Sipping on coffee in the generous wild side

Queen Elizabeth National Park, the most popular Uganda safari park, is bounded to the west by the Ishasha River and Lake Edward.

What you need to know:

  • Discover. Adventure is what you make it. For some, it is music and dance while for others, it is in a cup of coffee. Edgar R. Batte visits Queen Elizabeth National Park for adventure and a cup of coffee.

Any given weekend gataway in the wild side of the Pearl of Uganda, as explorer Winston Churchill saw and appreciated Uganda, can bring some travel favour with it. 

A recent opportunity to visit Queen Elizabeth National Park in the south western part of the country was a richly rewarding experience. The catch was that we were gearing to sip on some coffee. 

As such our host, Tony Miiro, proprietor of Nonda Coffee dubbed the four-day gataway ‘Coffee in the wild’. He is another enthusiast who thinks that the aromatic beverage has potential and commercially good ties with travel and tourism. 

Coffee and the wild

My palate connived with the curiosity spirit to follow the coffee aroma to the national park. Miiro’s is a nostalgic story that dates back to his childhood when he saw his father trade in coffee in Luweero District, a few kilometres from Kampala, Uganda’s Central Business District (CBD). 

He would like to marry coffee experiences with tourism in the sense that communities living around Queen Elizabeth National Park find a commercially rewarding reason not to poach and kill elephants but rather conserve them for a symbiotic benefit.

His motivation is far-fetched; the story of the elephants of Thailand and the value they add to coffee. A kilogramme of coffee in the South-East Asian country fetches a premium price, and simply because of the flavour it acquires when it is excreted by elephants. 

A google search on the price of coffee in Thailand, brings up a story of blogger Sandis Mukans who writes that the average price for a cup of coffee in Thailand is 70 Baht (about US$2.29) but more than 30 000 Baht for a kilogramme of Black Ivory Coffee, the world’s rarest coffee. 

“To your surprise, it is naturally refined by elephants in Thailand,” he adds. So, elephants are encouraged to eat coffee and defecate the premium berries. A funny concept, huh! 

Well, as Miiro and the barrister filled and refilled our coffee mugs, he shared the itinerary that included a visit to the Kataara Women’s Group; 50 women who are already leveraging their proximity to the park by making items for sale to tourists. 

They make baskets, gift packs, notebooks, books, earrings and other accessories from elephant dung. The coffee idea was another one they happily welcomed since they can serve Ugandan blended coffee to tourists who visit their village shop in Kataara or to those who prefer home or community stays. 

The business

Already, the women grow coffee and Miiro’s idea seemed a new strand of thought that sought to make business sense but also mitigate the human-wildlife conflict with the community bordering Queen Elizabeth National Park. Besides selling crafts, they sell roasted coffee berries to tourists. If the elephants eat their coffee and excrete it, they can collect it and make more money. 

To that end, the ‘coffee in the wild’ affair left some good food-for-thought. The next morning started on a high. The park was in its generous spirit for the Easter holiday. 

We met many tourist vehicles parked at its entrance as tours and travel agents paid entrance fees for their clients who were eager to explore the savannah grasslands in search of wildlife. 

In about an hour, we had seen a pride of lions, buffaloes, warthogs, Uganda Kobs, bird species and more. Then as we combed the rugged roads, besides a thicket, lay a dead Uganda Kob with an open stomach.

It must have been killed by one of the lions and left it in the open, with its intestines and other organs visibly fresh to the eye. As our trip handler, John Kaddu Mugalu drove us down to Lake Bunyampaka, a salty lake where we saw flamingos, from a distance. 

There, tourists, and most of them Ugandans, shopped for craft items. There was also breakfast sold and served in some stalls. The Rolex was there too and you should have seen how eager white folks were to have a taste of the snack whose name they can only identify with a luxurious watch brand on their continent. 

Satisfying

From their smile, the people who fixed the chapatti, tomato, cabbage and onion meal, had done a good job. As everyone went shopping or feeding, the photo-savvy lot were having the time of their lives utilising the lake backdrop for some photography moments, and with smiles. 

I heard a French couple say, ‘c’est la vie’ (that’s life) as they smiled at each other after a flying bird chose to let out its droppings on the shirt of one of their children. 

They went on to take selfies. Miiro was enchanted by the beauty but his mind was already alert to selling his Nonda Coffee brand to tourists. He invited them to the lodge for a free tasting session that evening. 

Another drive through the park gave us another glimpse of more wildlife. At nightfall, elephants called out, close by and so did the roaring lions. That was special, sleeping in the wild and hearing its residents. At daybreak, the birds sang and chirped, complementing the ambience the best way anyone would yearn for.