Gorilla Trekking
Agandi (hello everyone)

Bananas are big business in Uganda and almost everywhere you look, they are there.

They form a part of everyone’s life, from their cultivation to the table. There are six types of bananas grown in Uganda. They include the popular Matoke, Small Yellow, Big Yellow, Tonto, (for beer and gin) Gonja (ideal for roasting) and the delicious Red banana.

Whilst Matoke is the staple diet of most, Ugandan’s have derived a number of ingenious uses from the banana plant.

BANANA CUSTOMS
- Waragi Gin is made from the Tonto banana and it is culturally accepted that local farmers share a glass of Waragi. If you don’t share amongst friends, it is believed that bad things can come your way.
- A woman can share a Waragi with her husband, but she may not share a drink with other men.
- A fine powder is made from the stems and is sniffed by elders as a means of “cleansing your head”.

Gorilla news: Very sad news from Bwindi is that on the 6th March Kashongo of the Mubare group was killed by a farmer which lead to loss of the groups eldest female is also missing and has not been see by the rangers for some days now. I fear it is not good news and will keep everyone posted.

Tulabagane omwezi ogujja (see you next month)

They include; fibre for roofing, umbrellas, baskets, mats and bags to carry eggs safely. Large leaves are used for of steaming of bananas and other foods and as a form of wrapping so that the Yellow bananas are protected en route to market.

Banana production supports a vast number of people in the rural areas, from the farmers who farm them, to the biker who cycles the “hands” to the local market where a truck driver loads and transports them to the big market in Kampala where they are sold to the urban folk.

P.S. Gorillas don’t actually eat bananas. They love the fleshy bark and stems!

BANANA FACT FILE:
• A bunch of bananas is called a “hand” of bananas and a banana plant should produce four hands per year.
• The maximum number of hands I have seen on one bike going to the market is 7!
• The Buganda Tribe use the sap from the bark to clean the mouth of babies.
• The skin of Matoke is dried and used for cooking or dried with salt and used as chicken feed.

* All pictures copyright Lisa Marsden