Marvin Odongo

Dear US State Department, Today, at exactly 15:02PM, I turn 50 years of age. I was born at St. Charles Lwanga Hospital, in Nyakyibale, Rukungiri District - quite close to the breathtaking Bwindi Impenetrable Forest at the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. That means I have lived long enough to know that this travel travel advisory is not in good faith, a few challenges in a young country, wiggling itself out of poverty, ignorance, and the colonial legacies, notwithstanding. How is Uganda safe for the world’s rarest great apes, but too unsafen and dangerous for Americans? A few facts: Only about 1,063 mountain gorillas left on the planet, close to half of them live in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. This Park is located in Uganda. In the 1980s the species fell to just 240 animals. Today, Bwindi alone is home to at least 459, and the number keeps growing. The interesting story here is that one of the most vulnerable species on the planet found sanctuary in Uganda and is thriving there. Yet the US State Department still lists Uganda among the most dangerous places an American can go. The main reason for that label has largely disappeared. Uganda was raised to Level 4 in May because of an Ebola outbreak that began in neighbouring DRC. Uganda’s Ebola cases were imported. 18 of the 20 imported patient cases recovered. Be informed we are only connected to DRC by this Gorrila sanctuary. The border between us was a colonial construction by the Berlin Conference of 1884 - 1885. We were never consulted about this border. Those colonialists did not even consult the apes. That is why the apes keep defying that artificial and anti- African border by crossing into DRC and Rwanda as and when they so wish. More importantly, the WHO has confirmed Uganda Ebola- free on August 26, 2026. Even during the outbreak, flights, gorilla tracking and safaris Even during the outbreak, flights, safaris and gorilla treks kept running normally. None of the grorrilas got sick. You know they are the closest apes to humans, including Americans. Recently, the Ugandan Vet Doctor who started treating the Gorrlias in 1996, Dr. @DoctorGladys, has been nominated for the @CNNHeroes award by your own media house. Other Western have also judged Uganda differently: Germany rates it Level 3 and Italy rates it Level 2, far from the war-zone category. In the 2025 Global Peace Index, Uganda was one of the five most improved countries in the world, climbing 12 places. But Africa has made its own judgment too. The Confederation of African Football has entrusted Uganda, alongside Kenya and Tanzania, with the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, the continent’s biggest sporting event. Nobody hands their flagship tournament to a country they consider unsafe. Meanwhile, the world keeps meeting in Kampala. Just recently, one of @FortuneMagazine's World's Most admired companies, the @Marriott, opened shop in Uganda. The world's Global health ethicists are gathered here this week for the Makerere Bioethics Conference. More than 500 African social enterprises arrive for the Pan African Social Enterprise Summit on November 23 and 24. Delegates from 45 countries come for the International GORILLA Conference from November 30. These follow the Trans Africa Investment Summit, the Digital Government Africa Summit and an African Union summit on Somalia, all hosted in Kampala in recent months. The point I am making is that footballers, investors, scientists and heads of state keep choosing Uganda, and the gorillas chose it long ago. Please, review this travel advisory and let the Americans come and visit their cousins in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. #AFCON2027 #GorillaTrekking