Seasoned Laraka Raka dancers were shuffling their feet on the dusty dance floor with expertise.

Chests were curved as faces got dotted with sweat beads. The sun lit the arena as men and women panted for breath.

When the van ground to a halt our interest was to buy roasting sweet maize by a homestead doubling as a pub. “Karibu” (you are welcome) sh500 for each,” announced the attendant Peter Ojok.

To co exist with elephants, the Nwoya people have opted to keep bee hives to wad them off their gardens

“Wan ke ken” (We are one people) Ojok added with a slur announcing the volume of consumed beverages. “Come and we dance.” 

Soon the 14 of us joined the party. Like children doing a Ring a Ring of Roses in circles here, pumping torsos there and smiling at nothing there. Glasses filled with gin were sipped empty. You could see a patron corrugate the forehead as it slid down the throat. Then thump the  chest before staggering back for another dance.

“Dingi dingi or Larakaraka dances help us rejoice after a tough day in the gardens,” confided the LC Tom Okello. "It is our social, economic and political  stress management mechanism."

The venue was Nwoya where communities like these have to cope with their proximity to Murchison Falls National Park. Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) are skilling them to reap from tourism-related activities.

After every sip of the local sorghum gin, the Dee Jay turned the volume knob of his phone to the right. Live music was replaced by local artists.

A chorus of a live band competed for listeners with live choruses as dust was raised.

The guests left the dance floor after mastering how to shuffle their feet to Dingi Dingi. Some continued swinging their elbows back and forth in the bus aisle. Others did the soldiers goose march instead.

Soon there was some mini-inflation as we bought all the maize cobs and bought a five liter can of gin for the patrons at sh5000. The party got livelier and chatty.

“Elephants were such a menace,” recounted LC Tom Okello. “These beasts could come at night and dine on a whole ten acres of maize, cassava or sorghum. But Uganda Wildlife authorities taught us how to keep them away.

Emolokony (cow hoof) stew has become so popular in Gulu, some folks are claiming those are its roots.

More than 1000 members in the community have embarked on beekeeping. This means saving the agricultural items in the gardens and earning some more money from honey.

“On top of that we have formed drama groups that entertain guests for a fee,” said Hilda Akec, the tourism officer of Nwoya. “With time they expect to get costumes and be able to dramatize Okot’p Biteks Song of Lawino.”

Akec says the poet’s tombs are destined to be promoted into a tourist attraction for literature and drama lovers.

“Fireside narratives are ancestral here in Acholi,” stressed Akec. “That is why the tale of Gipir and Labong is just a starter to what is on the long list on the menu of stories where the hare features prominently.”

Akec says the traditional cuisines are another attraction for food lovers. They comprise Kwon (bread,) potatoes, cassava and green vegetables. These are eaten with sauces of: smoked meat, fish or chicken in groundnut stew. Lately Odi (sesame paste) which is their staple food has found its way on shelves of supermarkets.

Counting the attractions of cultural tourism in Gulu, the Uganda Tourism Board CEO Lilly Ajarova said it is a cluster with lots of potential.

“There is Fort Patiko which could rival Fort Jesus among culture tourists,” said Ajarova. “The venue is ideal for carnivores, festivals and galas. That is what we call a tangible attraction. The walls where captured slaves were kept are still intact.”

The Acholi community has action-packed stories to tell any visitor with interest.

The 600, 000 survivors of the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) civil war make real life stories stranger than fiction. Their language Acholi is a Western Nilotic language, classified as Luo.

The Acholi homes described by Bitek in his anthology were circular huts with a high peak, furnished with a mud sleeping-platform, jars of grain and a three stone fireplace. The walls were splashed with mud. They doodled with geometrical designs, birds and mammals in red, white or grey. Traditionally before Murchison Falls National Park was gazetted they hunter game using nets and spears.

You can tell who is a resident and a domestic tourist by the way they swing and sing the song.

The colonialists found the energetic men from Gulu ideal for the armed forces and they dominated the ranks. One of the former presidents of Uganda was Tito Okello who hailed from there.