Uganda geography

Mount Kadam in Uganda.

Uganda is located in eastern Africa. It borders South Sudan to the north, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, Rwanda and Tanzania to the south, and Kenya to the east. The most important cities of the country are located in the south and among them the capital Kampala and Entebbe stand out. The country lies on a plateau with an average elevation of 900 m above sea level. The highest altitude in the country is Mount Stanley at 5,109 m.

Although Uganda is landlocked, it contains Lakes Victoria, Albert, Kyoga and Eduardo. The largest of these is Lake Victoria, in which Uganda has several islands and which borders Kenya and Tanzania. One of the branches of the Nile is born from Lake Victoria. Although the climate is tropical, there are differences between the different regions of the country.

Relief and hydrography

Rivers and lakes in Uganda

Lake Kyoga and its adjacent in central Uganda.

Lake Bunyonyi

Most of Uganda is a plateau that slopes gently to the north. The western part of the country is made up of the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. To the southwest, where Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda meet, lie the Virunga Mountains, with their eight volcanoes. On the border of Uganda with Rwanda, the volcanoes Muhavura (4,125 m), Gahinga (3,474 m) and Sabinio (3,645 m) are located from east to west, the latter at the intersection with the DRC. All three are part of the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.

The border continues to the north, bordering the DRC through a line of mountains of 1800 m that descend to 912 m from Lake Eduardo. Then, the relief rises again in the Rwenzori Mountains, with a series of important peaks on the same border, Mount Speke, 4,890 m, Mount Emin, 4,798 m, Mount Baker, 4,844 m, and the highest high, Mount Stanley, at 5,109 m, and descend again to Lake Albert, at 615 m, which empties into the White Nile. The border continues north across a rolling plateau at 1,200 m altitude and a hilly area to the border with South Sudan in the north.

The rest of the country is a broad plateau dominated by Lake Victoria to the south, at 1,134 m altitude, divided equally between Uganda and Tanzania, of which 31,000 km² belong to Uganda, and Lake Kyoga, to 914 m, of very shallow waters, in the center of the country, fed in turn by the White Nile coming from Lake Victoria to the south and by a series of flows that come from the east, from the border with Kenya, where the Mount Elgon, a 4,321 m extinct isolated volcano that is part of a chain of such volcanoes in the east of the country, including Mount Moroto, 3,083 m, Mount Kadam, 3,063 m, and Mount Morungole, to the north, 2,749 m.

Lake Kyoga, with an area of 1,720 km², has an average depth of 4 m, and is formed by a set of wetlands that extend to the east and southeast and include lakes Kwania, Kojweri, Nawampasa, Adais, Nyasala, Nyaguo, and further east, Bisina, Opeta, Lemwa and Okolitorum. To the west, the lake empties into the White Nile, which after a turn to the north and east to Lugogo) and again to the west empties into the north of Lake Albert, very close to where it leaves the lake again to head towards South Sudan. To the southwest, the White Nile receives the Kafu River before turning north, which receives the Lugogo and Mayanja rivers.

Before reaching Lake Albert, the White Nile, coming from Lake Kyoga 300 m above, crosses a series of rapids including Murchison Falls, in Murchison Falls National Park, a protected area of 3,480 km², covering the last 115 km of the White Nile before the lake.

Northern Uganda is a plateau separated from South Sudan in its central part by the Imatong mountains, which culminate in Mount Kinyeti, already in the neighboring country, with 3,187 m. The north central Uganda plateau is crossed by the Achwa River which gently descends towards South Sudan, where it empties into the White Nile after crossing the Nimule National Park, at an altitude close to 600m. Its tributary is the Pager River.

The northeast of the country is drained by the Okok River, which instead flows from north to south and flows into Lake Bisina.

To the southwest, between the Virunga Mountains and Lake Victoria, there is a Rift Mountain Zone, with mountain ranges running from south to north, over 2000 m in altitude, where Lake Mutanda is located, at 1800 m, and Lake Bunyonyi, at an altitude of 1,962 m, on a volcanic fault line. Lake Mutanda is drained by the Rutshuru River, which flows into Lake Eduardo. The larger Lake Bunyonyi is 25 km long and 7 km wide, with 29 islands.

