26/27 OCTOBER 2011

KENYA – Country number 23 – KENYA

NAKURU

Crossing at the Malaba border, the bodas here are bicycles that are used to travel the distance between Uganda and Kenya’s border posts – gee those blokes really earn every cent because its hard work when you get a mzungu like me who is no lightweight, let alone the pack I am carrying too. After clearing Kenya’s immigration easily (and quizzing them about a multiple entry – no go). The first thing I notice around here are the Kenyan police who carry a swagger stick – a colonial remnant perhaps?

A panga is a BIG knife, not unlike a machete

I get matatu (minibus) transport to Eldoret where we arrive at a very chaotic bus station. Thankfully I am offered to change to an ‘express’ to Nakuru, my destination today.  Only thing is I have to pay for all the way to Nairobi but as Kenya’s shilling is also being devalued as I type – 3 months ago 38 shillings = $1. Today a dollar buys me 98 Kenyan shillings. So the difference is $1 which is minimal and within a couple of hours I get dropped right in Nakuru, just in time for a massive short rain to hit town.  From the map I know where I’m headed but the rain is so dispiriting – I stop at one corner and some nice blokes ask me what I’m looking for – a guest house. Here is Ksh500 and there is Ksh250 they tell me – I head over to the Care Guest House on top of Ribbons restaurant. Their Ksh500 room is great – self contained with hot water and soon I’m drying off then being fed well downstairs on a whole fish with good vegies for 150 shillings. When the rain clears I walk around town to check out other room options here in town but I quickly decide I’ve got a good deal. Even the guidebook’s fav recommendation is not even as good as what I already have for half the price! There are quite a few street children begging here and with the rain falling again they are particularly pathetic on these puddled streets.

Boda Bodas waiting for a ride

Kuku is swahili for chicken

Morning brings a sunny day and I start the rounds of travel agencies to find out how I can get on a safari to the Masai Mara. First up is Pega Tours who want Ksh 36,000 for 2 nights/3 days and they are very reluctant to let me out to compare prices elsewhere. Next I try Crater Travel, who offer the same thing but for Ksh 28,000 but staying at a lodge near the Sekenani Gate. Last up I try Spoonbill, who undercut Crater but are staying at the same gate as Pega. I decide to go with Crater because their lodge at the Sekanani gate so is sited closer to the centre of the park, the Information centre and less time will be spent travelling into the park. When I go back to Pega to tell them, they are happy to undercut Spoonbill, but I assure them my decision is based on the lodge gate. I try the ATMs for cash but they are only giving out a maximum of Ksh20,000 and because my bank charges for every withdrawal, I would prefer to make a larger withdrawal in one go to avoid paying more of their charges. Eventually one bank admits to allowing larger withdrawals ‘upstairs’ where it takes 30 minutes to get Ksh70,000 in one transaction.

This loads me up with cash so I can return to Crater travel to pay for tomorrow’s safari and I spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing, exploring town and admiring beaded sandals. I quite like Nakuru and will use it as a base for further travel afield when I return from safari next week. For now though I start researching the lakes nearby – Lake Nakuru and Lake Bogoria as both are reputed to have flamingos. Car and driver price quotes are astronomical as I am on my own with no one to share the costs so I forget it for a few days and look forward to checking out animals over the weekend instead.

FACT: Two women are in custody after refusing health workers from immunising their children with an oral polio vaccine. Apparently the priest at the church, who is also a secondary school teacher, chased the immunisation team away because they only believe in God for healing. “We do not believe in medication. We seek spiritual intervention when we become sick,” said the priest.

I reckon they ought to have jailed the priest and not the ignorant women..

22 – 25 OCTOBER 2011

JINJA and SIPI FALLS, UGANDA

Check in at the very friendly Explorers Backpackers and get an empty dorm to myself.

It is very laid back here as all the party animals check into their sister lodge at Bujagali Falls, where the overland trucks pull in. It’s a lovely garden and I settle in to ring and book in to Zen Tubing: no longer operating. Next try booking an African Queen sunset cruise: not operating yet, maybe next year. Then try booking for the Jet boat ride here – no go because the driver is with his wife in england while she give birth to their first child. Oh dear, aside from trying to kill myself on Grade 5 rafting, that only leaves the sunset cruise (read booze cruise, due to its open bar) tomorrow night. I book in and relax in the garden to soon meet  Sam who had been volunteering at a school in Arusha, teaching Physics for the last three months. He is lovely to talk to, free wi fi comes back online and I spend the evening researching ways to pick up a tour of the Masai Mara from Nakuru in Kenya without having to go to Nairobi first. It is lovely and relaxed here and the young uns head out to later while I head to bed. Next morning Sam tells me the night out was good BUT he had his wallet nicked then after trying to ring the bank and running out of credit, had his 

The source of the White Nile River

phone knocked off as well!! I help him out to contact his bank with some cash to tide him over till he gets to the bank to use his spare card. He’s off to battle the rapids on a rubber raft today and not back in time to indulge in the booze cruise. I walk to town, to market, back to a walk bridge seriously guarded by two armed soldiers. I find the Speke Memorial, where John Hanning Speke, an intrepid English explorer, declared this place as being the source of the Nile River – the White Nile at least. This was confirmed by Henry Morton Stanley.

