Barcelona legends track Gorillas in Bwindi, Uganda
Dec 11, 2015
Barcelona Legends' Ugandan tour December 8 to 12, 2015
By Louis Jadwong and Agencies
Day 1
Gorilla trekking
Legends of Football club Barcelona in Spain started their Ugandan tour on Wednesday with a tourism visit to one of the world's top mountain gorilla sites, the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
They tracked mountain gorillas all afternoon and are now taking a night's rest before proceeding to Murchison falls National Park and then the Source of River Nile.
They cap their tour when they play a select Uganda national soccer team, Uganda All-Stars, in a match at Namboole stadium on Saturday.
The Uganda Tourism Board is driving the tour, and Unicef, in collaboration with RG Football Academy led by manager Rayco Garcia, will bring 1,000 children from Moroto, Mbarara, Gulu and Arua to watch the match.
“I have been here and I have seen that Uganda has a lot of soccer talent here. There are many young people with great potential to make it on the world stage. We want to give them this opportunity,” Garcia said.
Two of the stars Patrick Kluivert and Edgar Davids visited Uganda earlier as preparations for the historic trip was starting to materialize.
Kluivert commented recently..... “In the short time I have been here, I have no doubt that Uganda is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. We will give you good global coverage for both tourism and investment, because you have a lot to offer.”
The Barcelona stars soon after arriving Kisoro airfield. The roads gave the party a bit of a challenge, but all's well that ends well. Photos of their Gorilla trekking in Bwindi below, as is the facebook account (bottom) of the trip by NEW Vision's Solomon Oleny. PHOTOS BY MPALANYI SSENTONGO.
Davids and Simao Sabrosa, lead a team to Uganda that includes former goalkeeper Jesus Angoy, striker Santiago Ezquerro, former Spain defender Sergi Barjuan and the coach of the Legends team Victor Munoz Manrique.
Others expected are Kluivert, a 1995 Champions League winner, 2006 Champions League final hero Juliano Belleti and 2006 Italian World Cup winner Gianluca Zambrotta, Ludovic Guly and Deco.
The Uganda government, Nile Breweries through their flagship brand Nile Special, UAP, KFC, Sheraton Hotel, Fufa and Unicef have worked together to make the match happen. At Namboole, there will be performances by Bebe Cool, Irene Ntale, Navio and Cindy. Tickets for the match are already on sale at PayWay outlets.