Ecology

Most of Uganda is in the savannah biome. The WWF distinguishes several ecoregions:

• Eastern Sudanese savannah in the north
• Mosaic of jungle and savannah of the north of the Congo
• Kenyan arbusive savannah in the northeast
• Mosaic of jungle and savannah of the Lake Victoria basin in the center and south of the country

Mountainous areas are covered with jungles and, at higher altitudes, montane meadows:

• Mounted forest of the Albertina fault and páramo of the Ruwenzori and Virunga mountains west
• East African Mount Jungle and East African Rim

Climate

Map of Köppen climates of Uganda. The light blue is tropical savannah, the middle blue is monzonic, and the dark, equatorial blue. The pumpkin is semi-arid.

Mount Moroto, east of Uganda.

Uganda's climate is generally tropical and humid, modified by altitude and locally by lakes. The air masses normally come from the northeast and southeast. Being on the equator, the days last twelve hours all year, and the cloud cover means that there are few variations, with annual averages between 21 and 23.oC and rainfall between 1,000 and 1,500 mm, with maximums between April and May, and July and August.

It's a little warmer at Lake Albert, due to its lower elevation, as well as in the Murchison Falls region. In Notoroko, at 623 m, next to the lake, it falls 980 mm per year, with a maximum in April, and temperatures range between 24 and 30-32.oC all year round. Above 1,500 m, however, nights are cold. The hottest and driest period is from December to March, with northeasterly winds coming from Sudan and Eritrea. Between June and September the south-easterly winds come from the slightly cooler Indian Ocean and Tanzania in the southern part of the country. The north is dominated by the wetter currents of the DRC.

In Kampala, to the south, next to Lake Victoria, 1,290 mm fall in 94 days, with a maximum between March and May and another between September and November, when the sun passes through the equinoxes, and minimums in February and July, although it never rains less than 65 mm per month. Temperatures range from 17-27.oC in July and August, and 18- 29.oC February-March.

In Gulu, in the central north, also at an altitude of 1,100 m, in the middle of the plateau, 1,480 mm fall in 88 days, but the rains are less distributed, there is a dry period between December and February, and in May and August maximums of 200 mm occur with more intense storms.

In the driest area of the country, in the northeast, in Moroto, an area rich in minerals at the foot of Mount Moroto, at 3,083 m, on the border with Kenya, 810 mm fall in 127 days, with a minimum between December and February, but very distributed the rest of the year.

In the southwest, in Kabale, next to Lake Bunyonyi, on the border with Rwanda, at an altitude of 1,962 m, 1,015 mm falls in 116 days, and here the driest period occurs between June and August. At this height, the temperatures are lower: from 9 to 11.oC the minimum, and from 23 to 24.oC the maximum all year round.

National parks and protected areas

In Uganda, there are 712 protected areas, according to the IUCN, covering an area of 243,145 km², 16% of the territory. Of these, one is a nature sanctuary, ten are national parks, a dozen are nature reserves, five are community-managed areas, 12 are Ramsar sites for the protection of birds and more than 600 are forest reserves, totaling some 12,700 km² and ranging from the montane forest of the Albertina fault to pine plantations and eucalyptus, managed by the National Forestry Authority.

• Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, 327 km2
• Kibale National Park, 766 km2
• Kidepo Valley National Park, 1,430 km2
• Lake Mburo National Park, 370 km2
• Gorila National Park of Mgahinga, 38 km2
• Monte Elgon National Park, 1.110 km2
• Murchison Falls National Park, 3,877 km2
• Queen Isabel National Park, 2,056 km2
• Montes Ruwenzori National Park, 995 km2
• Semuliki National Park, 220 km2

Ugandan ethnic groups

There are four main ethnic groups in Uganda, with different origins: the Bantu live in the west and include the Buganda, Banyankole, Basoga, Bakiga, Batoro, Banyoro, Banyarwanda, Bagisu, Bagwere and bakonjo. The Nilotics, in the north, include the Lango, Acholi, Alur, Adhola, Luhya and Jonam ethnic groups. The Nilo-Hamites include the Teso, Karamojong, Kumam, Kakwa, Sebei, Pokot, Labwor, and Tepeth ethnic groups. And the Sudanese, who include the Lugbara, Madi and Lendu tribes. The Hamites are made up mainly of the Bahima. The Arabs and the rest of the population are distant in number.

Apart from ethnic groups, some 30 languages are spoken in Uganda. The official languages are English and Swahili. Other groups that speak Bantu languages are the Ankole, the Toro, the Loa Banyoro, and the Basoga.