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Geography and Climate »
Location:
Uganda lies between the two arms of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. It is
crossed by the equator. It is roughly the same in size to Great Britain, Ghana
or the state of Oregon in the United States of America. Uganda is completely
landlocked and bordered by Kenya
to the East (933 km), Sudan to the North (435 km),the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to the West (765
km) and
Tanzania (396 km) and Rwanda (169 km) to the south.
Terrain:
Uganda lies in the Great African Plateau with an average altitude of 1200m
(4000ft) above sea level broken by the Great Rift Valley to the Western Side.
Elevated areas are the Rwenzori mountains (5000m) with permanent snow cover and
Mount Elgon (4300m).
Lakes and Rivers:
Uganda is a well-watered country. Nearly one-fifth of the total area, or 44,000
square kilometres, is open water or swampland. Four of East Africa's Great
Lakes--Lake Victoria, Lake Kyoga, Lake Albert, and Lake Edward--lie within
Uganda or on its borders. Lake Victoria dominates the south eastern corner of
the nation, with almost one-half of its 10,200-square-kilometer area lying
inside Ugandan territory. It is the second largest inland freshwater lake in the
world (after Lake Superior), and it feeds the upper waters of the Nile River,
which is referred to in this region as the Victoria Nile.
Lake Kyoga and the surrounding basin dominate central Uganda. Extensions of Lake
Kyoga include Lake Kwania, Lake Bugondo, and Lake Opeta. These "finger lakes"
are surrounded by swampland during rainy seasons. All lakes in the Lake Kyoga
Basin are shallow, usually reaching a depth of only eight or nine meters, and
Lake Opeta forms a separate lake during dry seasons. Along the border with
Zaire, Lake Albert, Lake Edward, and Lake George occupy troughs in the western
Rift Valley.
Ssese Islands at Lake Victoria
Area:
241,139 sq. km of which 42.000 (17%) sq km is made up of swamps and open fresh
water bodies. 30,000 sq km (12%) forest reserves and game parks.
Nalubaale Power Station near Jinja
Leaving Lake Victoria at Owen Falls, the Victoria Nile descends as it travels
toward the northwest. Widening to form Lake Kyoga, the Nile receives the Kafu
River from the west before flowing north to Lake Albert. From Lake Albert, the
Nile is known as the Albert Nile as it travels roughly 200 kilometres to the
Sudan border. In southern and western Uganda, geological activity over several
centuries has shifted drainage patterns. The land west of Lake Victoria is
traversed by valleys that were once rivers carrying the waters of Lake Victoria
into the Congo River system. The Katonga River flows westward from Lake Victoria
to Lake George. Lake George and Lake Edward are connected by the Kizinga
Channel. The Semliki River flows into Lake Edward from the north, where it
drains parts of Zaire and forms a portion of the Uganda-Zaire border.
Spectacular waterfalls occur at Murchison (Kabalega) Falls on the Victoria Nile
River just east of Lake Albert. At the narrowest point on the falls, the waters
of the Nile pass through an opening barely seven meters wide. One of the
tributaries of the Albert Nile, the Zoka River, drains the north western corner
of Uganda, a region still popularly known as the West Nile although that name
was not officially recognized in 1989. Other major rivers include the Achwa
River (called the Aswa in Sudan) in the north, the Pager River and the
Dopeth-Okok River in the northeast, and the Mpologoma River, which drains into
Lake Kyoga from the southeast.
Mountains:
Southern Uganda lies at an altitude of 1,134 meters above sea level. The plateau
that stretches northward from Lake Victoria declines gradually to an altitude of
914 meters on the Sudan border. The gradually sloping terrain is interrupted by
a shallow basin dipping toward the centre of the country and small areas of
tropical forest, which mark the western border with Zaire.
Both eastern and western borders are marked by mountains. The Ruwenzori
Mountains (often called the Mountains of the Moon) form about eighty kilometres
of the border between Uganda and Zaire. The highest peaks of Mount Stanley, in
the Ruwenzoris, are snow capped. Foremost among these are Margherita (5,113
meters) and Alexandra (5,094 meters). Farther south, the northernmost of the
Mufumbiro volcanoes reach 4,132 meters on Mount Mahavura; 3,648 meters on Mount
Mgahinga; and 3,477 meters on Mount Sabinio, which marks the border with Rwanda
and Zaire.
In eastern Uganda, the border with Kenya is also marked by volcanic hills.
Dominating these, roughly 120 kilometres north of the equator, is Mount Elgon,
which rises from the 1,200-meter plains to reach a height of 4,324 meters. Mount
Elgon is the cone of an extinct volcano, with ridges radiating thirty kilometres
from its crater. Rich soil from its slopes is eroded into the plains below.
North of Mount Elgon are Kadam (also known as Debasien or Tabasiat) Peak, which
reaches a height of 3,054 meters, and Mount Moroto, at 3,085 meters. In the far
northeast, Mount Zulia, Mount Morungole, and the Labwor and Dodoth Hills reach
heights in excess of 2,000 meters. The lower Imatong Mountains and Mount Langia,
at 3,029 meters, mark the border with Sudan.
Habitats:
Uganda is a treasure trove for lovers of natural history. The country is indeed
the pearl of Africa's crown. Most of the country is fertile and well-watered.
There is a wide range of wetland habitats ranging from swamps, sandbanks,
papyrus mats, rivers and vast expanses of water in Lake Victoria.
Living in Uganda's Bwindi National Park is the world's largest population of the
endangered Mountain Gorilla: about 300 gorillas living in 50 troops. About three
troops live in the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park on the borders of Rwanda and
Zaire.
All the monkeys found in Uganda belong to the Cercopithecidae
family divided into five species including, Papio, Erythrocebus, Cercocebus,
Cercopithecus, and Colobus.
There are several types of monkeys under the Cercopithecus specie, which include
the VERVET MONKEY (Cercopithecus aethiops) this, has a black face with very
distinctive blue male genitals. These monkeys are widely spread in Uganda with
four races in existence in and out of national parks but absent from forests and
Afro-alpine habitats.
Vegetation:
Uganda is a country of exceptional diversity. It lies at the overlap between
tropical East African savannah and the West African rainforest zones. Seven of
Africa's 18 plant kingdoms are represented in Uganda, which is more than any
other country on the continent.
The tropical rain forests of Western Uganda have unique flora and fauna, some of
which are endangered species. As part of the emphasis on eco-tourism and in
response to increasing demand from tourists, new nature trails have been
developed in virtually every protected area.
These trails offer an unhurried way of exploring the wilderness and getting near
to nature.
The south of the country is mostly covered by forest and sub-tropical
cultivation (plantains, coffee and tea). There are woodland and open Savanah
grassland areas.
The north is drier than most of the country. It is covered in semi-desert and
dry acacia woodland, which lacks the heavy intertwining canopy found in tropical
forests.
Climate:
Uganda enjoys a tropical climate tempered by altitude. The country is generally
flat though the average altitude is about 1000m. Due to the rather high
altitude, temperatures range between 21 to 25°C. The mountain areas of Mount
Elgon and the Rwenzori mountains are even cooler and the top of both mountains
experiences some snow. The hottest period of the year is from December to
February when temperature rise 29 degrees Celsius. The country experiences two
rainy seasons: April to May and October to November, with April being the
wettest month. The north however has a wet season lasting from April to October.
The best times to visit are December-March and June-September.
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