October - December 2016 •
The Lion King
• 27
Country Focus
Photo by Katharina / Flickr.com
Lake Bunyonyi
(“Place of many little birds”) lies in south
western Uganda close to the border with
Rwanda. At a depth of up to 900 m (2,952 ft),
lake Bunyonyi is the second deepest in Africa.
The Uganda National Mosque
Located at Kampala Hill in the Old Kampala
area of the Capital was completed in 2006,
it seats up to 15,000 worshipers and can
hold another 1,100 in the gallery, while the
terrace will cater for another 3,500. Colonel
Muammar Gaddafi of Libya commissioned
the mosque as a gift to Uganda, and for the
benefit of the Muslim population.
CULTURE
Situated at the geographical heart
of the African continent, Uganda has
long been a cultural melting pot, as
evidenced by the existence of over
50 different indigenous languages
belonging to five distinct linguistic
groups, and an equally diverse cultural
mosaic of music, art and handicrafts.
The country's most ancient inhabit-
ants, confined to the hilly southwest,
are the Batwa and Bambuti Pygmies,
relics of the hunter-gatherer cultures
that once occupied much of East
Africa to leave behind a rich legacy
of rock paintings, such as at the Nyero
Rock Shelter near Kumi.
The central region is dominated by the
Bantu group specifically the Baganda.
