Ultimate tourist attraction: The breasts of a princess

Hidden away in the heart of the Toro kingdom in western Uganda are the Amabeere Ga Nyina Mwiru caves. Directly translated, Amabeere Ga Nyina Mwiru means the “breasts of Nyina Mwiru.”

Toro folklore has it that the caves acquired the name after King Bukuku of the Toro chopped off the breasts of his daughter Nyina Mwiru and had them thrown inside these caves, following a prophecy that the daughter would one day get married and have a son, Ndahura, who would kill the king and take over his throne.

Bukuku sub-county, where the caves are located, is seven and half hours’ drive from Kampala, and I chose not to book this safari through a tour firm because I knew I would get a better deal from public transport and the friendly local people. I arrived in Fort Portal in the evening and I decided to have a good night’s rest before making the journey to the caves in the morning.

After my midmorning breakfast I stood outside the coffee shop marvelling at two imposing hills, one on which the King of Toro, Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru’s palace sits, and the other a misty mass that, I later learn, is not a mere hill but the Rwenzori Mountains.

It was time to set off for my journey to the legendary “breasts.”

I settled for a cheap, a boda boda motorcycle ride for the seven and half bumpy kilometres to Amabeere Ga Nyina Mwiru.

As we rode the dusty road, the mooing of cows in paddocks was all we could hear until we reached the caves, where I was received by Yosam Rubombora, one of the traditional overseers of the historical caves.

New world

The journey down into the caves is a walk into a jungle, literally. It is very slippery, through thickets of bamboo and shrubbery.

On this particular day, there were several groups of visitors to the caves and we needed a bit of team work during the descent into the caves.

Wilson Isingoma is my guide and I envy his ability to effortlessly and fearlessly weave his way through the wet and slippery thicket.

The mini-forest walk was an adventure alright, but what took that will take your breath away were the fine white waterfalls from the rocks above the caves.

It is cold inside the caves, with hardly any sunshine filtering through the rocks and thick vegetation.

The source of the waterfall, Isingoma said, is the Rwenzori Mountains and it flows into the Kamutebe wetland and then drains into a number of rivers such as the Nyakaswa, which drains into River Mpanga near Fort Portal town. From there it flows to Kamwenge district, where it connects to Kasese through Lake George.

But my curiosity was piqued by the “breasts” that hang from the roof of the cave. On closer inspection, sure enough they seem to produce a greyish, milk-like substance.