Finding Uganda

Uganda is situated in East Africa and is completely landlocked. Click on the map image for a larger view. Most of the country is a plateau about 1,200m above sea level. Kampala is the capital city with a population of around 500,000. Airlines operate internationally from Entebbe airport with regular flights to London which take eight and a half hours. Entebbe is on the shores of Lake Victoria where water sports of all kinds take place. There are also some botanic gardens in Entebbe.

Uganda is divided into seven regions and in each region there are a number of districts. Uganda covers an area of 241,139 sq km of which 39,459 sq km are swampland and water. 90% of the population live in the countryside on family farms called shambas. People usually farm four to five acres in the coffee growing areas and between eight and nine acres in the cotton areas.

The young Winston Churchill called Uganda the loveliest area in Africa and one of the most striking in the world,.

The highest point in Uganda is the Margherita Peak at 5,328m which is in the western region. From a map of Uganda try and find the next three highest mountains. The United Kingdom's highest mountain is Ben Nevis. How does this compare with Uganda's highest point?

Programme ideas

1) Investigate the differences between the mountains in Uganda and those in the United Kingdom. Consider the climate, vegetation, animal life and geology. You could invite a speaker to your Unit to talk about mountain geography, zoology and geology or even mountain rescue. There may be more to a lump of rock than meets the eye!

2) Many people talk about Africa as a country rather than a continent. This is like calling us Europeans and thinking the United Kingdom is the same as Greece or Norway! Africa consists of over 40 countries, each with its own separate identity. Most of the names are hidden in the wordsearch. Can your Unit locate all 35 countries in the following word square? wordsearch(62k)

THE NATIONAL FLAG

The colour of the Uganda People's Congress was used for the national flag when the country gained its independence in 1962. The colours of the Ugandan flag are, like all flags, symbolic and represent the following:
Black represents the people of Uganda. Yellow the sun and red is for brotherhood.
The Baleiric Crested Crane in the centre of the flag was chosen as the emblem for Uganda. It has a black and white body with a tufted crown of gold and red feathers.

click here for a flag to download and colour in

Flag(24.5k)