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My quest for Africa...

When I left Tunisia eight years ago, I still had the feeling, I had not really seen Africa. Although the Maghreb might geographically be on the African continent, historically and culturally it belongs to the Mediterranean and Arabic world. Even Tunisians sometimes spoke about Africa as if it were somewhere far away.


That is when I started my “quest for Africa” which is rather a motivation to discover the different parts of the continent, since the one Africa does not exist just as the one Europe does not. In 2018, I started off with Ethiopia which rewarded me with a great experience of hiking in the Simien mountains and climbing up to remote eremite chapels in Tigray which were carved in rocks and not always easy to reach. Not to forget about the impressive town of Lalibela with a dozen churches carved out of the ground (overnight, of course, as the legend has it). I was a great trip, but I still felt at the same point I had departed from. The history of Ethiopia is very unique and had developed almost in isolation due to its geographic situation. It has, with a brief exception, never really been a colony and therefore was not part of the independence movements and post-colonial discussions many other African countries share.


The next attempt was Namibia in 2021 and this brought me closer, at least in terms of wildlife, to the image many Europeans have of Africa including the discussion about German colonial rule and compensation for the massacre committed against the indigenous Herero and Nam. For more information, please look at the Awesome eight on my blog or read the article I wrote for the travel&photo blog LichterderWelt.


So, this year, at the beginning of November, I ventured on my next journey in my search for Africa, this time to Uganda and Rwanda. The first surprise was, how abundantly green these countries were compared to those I had visited before! Of course, East Africa with the equator running through it, but still… You can grow almost everything here, there are coffee and tea plantations, in some places it looked like southern India (unfortunately without all the great spices). There is a lot of water starting with the Victoria Lake and continuing along the Nile River. Wildlife was as rich as in Namibia, some different types of antelopes and more hippos and crocodiles. And lots of apes with gorillas and chimpanzees being the highlights.



The mountain gorillas' home is the Virunga Volcano Mountain chain at the border between Uganda, Rwanda and Congo. This is also where famous Dian Fossey had set up her cabin to study the apes and was killed because of her life-long fight to protect this unique species (on the Rwandan side there is a very well done information centre worth visiting). But we went to look for the gorillas in the smallest Ugandan National Park of Mgahinga where only one family of nine members lives. In order not to spend days searching for them, trackers start one hour before the visitors and look for their nests. After a good hike of 2,5 hour we reached them. Since they are heavily protected, they are used to human beings and we could sit down near them not further away than 2-3 meters! People are allowed only once a day for max. one hour in order not to disturb them too much. It was an indescribable experience; they are so huge and powerful, but at the same time fluffy and tender to their young ones. With an almost casual move of their arm, they would drag down a whole bamboo tree to savour the young sprouts and at the same time toss around with the playful youngsters. Of course, they are also very close to me since they are the best proof that you can be very strong being a vegetarian 😉


Nevertheless, the demographic pressure on the national parks and forests is very big, most of the land is used for subsistence agriculture and the locals see the wild animals more as a danger to their crop than as an asset. But sometimes there are very easy solutions: one cooperative used elephant dung to make paper and sell it and with the help of bee hives they could not only keep away the elephants, but also sell the honey. In other cases, locals are hired as rangers and trackers so they profit from the existence of the national park, too. Taking about people: most fascinating were the women in their colourful clothes who carry large amounts of all kinds of food, jars, wood etc. on their heads.



Photographically, I tried out my new telephoto lens (100-400mm) remembering to keep the shutter speed short enough (at least 1/focal lens if handheld) because otherwise the outcome can easily be shaky. Also very important is the single point autofocus: if you choose a larger area, there might often be some branches or a blade of grass in the way, where the camera puts the focus on instead of your subject. I shot some frames where the grass was very sharp, but the leopard was not - learning by doing.


There are a lot of wildlife pictures I could upload, but I will not. My personal take-away from Uganda is my moodboard. More than real subject matter, it represents the atmosphere expressed through colours and patterns during my trip. You will find a wall of one of the typical clay huts with cracks when dried, a banana leaf, the back of the huge Silverback gorilla or the braided hair of an Ugandan woman.



I am glad I could add another piece to my African mosaic, but there is still a long way to go…

Have a lovely advent and Christmas,


Petra



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2 Yorum


Misafir
30 Ara 2024

Was für tolle Fotos von deinen Reisen nach Uganda und Ruanda. Sie zeigen so viel von der Lebenswirklichkeit in diesen Ländern und fordern gleichzeitig optisch und ästhetisch zum genauen Betrachten heraus, egal ob es um die Menschen, die Tiere oder die Natur geht. Vielleicht berührt es einen nochmals ganz besonders, wenn wegen eigener Reisen in diese Länder viele Erinnerungen und Erlebnisse neu belebt werden.

Danke.

Edith

Beğen
Petra
01 Oca
Şu kişiye cevap veriliyor:

Vielen Dank, liebe Edith.

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