The Blue Nile springs form Lake Tana in Ehtiopia. There is still a lot of argey bargey about tributaries contributing to the river but Jinja is claiming that The Nile’s source is Lake Victoria; therefore here is the source of the Nile. I start to get a bit weary but find its quite isolated around here and no boda bodas competing for business here.  Then in the distance I’m sure I can hear one that eventually appears, so I flag him down and get back to town tout suite.

Fishing on Lake Victoria

Booze cruise is a lovely relaxed evening. I meet a traveller who has travelled south from Ethiopia and she managed to pick up a safari from Nakuru into the Masai – there is hope for my idea maybe… I fill up on drinks and snacks and after getting back to Explorers, Sam I am and I head into town to get online – alas a power outage foils our plans. Our evening is as exciting as Sam getting conned into buying two rolexs for dinner and we walk a length or two of Main St before heading back to the backpackers.

Wake up to rain, rain, go away! Hmm do I want to venture to Sipi Falls today? Or I could stay here in town, check out the Nile Brewery for a souvenir for Kyle, go out to the Bujagali falls and the Kilombera weaving workshop, and there are all the crafty places that were closed yesterday.

I decide to stay. Then the rain eases off and I decide again to go because staying will only mean spending more money and buying more ‘stuff’ when I had planned to leave Uganda on the shillings I have already. So I pack and along with Sam I Am, we leave together to find NO boda bodas at the gate, nor at the corner – the rain has sent them all into hiding. We walk a couple of blocks when one boda boda sheltering calls out and Sam I Am kindly offers it to me. I get off to town to sit in a minibus headed to Mbale for the next hour. It takes so long to fill (my fault I know because of my lazy late start) that folk on board are ordering lunches, getting it delivered and dining right there in the back seat! Lol

We get on our way, a trouble free160km trip and I get dropped at a central corner in Mbale to look for another taxi traveling to Sipi Falls. I walk around the corner – “Auntie, Auntie, Sipi Falls? Crows Nest?” Why yes, my man, that’s exactly where I want to go and my carriage awaits me needing only two other passengers to fill it. Half an hour later I get dropped at the Crow’s Nest’ driveway, get greeted by a prospective guide (or is that he sees a prospective walker) who carries my pack up the hill to check in. I take a bed in the dorm – which is empty, nicely netted and with amazing views from the verandah.  No power here – they have a generator but only turn it on for groups.

At the bar

Sipi Falls is in the western foothills of Mt Elgon in Kenya and the countryside is lush, green with only the constant cascading water for a soundtrack. The rain is setting in to a light drizzle making the mud paths very treacherous for awkward old me but I persist; make it down to the village where the poverty is so striking and reminiscent of many parts of West Africa. Except there it was hot and here it is cold and wet. To see little skinny kids shivering away in a thin shirt and shorts or skirt with the only toy in sight, a buckled bicycle rim that kids take turns pushing along with a fashioned stick, stopping every now and again to wash it down in a muddy puddle because this mud is very sticky. The majority of elderly women are also barefooted but gumboots are favoured by the men. Everyone is stepping lightly except for some kids that are skidding down the slopes on the mud.

Sheltering from the rain

No power here either but the bar offers to put a beer in the fridge – ten minutes. As if, but I go along with it and ask them to keep another one in there for tomorrow same time – with some luck I may get a cool beer tomorrow night. Do you have Club? No. What do you have? We have Nile, Pilsener and Club. I will have a Club please.

Somewhere over the rainbow

There is a television hooked up to a DVD player that shows continuous African music videos – if its not a religious song, it will be gangster rap with many gorgeous girls wiggling hips. The kids on the street take in every bit of it and I can only assume they have memorised all the moves.  Back to Crows Nest for my pre ordered dinner of bamboo shoots in groundnut sauce, vegies and rice – Delicious and today’s paper even had a recipe for bamboo shoots that I have now saved – I’m sure Tez will be impressed.  Tonight the quiet countryside is disturbed by music and DJs very close by, until 5am.

