When one thinks of going to Africa only safaris come to mind, yet it is developing into a region of cultural and sustainable tourism as well. The Dufile fort was built by the native Madi people, who were among the first tribes in Africa to come in contact with Europeans, Egyptians races and played a big role in the history of the region. Situated in the Moyo district, it was built between 1874 and 1879 for governor Charles Gordon. Location: Dufile is on the western bank of the Nile in Moyo District, West Nile region How to get there: Can be reached by road or boat from Laropi. Emin’s old harbour is now the departure point for passenger ferries to Nimule in the Southern Sudan. The West Nile was destabilized for over 30 years because of civil war, the war in the Sudan and the LRA insurrection to the east. As a result the maldi tribes lost a sense of identity and had few cultural sites. It is hoped that the fort will be maintained as a cultural icon after excavation, and that a visitor’s center will be built in order to showcase local crafts and traditional museum displays. This particular site is unique in the sense that it is both a cultural center as well as a battlefield, attracting many different types of visitors. Madi territory is hilly and traversed by rivers and streams. The Madi are a sedentary agrarian community. Their economy is based on subsistence agriculture, in which the main crops are sorghum, maize, cassava, groundnuts and tobacco. In the 1960s, the farming of tobacco was introduced as a cash crop but this was disrupted by war. The Madi rear small herds of cattle, goat and sheep as well as fowl. In the 1830s, Egyptians moved south into the Sudan. Their attraction was ivory, then in high demand for making piano keys, billiard balls and cutlery handles. They also came to get slaves who were sold in Egypt but were also shipped to Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states. The fort is one of 335 national sites and monuments in Uganda. The Dufile project was initiated in 2004 to find out more about the Madi, one of the African societies most heavily impacted by the 19th century slave trade. Not much is known about the history of East Africa and Uganda, this is what prompted research in the region and is now bearing fruit. Source: All Africa