UGANDA

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5312, 25 June 1904, Page 16

UGANDA

CHI'A I’ TIIIJ’S TO GAUDLX OX' KDKX. CXTR VMMFXI.KD FAUNA AND FLORA.. Til.: S"CiT't:ii'y for tlio Uganda Portc:;-toi-jite. Mr ('niiningliaiu, who ha:, arrived in London fiom I ganda, gives the following interesting purliculars consul niiiLS iho present condition oi Iho procedural r : ••‘ihc latc.-t news I have i.s that there )rjs been an extraordinary development ui tourist traffic on liie ( gancla Railway. I should say 10,00 b wus a small cs.timu o loi tiie number of tourists to bo looked ior during the coming season. As to what the attraction is, you have first ol all ilr- magnetism and charm ul Central A*i rica. Ten years ago it would have cosf .1:2,000 ut least to visit Uganda. .Sou it can he done in a fortnight from the eo;u%t at a cost of about L2o, in perfect conduit.

'Jim icenery is unique, and there .s about 5U miles of zoological gardens loeimng with wild animals. Un my way down country at the Kapiti Plains, v. e passed through a herd of fully 06,000 zebras, we saw 20 ostriches, sumo rhincc< ruses and giraffes in the distance, and tht plains .-amply swarmod witii gazelles.

"The zebras, whoso stripes shone <n the bright sun. were massed on tin* railway line, arid merely divided to let the Uam pas.-,, a lew scampering away for u hundred yards or so, .Nowhere else iu the w orld can such a sight he witnessed. "And ( hen, to many people the natives arc still more interesting than the wild animals or the scenery. Here iu Loudon you have the twentieth century, but in Kavirondo it is only the day after iho Creation, with the difference that the Adams and Kve-s of Kavirondo have not yet discovered that they aro naked, and instead of reposing in beatific leisure among apple trees. Adam and Evo may he seen hoeing gardens along the railway or carrying baskets of grain to- tlio market at Port Florence, tbo majority of lliem without, an atom of clothing. Rut there hi nothing to affect the susceptibilities of tho European visitor. It is nature. Yon might as well object to a sycamore tree going without loaves in winter as object to a. Kavirondo man or woman going naked. At tho railway stations, alas! they arc gradually getting Adam into trousers; hut, as a rule, Tiro still moves in all her native charms, wearing at most a tassel suspended from a girdle. “The cruise round Lake Victoria occupies about a week, tho steamer touching ing at all the German and British stations. The scenery at Entebbe and Munyonyo (tho port of Kampala) is very fine, and as tho course lies among tho most beautiful parts of tlio Soso Archipelago, and tho Buvnma group, there is an unending feast for the eye of pretty creeks bold headlands, and hanks of graceful nuhns, fringing broad slopes of turf. As to th© JRipon .Falls, they defy description. I think it may safely be said that tho tour to Uganda outrivals in interest anything to bo found clsc\vlierc in tho world.

“As to the health point of view, there is no foar on that score. In the old clays Iho first explorers caught fever, but now, owing to the* reseaches of Sir Patrick Mansou and others, "Uganda is a very habitable country. I have lived h- Fganda for live years and have never cnco had fever, and neither my wife nor mv child has over been ill. On the contrary, if a person is suffering from throat and lung troubles, a month in Uganda v,ill probably make him all right again. I found it so in my own case. I am speaking from my own personal experience. The tourist may therefore look on Uganda as perfectly healthy. “Nowadays the journey to the coast riom Lake Victoria takes only two days. IJicro are Dak bungalows at vario** olaccs on route where substantial meals can bo obtained at very reasonable prices.”