Kampala, Uganda

[Jeeper]

I recently passed through Kampala, Uganda while touring the country, and I thought I'd share some photos of the city here. Sorry there aren't more. Enjoy!












Palace of the King of the Buganda Kingdom

These photos of from Milton Obote's and later Idi Amin's torture bunker, where it is estimated that tens of the thousands of Ugandans (some suspect as many as 300,000) were killed. The victims were both political prisoners as well as random citizens, usually artists, musicians, university graduates and anyone else considered "educated" and therefore a potential threat to his reign. Amin was crazy and very paranoid. At the height of the regime no less than 400-500 people were crammed into each cell at a time. They were left there to die from starvation, thirst or diseases spread from the corpses left in the cells to rot among the living.





When it was in use the floor outside the cells would have been flooded with about 10 inches of water that was electrified, so if any prisoners were able to force their way out of their cells they would been killed when they jumped in the water.



The prisoners would use blood, feces and urine to write messages on the walls that they hoped someday someone would read to discover what had happened to them.





Some relatives of those who died in the cells believe the bats, being able to "see" in the dark, are watching over the souls of their loved ones so they can no longer be tortured.


Back to the city...































And finally, President Museveni, "elected" to four terms as president of Uganda.



Thanks for looking!

[LMich]

Really, really cool-looking city. I really like the first shot, and then one right after:

[Danny]

Thanks for all these pictures of Kampala, Jeeper. This´s an unknown place for me, and I have never seen pics of the capital of Uganda.

The history of the torture bunker is very sad. Thanks for sharing your pics of that horrible place where so many persons were killed. Sometimes it´s necessary to see places like this to realize about the nastiness of human being.

Congrats and greetings from Madrid, Spain.

[boden]

Very interesting.

[MplsTodd]

Thanks for posting. I've also never seen Kampala before and appreciate learning about it. I knew about Idi Amin and his reign of terror, but the photos of the torture bunkers bring it from an abstract occurance to a real-life tragedy/unimaginable-crime.

[arkitekte]

It's always good to see a place I'm not familiar with. Thanks for posting these.

[gothamite]

fascinating. thanks!

[KevinFromTexas]

Interesting set. I don't think I've seen that city shown here before.

[Bedhead]

Great thread. Horrific to think what happened under ldi Amin. Something that needs to be remembered.

[Kingofthehill]

Thank you for the informative tour of a place we rarely see on here. Love that huge Hindu/Sikh (?) temple in the center.

[Shawn]

Love your photo threads, you're in places I honestly will never get to see in person.

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill

Thank you for the informative tour of a place we rarely see on here. Love that huge Hindu/Sikh (?) temple in the center.

I was thinking the exact same thing, is there some history of imported Indian labor by the Brits to Uganda that I am unaware of?

[ColDayMan]

Thanks!

[FutureNorthEnder]

Very interesting to see some place not on the average tourist's list. Much bigger than my feeble brain would imagine. Shawn, when I saw the movie "Mississippi Masala" starring Denzel Washington, I learned that many people came from India to Uganda to help build the railway and then were treated very badly (as so many were) during the Idi Amin regime. In that movie it showed some beautiful scenery in Uganda on the shores of Lake Victoria, I believe. So when I think of Uganda, that is what I visualize.

[xzmattzx]

Interesting pictures! I liked the second one.

The torture chamber was great to see. We have heard about the strife and violence and everything in that part of the world, but to see a place in pictures and have someone from outside tell us what they saw is something else.

[Jeeper]

Thanks for the great comments guys. FutureNorthEnder is correct, the British brought in thousands of Indian laborers to help build infrastructure, particularly the railroads, in East Africa. As the generations passed they became integrated in cities like Kampala and Nairobi. When Amin took power he forced them out of Uganda and seized their land and assets. Despite this, today there is still quite a large Indian segment of the population, which makes for some great Indian cuisine to be found in Kampala, especially compared to Kigali, Rwanda, where I live.

[Austinlee]

You've picked a very interesting place to live. Thanks for sharing. Very interesting. The torture is some of the worst ive ever heard of.

[excel]

Great tour

[Nineties Flava]

Great thread, Uganda's a beautiful country.

[IMBY]

Thanks ever-ever-so-much for taking the time to upload these photo's. And, I'm such a sucker for cities with hills!

I read a bio of Idi Amin. When he wanted something, and he was in bed at the time, most people would ring a bell for help from the household staff, but not Idi Amin, he'd shoot a bullet through his bedroom ceiling to get their attention!

[Nightsky]

Really interesting! There should really be more photos from African cities on this forum, they are extremely underrepresented!