I sleep with earplugs and it is not enough to stop this racket. At breakfast I ask about it – it’s the neighbouring lodge whose owner passed away but is not yet buried. The family are keeping a vigil each evening for him. Yes they have electricity and they will keep vigil every night until the funeral – BLAH I find it quite bizarre that I came here because it is gorgeous and natural and quiet and this chap passes away at a lodge right next door to where I am staying and his vigil requires loud music, karaoke prayers to loud music and by daybreak many spoken prayers and hallelujahs…



Next day I walk and walk, check out falls one and two, find that I am still instilling fear in small children although the occasional kid is brave enough to come and shake hands with me. Visit a few other lodges especially one built around the last English Governor’s holiday home – great views of the main cascades. Lunch at another UCOTA (Uganda Community Tourism Association) project – Moses - with great views and vegies on a lovely deck.  Only one tourist here as well, who is camping in his 4wd. Getting back to Crow’s Nest in loads of time to watch the gathering clouds and a heavy downpour that followed. But soon it stops enough to head back to the village for my daily beer then back for another dinner of bamboo shoots – I feel like I’m competing with the gorillas for their fav foods. The evening begins very quietly but around midnight I am woken by dreadful singing accompanied by the same amplified music. Now I think it may be a backing track for sung prayers??? Either way it’s very annoying and I decide I’m out of here – two nights with no sleep is all I can handle. By 6.30am I’m packed and walking to the main road for a matatu back to Mbale. Of course my appearance attracts the young village men who quickly inform me that today is market day and there won’t be many matatus going all the way to Mbale – of course, my good luck has well and truly run out here in Sipi. They suggest I get a boda down the hill to the junction, but I don’t fancy heading right down the hill for 10kms with my pack. Eventually my patience pays off and a crowded car pulls up with room for one more. He kindly drops right at the taxi going to the border town of Tororo and they turf a young man out of the front seat and give it to me. I have no qualms whatsoever about this nowadays and soon enough we’re off, an hour late we pass through Tororo and onto Malaba. A lovely wander through another crummy border town and use the last of my Ugandan Shillings to indulge in that wonderful Ugandan specialty, my last rolex. Easy out of Uganda but Kenya only gives me thirty days at a cost of $50 – I will have to investigate extending it in Nakuru or Nairobi.

FACT: Uganda seems like it is may be on a road to nowhere very fast – after reading this collection of items I will let you be the judge.

Big news every day in the newspaper this week with much lamenting is their beloved Cranes’ football loss to Kenya and their failure to qualify for the Africa All Nations Cup next year. Their star player, David Obua was expelled from the training camp a day before the match because he did not appear in a photo shoot audience during a visit from the president. Memories of General Amin??

Current Parliament is in an uproar after revelations that some ministers abused their powers and profited from cash gifts off foreign oil companies. People were riveted to their TVs for 2 days as parliament was televised showing MP after MP making statements demanding conduct investigations. The President maintains that the tendered documents were fake and so far that is that! Caucus has now decided that it would be unfair to make ministers accused of alleged corruption step aside. And the current transaction that is pending a parliamentary probe is not affected by the recent parliamentary resolution that asked the Government to impose a moratorium on all new oil transactions until the necessary laws have been put in place.

A woman tried to kill herself after finding condoms in her husband’s trouser pockets. He claimed to have received them from an NGO who was distributing them free of charge, but she remained unconvinced and tried to hang herself before neighbours rescued her.

More than 200 children have been evicted from the Buddikiro Childrens Agency after the District Board allocated the land to Lt Col Muheirwe. Newspapers report that the majority of stranded children have resorted to house breaking, pick pocketing smoking marijuana, robbery, theft and burglary. I assume they were ignoring the land theft that contributed to the children being on the streets in the first place??

A Health + Beauty liftout had several features including one about skin cancer reporting that light skinned people and albinos are at greater risk. A statement from Claire Wabule, Secretary for albino women and children: Our lives are endangered. People sacrifice us because they believe our body parts can be used as medicine to cure diseases like HIV/AIDS, and make fetishes for acquiring wealth. Sounds like she has more to worry about than too much sun, methinks?

Lwengo district sacks 120 teachers: Accusing them of failing the Universal Primary Education programme, the chairman related how over 30 teachers had been found with fake credentials while others had abandoned their schools for over two months. “When we discovered the majority of the affected teachers had left their work for a long time and were continuing to receive their monthly salaries, we had to take action” he said. They have now finalised plans to advertise and recruit 120 teachers to replace those that were fired. Ahh efficiency?

Ten million Ugandans do not have toilets – the report went on to say close to 30.3% of the Ugandan population have no toilets. Statistics also show that over 17% of all deaths in children aged under five are caused by diarrhoea. This is supported by the report which shows only 24% of the people living in rural areas wash their hands after visiting the latrine, but this is an improvement from 21% in the 2009/2010 financial year. Experts attributed the rampant bacterial diseases in the country on poor sanitation. OOOH perhaps they need toilets and then the taps can follow?

The security minister has asked his constituents to desist from practising witchcraft because the vice was causing the district to lag behind in development. He also warned that the culprits risked being lynched by mobs.  The next article went on to say: Traditional herbalists recently fled after residents attempted to lynch them. The residents were upset when the herbalists failed to heal their colleague, who had been attacked by demons, after raising sh800, 000 to pay the traditional healers. 

