JK Rowling IDs Hogwarts Biggest Competition, a Wizard’s School in Africa

It’s been almost 10 years since J.K. Rowling brought out “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, the last in the popular series, but she keeps fans updated in myriad ways. Most recently she has identified four more wizardry schools around the world, and the biggest is in Africa, called Uagadou (pronounced Wagadoo).

At a Harry Potter celebration at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida on Friday, the names and locations of four competitors to Hogwarts were made known – Ilvermorny in the U.S., Castelobruxo in Brazil, Mahoutokoro in Japan, and the biggest wizarding school, Uagadou in Africa.

The only location given for Uagadou in a description on Rowling’s page Pottermore is the “Mountains of the Moon”, and it is described as a mountainside edifice that seems to float in midair. The students come from all over the continent, and mostly cast spells without wands but rather point their finger or use hand gestures.

Rowling says Africa “has a number of smaller wizarding schools (but) there is only one that has stood the test of time (at least a thousand years) and achieved an enviable international reputation: Uagadou. … Much (some would say all) magic originated in Africa, and Uagadou graduates are especially well versed in Astronomy, Alchemy and Self-Transfiguration”.

Rowling carries on that “At a recent International Symposium of Animagi, the Uagadou School Team attracted a lot of press when their exhibition of synchronised transforming caused a near riot. Many older and more experienced witches and wizards felt threatened by fourteen-year-olds who could turn at will into elephants and cheetahs, and a formal complaint was lodged with the International Confederation of Wizards by Adrian Tutley (Animagus: gerbil). The long list of celebrated ex-students produced by Uagadou includes Babajide Akingbade, who succeeded Albus Dumbledore as the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards”.