The Social Media buzz around the African tour by celebrated rapstar, Kanye West, his wife, the reality TV star and fashionista Kim Kardashian and American hiphop maven Big Sean; has unearthed business-as-usual in this East African country called Uganda.
On the afternoon of Monday 15th October, the famous pair held special talks with the President of the Republic of Uganda, HE Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, about promoting tourism and the arts in Uganda.
During the chat that took place at the residence of the Ugandan leader in Entebbe, Kanye revealed some awesome plans he has for Uganda, including the establishment of a top tourism training school in Uganda.
Stoked by the safari in Uganda, Kanye in the meeting with the president spoke of how stunning Uganda was and how he had plans to turn part of Uganda into ‘Jurassic Park.’ His words. He called it his second home.
At the end of the meeting, Mr. Museveni, who welcomed the couple into Uganda, calling it “truly the pearl of Africa”; gifted both Mr. and Mrs. West with a copy of his popular book “Sowing the Mustard Seed” and handed them Uganda’s pictorial showcasing the different tourism destination areas.
He also gave them Ugandan names “Kanyesigye and Kemigisha”, a great amusement to both Kanye and Kim.
Kim and her husband also came with a present for the 74-year old president, a pair of white sneakers from Kanye’s signature brand of Yeezys.
The president also went to twitter to write about the meeting saying “I welcome American entertainment stars Kanye West and @KimKardashian to Uganda. I held fruitful discussions with the duo on how to promote Uganda’s tourism and the arts. I thank Kanye for the gift of white sneakers.”
Kanye who recently rebranded to Ye, arrived at Entebbe International Airport aboard a private jet on Friday 12th October 2018, was immediately airlifted to where he and his crew have been camping at an expensive resort, the splendid Chobe Safari Lodge in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda.
The resort which has been fully booked and privately reserved for the celebrity couple and their entourage for the past couple of days is right in the heart of this wildlife district; right next to the Nile River where the hippos are heard learning to sing the safari baseline, warthogs visit the lodge to remind visitors of Pumba in the celebrated cartoon, Lion King; the birds repeat a beautiful melody and a point at which four of the African Big Five animals roam the plains freely; did I forget the priceless and inspiring views?
Ye, who is also joined by his five-year-old daughter, North West, had previously confirmed his safari to Africa during an interview with US-based tabloid news website TMZ, saying that he would be locating his roots in Africa while recording some cool natural sounds for his new album, Yandhi, that will be ready for public listening this November.
Mr. West demanded for the creation of a temporary outdoor-dome-shaped studio which he had been praising on twitter saying “Spaceship calling earth| 3 Domes Uganda” from which he alongside Big Sean were expected to release what he called some of the craziest sounds the world had ever been able to hear; for his upcoming album.
Big Sean, who is rumored to have already left the country, traveled with Ye to produce music and shoot some videos during the trip.
Despite the bad internet connection in the African bush, Ye has shared snippets from some of the songs on his new album with his fans through twitter while in Uganda.
Kanye is also expected to visit the largest refugee settlement in the world today, called Bidi Bidi which is located in northwestern Uganda; and is home to over 272,000 refugees mainly from South Sudan. He joins celebrities like the Originals Actor, Daniel Gilles who have visited the same refugee community for philanthropy.
Although he is visiting Africa mainly to gain inspiration for his new album, he and family have found time to enjoy some fun time. Kanye, Kim and daughter North went out on a safari game drive in the National Park in search of giraffes, elephants, lions and many other fascinating wildlife; and also took a boat cruise on River Nile.
But perhaps the cherry atop the cake is the fact that they are expected to also visit Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that also shelters more than half of the world’s few remaining mountain gorillas and is one in only four places in three countries where this species of great apes can be found and visited.
Perhaps some quality time with his furry brothers in the impenetrable jungle will inspire more cool vibes for his Yandhi album.
I wish them a memorable gorilla tracking experience and a beautiful rest of their stay in Uganda.
The celebrity family’s visit to Uganda is certainly one of the greatest PR opportunities that the country has been gifted in a while. I mean, for a country as soul-binding as ours not to be known to enough people around the world gets me up each and every morning, for the reason that when I retire at the end of each day, at least one other person would have known that I hail from a country endearing. But maybe Kanye, Kim, Sean and their friends will be able to do this much faster and a lot more effortlessly.
