April 19, 2006

Uganda Travel Stories---The Witch Doctor

The Witch Doctor
The witch doctor

Once the final conclusion was drawn that joining a tour might be the most economical and easiest way to visit the National Parks in Uganda, we started looking into myriads of travel agencies. After giving it some thought, we decided to go with Uganda Community Tourism Association (UCOTA), dedicating itself to improving the local people’s livelihood by involving them in the planning, decision-making and implementation of tourism development. Although the trip hadn’t turned out to be as smooth as we wished, such as missing the boat cruise on the Nile we thought we had booked, the unique memories we had from the whole trip made all that seem trivial.


Uganda Community Tourism Association (UCOTA) currently has 50 community groups country wide. It provides tourism-related training to its members to enable them to compete in this tourism industry and eventually to be self-supporting. Over the years, the money brought in by the tourists has helped out the locals greatly. Every purchase of the handcrafts or boarding with the community groups from the tourists directly helps raise their life standard. Moreover, it supports the local culture and art as well creates job opportunities for the members of the community groups.

The communities we visited on our tour offered basic but clean facilities. On the forth day of the tour, we visited Ruboni community, located at the foot of Rwenzori National Park. The community has recently got funded by the French government and been busy constructing new cabins to accommodate the increasing number of tourists. We had to stay at the temperately set up tent since the cabins hadn’t been quite done yet. Nevertheless, the tent was up on the hill, where we had a great view of Mt. Rwenzori, used to be as famous as Mt.Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya among world trekkers.

Besides the traditional Music,Drama and Dance performed by the local children as part of our program, we also enjoyed the guided walks around the village, where we got to have a taste and smell of their daily lives, the mud houses, the staple food they grow, such as motoke (mashed plantains), posho( made from maize or cassava flour). Although we couldn’t quite hold an in-depth conversation with the local people, every gesture in them expressed warmth toward us. However, the highlight of the guided walks had yet to come, the meeting of the Witch Doctor!
Ruboni Music Dram and Dance performance--the group

We were all very intrigued to meet the witch doctor, to whom many local people pay visit to consult with their problems regarding relationship, career and the like. Following the beaten track, it’s pretty easy to spot the Witch Doctor’s house, standing on the top of the hill with Mt. Rwenzori in the background. When we finally made it up there after quite a steep walk, I saw this old lady with deep wrinkles all over her face and callosity all over her hands as well as her feet welcoming us with a bright smile which made her face even wrinklier. She then gave everybody a firm hand shake and a deep in your soul kind of look.

According to our guide/interpreter, the witch doctor has a talent of seeing evil spirits in people as well as communicating with them. After she discusses with the “patients” problems, she then performs a dance to ask evil spirits to leave the “patients” alone. We sat in front of their mud house while the witch doctor and her husband demonstrated the dance ceremony for us. It was sure an eye-opener. It was a shame that she has no longer practiced the art, which hopefully won't die out with her retirement.
Our intention of joining UCOTA was only pure and simple, visiting the National Parks in Uganda as well as spreading the money around to the people who need encouragement to stand on their own feet instead of contributing solely to the owners of the plush hotels. But what we gained out of the trip was beyond our expectation, we had such a great experience of the cultural and natural resources. If you ever visit Uganda, I highly recommend it!
Ruboni Music Dram and Dance performance--the boy