No I can’t I don’t want am going to tell my mother is all I could say is I was down on my hands crawling upwards like a baby as Juliet my friend gave up and decided to stay down and Felix keep encouraging me please come you can do this lets go (background laughter of the locals that were seeing me cry.). I kept going without looking down I kept moving one hand in front of the other knowing that I was going to take long, sweat and tears but this girl was making it to the top.
We had set off at 3pm from kampala with girlstravelsafrica.com all exisited the day before as we awaited our trip to kamuli for the famous kagulu rock hill climb. We arrived in Jinja by 6pm and had some snacks before embarking back onto our journey to kagulu rock hill. With an experienced team of 8 staff from Uganda tourism board.
Kagulu Rock is located in Buyende district which is 30 Km off Kamuli town. It is about 4 hours drive from Kampala the capital of Uganda. The hill rises at approximately 3,500 feet above sea level with great 360 degree views around it. Busoga Tourism Initiative through the annual Kagulu rock climbing challenge,decided to interest more tourism stakeholders and domestic tourists to this site.
According to the Basoga, Kagulu Hill is a mystical wonder, which marks the first settlement area for her people who migrated from Bunyoro led by the then Prince Mukama. This is believed to his settlement and later his Kingdom seat due to its high altitude that allowed him have great views of the surrounding. Although the cultural value of Kagulu extends to cover a wide area, the remaining and visible landmark is the Kagulu hill. The hill sits in between two roads that divide at the foothill to lead to Gwaya and Iyingo areas. One side of the hill has several steps all the way to the top for someone not keen on going the rough way but do not be fooled taking the many steps is equally strenuous. At the top is a spectacular 360 view with an expanse of green vegetation and views of Lake Kyoga found in northern Uganda.
That evening we had the clowing of miss tourism busogs who would later take part in the miss tourism country compictaions. We got to the actiral site at 8pm and were blown away by the massive numbers of people that were already at the venue enjoying music and dancing to the music that was being played by the local Djs but also awaiting to see the beauty queens who were the high light of the night event. We toured the are an realized that even by 10pm, the numbers of the locals were only growing as more and more people flooded the venue. We had over 1000 people that evening alone and many business men were showcasing there products and making a lot of money. We as the team visited some of the stalls and even realized that all the people that were working were requested and had tags with their names and stall number which means that the Busoga Tourism initiative the body that organized this event earned from the exhibitors. We got some Rolexes from the stalls and watched as the business men took other orders from the many people that were demanding the food and other soft drinks.
The party went on until midnight when the miss tourism was selected and would later be crowed in the official event the following day. The locals were now over 1500 people and they stayed a while even after the event as the Dj played some great music for the night. It was a great success.
We had slept in kamuli town and by 7am we were having breakfast to get ready for the great rock climbing challenge that awaited us. A great excited crowed welcomed us at the foot hill of Kagulu rock as the locals were awaiting the presence of the Kyabazinga of Busoga and the Speaker of Parliament. The CEO of Uganda Tourism Board flagged off some of the challenges of the children who were going up and down the rock.
We got to the area that had steps and the hike became smooth, with my fellow staff from girlstravelsafrica.com , we kept walking with smiles of relief and accomplishment plus the views that were now getting better covered us with a sweet breeze. We had an amazing view at the top were we experienced a 360 view of this beautiful landscape. The trip up and down is challenging but the views at the top take away all the pain and sweat.
