Uganda

They call Uganda the “Pearl of Africa” for good reason: Draped along the backbone of the continent, this highland country, with its waterfalls, cloud forests, and great lakes, wears many shades of green and blue. While it’s struggled with its fair share of violence and corruption as a modern nation (the north remains strife-ridden still) Uganda is an amazing destination, presenting an across-the-board assortment of scenic, ecological, and cultural attractions.

The scenery alone sets Uganda apart. The rugged Rwenzoris (the Mountains of the Moon) hold some of Africa’s only glaciers and offer amazing trekking opportunities—including up to the country’s loftiest point, 16,760-foot Mount Stanley—while the Virunga Volcanoes in the south mark a looming, stately borderland with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Meanwhile, the White Nile’s tumble through a gorge above Lake Albert creates one of Africa’s grandest cataracts, Murchison Falls, centerpiece of a namesake wildlife-rich national park. And Lake Victoria, which waters Uganda’s entire southeast, is a landmark unto itself: the second-biggest freshwater lake (by surface area, anyway) on the planet. Among the lake’s special attractions are the 80-odd Ssese Islands, once the stronghold of the Bassese people and popular among backpackers seeking out-of-the-way beaches.

Because Uganda supports such a remarkable diversity of ecosystems—moist forest-savanna tracts, semiarid woodland and scrub, high-country cloud forests and moorlands, even a finger of Central African-style rainforest in the Budongo Forest—you can spot many of East Africa’s defining wildlife in its national parks and preserves. And it’s hard to think of a more all-around rewarding place to look for African primates, for one thing: Kibale National Park has a dozen varieties of monkey as well as easily seen troops of chimpanzees, while Mgahinga and Bwindi Impenetrable national parks shelter some of the world’s only mountain gorillas along with chimps, golden monkeys, and other treetop simians. A different world awaits at Queen Elizabeth National Park in the southwest: Hippos loll in the Kazinga Channel, while on the park’s extensive savannas your game drive may treat you to views of topis, Cape buffalo, waterbuck, elephants, or lions, known here for their unusual tree-climbing predilection.

You may use the capital of Kampala, set on the northwestern shores of Lake Victoria, as little more than a jumping-off point for safari excursions, but the city has much to offer: Whether in the crowded markets or the busy shopping and nightlife districts, it’s a good place to sample some of Uganda’s ethnic diversity, and the Uganda Museum—which includes everything from paleontological and musical-instrument collections to an outdoor Cultural Village—can set your countrywide wanderings in context.

Rather like Cameroon, Uganda’s a smallish country that nevertheless seems to cram inside its borders many of Africa’s major landscapes and ambiences. Whether you’re gazing into the strangely familiar eyes of a mountain gorilla or watching the Nile River born in the outflow of Lake Victoria, you’ll feel close to the very heart of the continent here.