Sunday, September 4, 2011

Goat Races

Yesterday was the day of the annual "Royal Ascot Goat Races" in Kampala.  I had never had a desire to go to a goat race before, but one of my co-workers was organizing buses to the races (we were a group of ~30 people) and said it was quite the event, so I decided to go and brought along some of the Global Health Corps folks. One would think a goat-race would be a low-key affair, but this was quite a big deal with corporate sponsorships, a flying display, fireworks, and tons of food and drink.  Part of the event was the costume contest - you'll see a couple dressed in "My Fair Lady" attire below. 

One thing to note:  goats are terrible racers.  In one race I watched, the winning goat turned around and ran in the wrong direction twice during the race.  The "racing" required a lot of prodding from the trainers, and they actually followed the goats with a pusher so that they wouldn't run too far in the wrong direction. 

All in, it was a fun and very amusing day by the water with lots of great people.  







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