UGANDA

Uganda has once again become an outpost of hope in East Africa. As it makes steady progress toward peace and works to improve its tourist facilities, travelers have begun to trickle back to enjoy its stunning landscape -- green rolling hills, snowcapped mountains, majestic rivers and massive lakes -- and its fascinating wildlife, including Africa's largest population of mountain gorillas.
Uganda has some of Africa's major attractions. It is bordered to the west by the Rwenzori Mountains, named a World Heritage Site for its eerie, craggy tips and giant vegetation. It contains four of Africa's seven great lakes. It is the source of the Nile that empties out of Lake Victoria at Jinja. It is home to more than 1,000 species of birds, making Uganda the richest birding destination in Africa, and it has the highest concentration of primates on the continent.

The country's progress was brutally interrupted in early 1999, when Rwandan rebels murdered eight tourists who had traveled to Uganda to view the mountain gorillas in Bwindi National Park. It was not the first incident where travelers were harmed, and rebels on other fringes of the country have raised questions about Uganda's safety for travelers. But the Ugandan government seems to have finally recognized the possible benefits of tourism. The army now patrols Bwindi, and tourists can once again feel safe visiting the park, the best place in the world to see mountain gorillas. It may be some time before Uganda achieves its full potential, but the country once known as the pearl of Africa has regained some of its luster.