Africa, that great continent of more than thirty million square kilometers, one and a half billion inhabitants and fifty-four sovereign nations with thousands of different cultures that, erroneously, tends to be homogenized. That is the macro scenario. But it is the narrative about small regional stories and particularities what this territory urgently needs. The demystification, the escape from stereotypes, an Africa explained from concrete, personal and detailed experiences in light of the data. And that is precisely what Carlos Micó gives us in ‘El país de la grulla’. A series of experiences narrated in the form of a first-person travel chronicle from a specific corner of Africa. One with a very marked identity, but at the same time with an overwhelming historical cultural diversity. We are talking about the pearl of Africa.
Carlos avoids the cliché, referring to Uganda as the country of the crane, but allow me -far from the literary responsibility that the author has- to fall into it and defend the hackneyed tourist slogan of this territory against the -also more than appropriate - allusion to Balearica regulorum, present in the tricolor coat of arms of this nation. And Uganda, in addition to the aforementioned cultural wealth, also treasures an overwhelming ecological and natural diversity, being the home -almost exclusively, in some cases- of iconic species in danger of extinction, such as the majestic mountain gorilla. And all this concentrated in a relatively small territory. That is why the analogy with a pearl still seems appropriate to me, no matter how much I hear it over and over again. Small, hidden, valuable, beautiful. This is what the current, and extended, version of the kingdom of Buganda looks like.
But what am I going to say about the country of the climbing lions? My objectivity is conspicuous by its absence. Not in vain, I got married there, a few kilometers from the place where one of our closest living evolutionary relatives shows his brachiation skills in freedom, the Kibale National Park: natural refuge for the largest community of chimpanzees in the world.
The work ‘El país de la Grulla’ by Carlos Micó, is an undoubtedly autobiographical manuscript. We could define it as a story, certainly introspective, of the moment in which the fruit of a great vocation materializes. The narrative is direct and clear and this, together with the powerful combination that Carlos makes between personal experience and historical and zoological dissemination, captures us in its pages, where we share with the author from his most intimate thoughts and emotions to his most academic knowledge. I recommend immersing yourself in this book carefully, pole pole, tasting each paragraph and unraveling the human and also the intellectual part they contain.
Travel to Uganda with Carlos Micó
Without further ado, I now invite the travelers to join Carlos Micó on his next trip to Uganda from 6 to 19 of August 2024. Prepare yourself for encounters with fascinating animals, ancestral cultures, and long journeys towards the emotions that the African savanna awakens. We will tour this fascinating region with Carlos, from the Ziwa rhino sanctuary, passing through the emblematic Murchison Falls Park until we reach the peak of this trip to Uganda: the encounter with the mountain gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. I advise you to let yourself be carried away by the fascination of someone who discovers something for the first time, just as the guide did on his first expedition through Africa, on his first safaris and contacts with wildlife and their first encounters with the cultures of this exciting continent.
© Photos by Aníbal Bueno and Xavi de las Heras taken during a trip to Uganda.
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