Paul Turyagumanawe is a tour guide and travel consultant for Uganda, Rwanda and Eastern Congo. He has been doing this for five years, and he wouldn’t have it another way. He describes it as the best job in the world.
What makes you proud of being Uganda?
Uganda is the boiling pot of Africa’s best attractions: from the snow-capped Rwenzoris (mountains) straddling the equator(Africa’s highest ranges) in the West, to the mighty Elgon (world’s tallest caldera) in the east: from Bwindi’s Impenetrable wonders in the south west including the Batwa (world’s shortest), to Kidepo Valley’s attractions in the North East including the Karamajong (the world’s tallest): from the source of the world’s longest river at Jinja, to the world’s most powerful waterfal in Kabalega-land. Uganda is like an end-to end garden stretching from the Victoria basin to the Congo basin, sandwiched between the two arms of Africa’s great rift valley, no wonder Uganda is a wonder.
What are your top travel and tourism destination in Uganda and beyond, and why?
That’s a tough one, but interestingly, they individually didn’t make the list above. That tells you how much more Uganda has to offer in beauty and wonder. If you have driven down on the edge of the Rwenzori from Fort Portal to Semliki Valley.
If you’ve looked down this rift valley escarpment that stretches to the Congo, this is where I fell in love with Uganda. My runner up would have been walking the white sand beaches of Ssese Islands, but boat cruising on the Kazinga Channel takes the day. This place combines wildlife viewing and birdwatching like no other in Uganda.
As a tour and travel guide, who are your top five tourists and why do you regard them as such?
My best tourists are the volunteers. They come with the best of intensions, and take their time to appreciate the context of Uganda (the people, their cultures, and the hidden attractions of hard-to-reach areas.) Kisizi floods with some of these.
My next category are fathers travelling with their families. As a family man myself, it’s a joy both interpreting Uganda while learning a lot from them. And I’ve realized that when you amaze the children, they will tell the whole world.
The third category is mothers and their daughters. This can be tricky, depending on their vibe, but this is quite the trip if you can pull it off. And then there’s the sons travelling alone. These are the most amazing adventurers. They have been to the top of Kilimanjaro, and they want you to take them to boiling volcano-tops in Congo, and they are still going. They inspire my dreams, and the friendships that grow thereafter are very fulfilling.
Finally, the lovebirds. These ones can suck at timekeeping, for obvious reasons, but these are the happiest, most laid back people to guide. And the hope of them returning with their ‘trip-kids’ is something, isn’t it?
What makes a trip memorable?
The little add-ons that enrich the oft standard itinerary. Depending on how quickly the guide understands the preferences of the visitor, these can turn a dull trip into a great adventure with lifetime memories.
The people (Uganda having almost 60 tribes sharing the almost 40 million people) make most trips memorable. Uganda is like a rainbow, with 7 times more colours.
Finally, the food. From the colourful roadside markets, to the organic meals everywhere, to the fresh green gardens everywhere, because of the equatorial weather. No wonder the birds love it here too. The all year sun is the other underrated aspect of a trip through Uganda.
What breaks a trip for you?
For me, it’s when the guests attempt to treat me like their slave. I will bend over backwards to serve them, but one or two once in a while will think that you the nearest thing to a door mat. I will endure such a trip to the end, but it will have been wasted on me.
The other thing is when the company has overpromised the clients to convince them to come, and you are expected to deliver to impossible as a guide.
Finally, dealing with a dishonest tour operator almost breaks it. He will send you off with less money than you need with a mobile money promise that takes forever. At some point, I started carrying my own money just in case.
What would you like done better in Uganda’s tourism sector?
Better marketing will go a long way, yet If we are not ready on the ground to deliver the best services, we will fail still. So a two-pronged approach must be employed: build the capacity of the guides, hoteliers, and even police officers, and then market aggressively. Otherwise, in this connected age, if we don’t generate great reviews, we will generate the opposite to our detriment as a destination.
What are your top five local brands?
We have some amazing brands here, but I’ll make an attempt at picking a few: In culture, the Ndere Troupe has been the biggest exporter of our cultural dances. In tourism, Kara-tunga has of recent distinguished itself the way it has promoted Karamoja’s attractions. In the transport industry, the Kayoola buses have made us all so proud, in addition to Uganda airlines. Then there’s Grace Villa, a non-profit in Kabale taking care of almost 300 children using radical fund-raising.
Finally, Uganda is its own biggest brand. In fact, if Zamunda and Wakanda were actual places, it’s hard to imagine them being elsewhere in Africa.
