A little place of Magic in the mountains of Karamoja

 Hi from Karamoja again. Finally back to writing from Moroto now, and writing from my very own studio ‘apartment’ here. It is a bit bizarre to have my own place here, it sort of feels a bit more permanent now, not that I am complaining. The place I am living in is actually very comfortable, it’s small, but clean and I have electricity, gas and water. What more could you want? The complex I am living in is filled up with people who are working as engineers supervising the Chinese road building project here. I have to say I am still impressed by the efficiency of the road construction, but as I recently saw a poster showing a proposed cement factory by a Chinese company here I am a bit worried as to what the road will bring. It will surely bring investment, but not quite sure if factories is the way to develop Karamoja in a sustainable and positive way.

My new little home

One thing I have learned by being here is that Karamoja has changed drastically in the last decade. I have heard stories of how a decade ago bullets functioned as currency. A bullet was worth 500 shillings, and you could buy beer, food or whatever else was needed with bullets. I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise, I am sure that happens in other ‘war’ torn areas of the world as well, but it’s just a bizarre thought in my head that bullets were in such abundance and importance that they essentially became currency. The KDF boys were explaining to me that at night you would always look around to make sure there was a weapon in the house, because that was safety, and when dark came everyone would get their guns ready. If you didn't have a gun, your safety throughout the night was not guaranteed. This seems so far away from the reality I am seeing in Karamoja now. I feel a lot safer being here than most places I have been in the world. People are extremely friendly and I simply can’t picture it in my mind that the place where I am staying was known as the war corridor. You just wouldn't move around in this area unless necessary, because if you did the risk of getting shot, was far from hypothetical. People describe it as those with guns would just shoot everyone, with no real thought to who they were shooting at. I am not sure how accurate that is, but a terrifying concept.

I do see it as a positive that Karamoja is ‘disarmed’ now, but I also see the danger in that. The people here were used to being able to protect themselves, and the society was built around the sort of strong warrior culture that emerges from that. The government was in Kampala, the UPDF has been here, but their role for decades was very minimal, and often their role was not exactly positively regarded. Karamoja remained so far removed from the rest of Uganda for such a long time that it seems like a completely separate state in many ways. The culture and people are so different from other parts of the country, but then again other parts differ from each other again. I guess that is the colonial, lets draw straight lines across the continent heritage. I do believe Karamoja can be a very successful part of Uganda, but I think that depends on the attitudes of people. When I first decided I wanted to go to Karamoja, almost every Ugandan I know warned me saying that the people in Karamoja are just naked warriors who are backwards, illiterate and that it is a horrible place to go. This attitude towards Karamoja from the rest of Uganda is disturbing to say the least, and dangerous. Karamoja is different from other parts of Uganda, but it’s not that different. The people here are just as friendly as Ugandans everywhere, and it is just as safe, and people are strong, they are proud. Often more proud to be Karimojong than Ugandan, but they are still Ugandan, and I think part of the key for a 

successful future for Karamoja lies in the perception from the rest of Uganda

From protest against Kautakou land grabbing - The Karimojong are disarmed, but are they protected?

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So a little of what I want to do while being here is try to help change that perception, if even for just one person somewhere. Karamoja surprises me every day and yesterday was no exception. It was Sunday, so what better way to spend a Sunday than to hike up a mountain and find a waterfall and swimming hole to spend the day relaxing by? Not quite what you would expect a normal day in Karamoja to be like, but that was what we did.

Mountains ready to be conquered

Hiking up the mountain I realized how out of shape I really am! I keep thinking back to my days in Hawaii when going for hikes in the mountains and surfing all day was the norm, now just making it 5 minutes without having to take a break while hiking was a struggle. In my defence it was quite steep and hot, but yea definitely a wake-up call. Time to start working out again! Luckily I had awesome company going up the mountain so it wasn't too bad. Teba so kindly carrying my backpack and looking for places to open his mountain side bar, while Simon with his long legs ran up front after Karolien who climbed the mountain with no hassle at all.  The core little group that has become my little Moroto family. A day spent with them is always a day full of laughs, and sometimes serious discussions who always somehow turn into cold beer and more laughs.

On the edge

Look for the big rock to find the secret pool

Hiking down lost in the bush

We did make it up the mountain, and once up we began aiming for where the big rock is which has the waterfall underneath it. Fighting our way through grass as high as ourselves we emerged at a lookout point where you could see for miles away and hear the trickle of water in the background. On route there we passed through areas where all the grass had been burned away, making me think that would be a very bad ending to the day is someone started burning again now, but luckily that did not happen. It wasn’t until we were safely down the mountain again we looked up and saw the mountainside on fire. The explanation for why they do this seem to be to make it easier to collect firewood and for grazing, but as the mountainside seems like a treacherous place to graze your cattle I would hope the firewood is more likely, or perhaps they have other reasons I haven’t come across yet. Regardless it is an amazing thing to see, the mountain lit up in flames against the dark sky.

Once we had aimed our route towards the big rock, finding the waterfall was not too difficult. Unfortunately the main waterfall didn’t have too much water, but it wouldn’t take much to imagine the amount of water that could flow over the edge in the rainy season. We made our way to the swimming hole, which I was not prepared for would be this beautiful. A perfectly shaped round swimming pool, with clean, icy cold water. For anyone who knows me you know how much I love water, so being here far up in the mountains in Karamoja and having a beautiful pool in front of me was the most amazing thing. It didn’t take long for Karolien and I to change and jump in the icy water, the most refreshing thing after my nearly dyeing the whole hike up.  The boys joined us and an hour of jumping around, splashing and giving swimming lessons followed.

Magical swimming pool in the midst of the mountains

A day of swimming and playing

We spent the day lounging on the rocks above the pool and going down to cool down when it got too hot.  The boys were practicing their swimming, Simon being almost 2 meters tall had a bit of an advantage as he could simply stand up anywhere he liked, but nonetheless watching their near drowning attempts at swimming was the best amusement. A packed lunch of Samosas, chapattis and fruit kept us going for hours of swimming and laughing. A perfect Sunday in my mind. Who knew you could find this in the mountains of Karamoja?

Teba contemplating swimming into the freezing water

Lounging on the rocks

Stoked on making it up and down the mountain!

My little Moroto Family

KDF at work, serious work but lots of laughs

The walk down the mountain was less exhausting but more treacherous as Simon and I spent nearly every 2 minutes tripping and sliding down rather than gracefully walking down like our friends. This resulting in my toes being a bit beat up and me spending quite a bit of time on my butt in the grass, but at least Teba and Karolien had some amusement on the walk down and as a cold beer was waiting at Mt Moroto Hotel after, my focus on that kept me going.

Karamoja might have been a place on insecurity in the past (some say still) , but to me it is one of the most beautiful and peaceful places in the world. I would recommend anyone who has the chance to see it one day, it is different, but it is different in a beautiful and natural way.

The secret beauty of Karamoja