1 Day Fort Patiko & Acholi Tour from Gulu City

Acholi Culinary Experience

After take off from Gulu City, you’ll branch off along the route leading to Baker Fort Patiko for Acholi Tour experiences i.e. Acholi Culinary Experience and Acholi Traditional Dances Experience. On arrival at Acholi homestaed you’ll be welcomed by Bwola Dance – a traditional Acholi Royal Dance majorly performed during coronation of Acholi chiefs (Rwot) or in special events in Acholi palaces and special Acholi events.

After joining the Acholi homstead, you’ll be introduced to Acholi local chefs mainly Acholi women who know how to prepare delicious Acholi cuisines like Malakwnag, Boo, Lakotokoto, Lachakachaka, Dek Ngor, e.t.c. This Acholi Culinary Experience deep in Acholi Villages with Grime Sadfaris is a participatory Acholi tour experience, you will be able to have a chance to prepare best and most famous Acholi foods step by step till consumption on Calabashes and clay bowls locally made by Acholi artisans.

Acholi Traditional Dances Experience

Acholi traditional dances with Grime Safaris deep in Acholi Villages is a very special African experience that is a testimony of celebration of Culture and Heritage in Northern Uganda among the Acholi people. Grime Safaris Uganda arranges these Acholi traditional dances to enable tourists to enjoy African music, dance and drama through various unique Acholi dances like; Bwola Dance, Orak/Larakaraka Dance, Otole Dance, Dingi Dingi Dance, Apiiti Dance, Ajere Dance among others.

All Acholi Traditional Dances performed during Acholi Cultural tours with Grime Safaris have unique meanings and significance to the Acholi people of Northern Uganda and South Sudan example; Courtship dances, Funeral dance, Pot Dance among others. You will get to learn more about Acholi Dances on Acholi tours with Grime Safaris Uganda.

After Acholi Culinary Experience and Acholi Traditional Dances Experience in Acholi Villages, we shall proceed with our journey to Foirt Patiko and Ajulu Rock.

Fort Patiko Tour

Arrival at Fort Patiko, you will be welcomed by a site tour guide at Baker’s Fort Patiko a former slavery and slave trade market in East Africa. Originally Fort Patiko used in the 1800s as a hub for the Arab slave and ivory trade, the site was taken over and fortified on December 25, 1872, by British explorer Sir Samuel Baker to suppress the slave trade. It later served as a base for Equatorial Province governors Charles Gordon and Emin Pasha through 1888.

Got Ajulu (Ajuku Rock)

Located a short distance from the main Fort Patiko ruins, Got Ajulu (Got Mola / Ajulu hill) is a prominent granite rock formation and plateau that served as a natural stronghold and cave hideout during the slave trade era and it was a place for nurturing young men due great impacts on the people of Patiko and Pawel by Slavey and salve trade.

Ajulu Rock Hike

Ajulu Rock (locally known as Got Ajulu) is a prominent historical and cultural landmark located in Acholiland, a few meters north of Fort Patiko (Baker’s Fort) in Gulu District, Northern Uganda.

Meaning of Ajulu – In the Acholi language, Ajulu translates to “upbringing” or a “nurturing rock/mountain”.

Traditional Ceremonies: Historically, Acholi chiefs and elders used the hill to carry out cultural and moral instruction for the youth, teaching girls domestic skills and training boys in hunting, leadership, and village defense.

Slave Trade Hideout ground: During the 19th-century Arab slave trade era, local leader Rwot Kikwiyakare utilized a cave system inside Ajulu Rock to hide young boys and girls. These hidden youths later helped repopulate Acholiland after the slave trade was suppressed because many Acholi people lost their lives, others were taken out as slaves.