KAMPALA
THE HILL OF the IMPALA
Kampala is the capital and largest
city of Uganda. The city is divided into five boroughs
that oversee local planning: Kampala Central Division,
Kawempe Division, Makindye Division,
Nakawa Division, and Rubaga Division. The city is conterminous with Kampala
District. Surrounding Kampala is the rapidly growing Wakiso District,
whose population more than doubled between 2002 and 2014 and now stands at over
2 million.
Kampala was named the 13th fastest
growing city on the planet, with an annual population growth rate of 4.03
percent, by City Mayors. Kampala has been ranked the best city to live in
East Africa ahead of Nairobi and Kigali by
Mercer, a global development consulting agency based in New
York City.
Before the arrival of the British colonists,
the Kabaka of Buganda had chosen the zone that would become Kampala
as a hunting reserve. The area, composed of rolling hills with grassy wetlands
in the valleys, was home to several species of antelope, particularly impala.
When the British arrived, they called it "Hills of the Impala". The
language of the Buganda, Luganda, adopted many English words because of their
interactions with the British. The Buganda translated "Hill of the
Impala" as akasozi ke empala – “kasozi" meaning
"hill", “ke" meaning "of", and ‘empala" the
plural of "impala". In Luganda, the words “ka’mpala" mean
"that is of the impala", in reference to a hill, and the single word
"Kampala" was adopted as the name for the city that grew out of the
Kabaka’s hills.
The city grew as the capital of the Buganda kingdom,
from which several buildings survive, including the kasubi Tombs (built in 1881), the Lubiri
Palace, the Buganda Parliament and the Buganda Court of Justice.
In 1890, British colonial administrator Frederick Lugard constructed a
forum along Mengo Hill within the city, which allowed for the British
to occupy much of the territory controlled by the Buganda, including
Kampala. In 1894, the British government officially established a
protectorate within this territory, and in 1896, the protectorate expanded to
cover the Ankole, Toro Kingdom, and Bunyoro kingdoms as well. In
1905, the British government formally declared the entire territory to be a
British colony. From that time until the independence of the country in
1962, the capital was relocated to Entebbe, although the city continued to be
the primary economic and manufacturing location for Uganda. In 1922, the
Makerere Technical Institute, now known as Makerere University, started as the
first collegiate institution both within Kampala, and within the British
colonies on the east coast of Africa. Following the 1962 independence, Milton
Obote became president of Uganda, and held the position until 1971, when
former sergeant Idi Amin defeated his government in a military
coup. He proceeded to expel all Asian residents living within Kampala, and
attacked the Jewish population living within the city. In 1978, he invaded
the neighboring country of Tanzania, and in
turn, the government there started the Uganda–Tanzania War,
which created severe damage to the buildings of Kampala. Since then, the
city has since then been rebuilt with constructions of new construction of
hotels, banks, shopping malls, educational institutions, and hospitals and the
improvement of war torn buildings and infrastructure. Traditionally, Kampala
was a city of seven hills, but over time it has come to have a lot more.
The main campus Makerere
University is on the makerere Hill adjacent to the city.
Kampala also hosts
the headquarters of the East African development bank on Nakasero Hill
and the Uganda local governments association on Entebbe Road.
Kampala was
originally built on seven hills, but as its size has increased, it has expanded
to more hills than seven. The original seven hills are:
1.
The first hill in historical importance is kasubi Hill.
2.
The second is Mengo hill.
3.
The third is Kibuli Hill, which is home to the
Kibuli mosque.
4.
The fourth is Namirembe Hill, home to the
Namirembe Anglican cathedral.
5.
The fifth is Lubaga Hill, the site of the Rubaga
Catholic Cathedral.
6.
The sixth is Nsambya Hill.
7.
The seventh is Kampala hill (Old Kampala). A mosque
was built with monetary assistance from Libya on the hill in 2003, with a
seating capacity of 15,000 people. The completed mosque was opened officially
in June 2007.
The city spread to Nakasero Hill,
where there are international hotels, including the Kampala Speke Hotel,
the Grand Imperial Hotel, the Kampala Intercontinental Hotel, the Imperial
Royale Hotel, the Kampala Serena Hotel, the Kampala Sheraton Hotel,
and The Pearl of Africa Hotel Kampala.
There are also Tank Hill and Mulago
Hill. The city is expanding rapidly to include Makindye Hill and Konge
Hill.
Other features of the city include the Uganda
Museum, the Ugandan National Theatre, Nakasero Market, and St.
Balikuddembe Market (formerly Owino Market). Kampala is also known for
its nightlife, which includes several casinos, notably Casino Simba
in the Garden City shopping centre, Kampala Casino, and Mayfair Casino. Port
Bell on the shores of Lake Victoria is 10 kilometers (6.2 mi)
away.
Kampala hosts a Baha’i House of Worship known
as the Mother Temple of Africa and is situated on Kikaya Hill on the outskirts
of the city. The temple was inaugurated in January 1961.
The Ahmadiyya Central Mosque in Kampala is
the central mosque of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which has six
minarets and can hold up to 9,000 worshippers.
While more than 30% of Kampala's citizens
practice urban agriculture, the city of Kampala donated 32 acres to
promote urban agriculture in the northeastern parish of Kyanja.
Kampala is served by Entebbe
International Airport, which is the largest airport in Uganda.
A facet of Kampala's weather is that it
features two annual wetter seasons. While the city does not have a
true dry season month, it experiences heavier precipitation from August to
December and from February to June. However, it's between February and June
that Kampala sees substantially heavier rainfall per month, with April
typically seeing the heaviest amount of precipitation at an average of around
169 millimeters (6.7 in) of rain. Kampala has been frequently mentioned as
a lightning-strike capital of the world.
Kampala has a diverse ethnic
population. The city's ethnic makeup has been defined by political and economic
factors. A large number of western Ugandans, particularly the Banyankole,
moved to the capital in the new government of Yoweri Museveni.
Inter-tribal marriage in Uganda is still
uncommon outside large urban centers. Although many Kampala residents have been
born and brought up in the city, they still define themselves by their tribal
roots and speak their ancestral languages. This is more evident in the suburbs,
where tribal languages are spoken widely alongside English, Swahili,
and Luganda. In addition to the Baganda and Banyankole, other
large ethnic groups include the Basoga, Bafumbira, Batoro, Bakiga, Alur, Bagisu, Banyoro, Iteso, Langi,
and Acholi.
Mozes Mutungi
"the best safari guide"
0779 206 004
mozescristian06@gmail.com
