more AIDS orphans than any other country. Children are often forced to leave education and seek employment to pay for ill parents or dependent siblings.
Despite these horrific figures, Uganda is still Africa’s best sign of hope for an AIDS-free future. Since the late 80s infection rates have come down significantly. This is credited to the President of Uganda who, at a time when many leaders were ignoring the problem, created the Aids Control Programme. AIDS awareness campaigns, educational programmes and free contraception and testing were launched. Across the country, the HIV infection rate is reportedly now 8% - down from 28%.
Uganda’s economic future is looking brighter too. In recent years the president has introduced a programme for economic revival. The result has been to grow the country’s GDP and cut inflation. The next step is diversifying the economy to combat fluctuations caused by the climate-reliant coffee bean – which represents 50% of international export. The country remains one of the world’s poorest: basics like shoes, clothing, contraception and food are precious, particularly in rural areas. It’s widely recognised that education is required to help lift people out of poverty: and in that arena, you really can make a difference.
Seeing Uganda
Even on an unpaid placement, you’ll find it easy to get by in Uganda. Poverty is extreme but hospitality is in abundant supply. You can expect to pay between 20p and 90p for dinner and perhaps £3 for a hostel room.
The tourist industry is undeveloped to say the least; most visitors will be in the country on a voluntary placement. This doesn’t mean there’s nothing to see. Make time to visit the country’s natural wonders: the Impenetrable Mountains (Bwindi), where an estimated 320 of the endangered Mountain Gorillas live; Lake Victoria, where you can take a ferry to the jungly islands or travel to Kenya or Tazmania; the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary, which is a birdwatcher’s paradise; the Nile, best experienced from a raft; and Sipi Falls, one of the world’s most dramatic waterfalls – and all unspoilt by yellow poncho’d tourists, to boot.