Dragon Boat Festival: Hundreds gather in Uganda to celebrate Chinese tradition

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June is the month of the dragon-boat festival. It's mainly celebrated in China, but it's becoming increasingly popular in several African countries - including Uganda. Leon Ssenyange reports.

The rallying call. This is the dragon boat festival. Participants converged on the world's second largest lake; Lake Victoria for this annual boat race.

TENG YANG TEAM TAI ZHOU "Our team is called Tai Zhou, today is great for this activity, it's very well, very good."

The dragon boats used were an offer by the Chinese government. Each boat had twenty paddlers, a drummer and a steersman. The teams take turns racing against each other; all paddling to the finish line.

HASSAN BIGANULA TEAM A-ONE "We could see our opponents and the drummers kept urging us to push, we paddled harder but it is fun, it is amazing"

Not short of spectators; many are here for the first time. For others, it is some valuable time to spend with the little ones. Maybe to teach them a thing or two about boats.

"I wanted them to observe the speeds the teamwork and that collective effort demonstrated by the different participant."

LEON SSENYANGE ENTEBBE, UGANDA "The festival is in its second year now and there is indeed a strong sense of camaraderie among competitors and revelers too. Organisers expect that this boating culture will continue to grow."

The dragon-boat festival dates back more than two thousand years in ancient China. Here, it is now intended to foster friendship and cultural exchanges between China and Uganda.

GODFREY KIWANDA MINISTER FOR TOURISM, UGANDA "We are also going to invite our friends especially the countries we share lake victory Tanzania and Kenya so that we enjoy the dragon boat of east Africa."

The splash of the Chinese festival has certainly already caught on for many.

The people here hope it's a tradition that will go on for many more years. LS CGTN Entebbe Central Uganda