Walk to Work protesters from Activists for Change, are charged with taking part in an unlawful assembly. The Police Chief would like to charge them with treason punishable by death and the President would like anyone who is charged to be imprisoned for six months, without trial on the grounds that the Walk to Work protests are a deliberate and well planned plot to overthrow the government. The Opposition feel that this is distorting the law to suit the Presidents whims over the right to demonstrate.

15 - 22 OCTOBER 2011

KAMPALA

 

With another tourist I leave Edirisa for the short walk to the Post Office with my pre-ordered rolex in hand – a chappati rolled around an omelette - for breakfast. We’re both catching the Posta Bus, which is slower because it drops off mail at major post offices on the way, but is decidedly safer than alternative bus companies.  As we near the bus there is much commotion and we comment to each other that it is often hard to determine how serious it is, when we notice a bloke being punched, pushed and chased away, the subject of a bit of early morning mob justice. Talking with the conductor later, he tells me that ‘some people think he was stealing money’ and ‘the mob were taking care of him.

He agreed with me that crowds could be easily misled and I could see how crowds could so easily get out of control in fits of temper here in any African country. It’s a relaxing drive through green, cultivated countryside and I travel over the equator for the third time this trip, to Kampala arriving early afternoon. We drop a lot of passengers at the market and I watch as a msungu who has alighted gets her bags rifled through three times by pickpockets as she stands by the bus! We travel through to the city to finish at the main post office and its an easy walk through the city to check in at New City Annexe Hotel and get one of the two single rooms that have a window.

I take up the cause of retrieving my torch here; I have been trying Yahya’s phone with calls and sms but he is not picking up or replying and I begin to wonder if I have been a little over confident thinking I would get it back? Reception here have never heard of New Hope Hotel, it’s not on maps and talking to the bodaboda guys they know the Jaguar bus station but not the hotel I’m looking for. We set a price to the bus station and I ask my rider if he will ask for me when we get to that part of town. No worries although the ride on the boda boda was a little hair raising through town on wet streets, but a rider there knew the hotel and we easily locate the New Hope. First part accomplished! I enquire about Yahya, who is not in (bad) but the lovely receptionist telephones him for me (good) and he tells them to look for the torch in his bag he has at reception – Its in there and now I have my head torch back. Again unbelievable and I am very happy to have it back because it’s a very handy light for travelling. I did feel bad growling at the Kigali auberge staff and accusing them of keeping it, but Ange assured me that she had telephoned them to apologise on our behalf. Phew..

Walking out of that hotel, I see I am in Old Kampala and opposite the Gaddafi National Mosque with a sign inviting free visits. On entry I discover I have to pay 6000 shillings to hire a scarf and wrap to cover up because I am female, but the tour was free, led by a very earnest young man with a severe eye disorder – he was cross eyed! I gather Islam must have been his only option as he could not have worked otherwise. Idi Amin began building this mosque in 1972, ran out of money and Col Gaddafi funded the completion in 2007 gaining him lots of supporters here. The mosque affords great views over Kampala. I take another boda boda out to check out Backpackers but s it’s now tourist low season because European and American school terms have begun so all the vollies have gone back home, so not many tourists here. I check out their accommodation but the dorm smells so damp and at only a few thousand shillings less than what I am paying now for a private room I decide to stay in town. I round off the afternoon with a quick visit to the Namirembe Anglican Cathedral, again giving me great views over the city.

Next morning I check out Uganda’s National Theatre directly across the road from where I am staying – they have umpteen events on this week which tempts me to stay a few more days. Ush10,000 – A$3.50 for most shows and tonight there is a musical drama, Kibuga about greed and confusion! My church visit is this morning arrive at the Calvary Temple Worship Centre in Kitintale. I am introduced to this pastor and that pastor and then seated right up the front on cushioned chairs.

After a long and fervent session with the evangelists, which included my being introduced to the congregation, I am treated to a lovely lunch by Robert and Peter.  The donation envelopes distributed here included a quotation from the bible “Bring ye the whole tithe in to the storehouse, that there may be food in my house…. If I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing….” Mal 3:10 as a gentle reminder to GIVE MONEY..

Tonight I attend the premiere of Kibuga, with a late start and a late discovery that it’s a gospel drama to demonstrate the emptiness of worldly pleasures. Fortunately the gospel bit goes right over my head and I enjoyed a couple of hours of great singing, drumming, dancing and storytelling!

Monday I strike out across town to walk to the Girl Guides at BP House in Buganda Road which takes me through the centre of town. Here it is crowded with many armed police and riot trucks at each corner. BY the time I get to Buganda Rd, I hear the first shots of tear gas being aimed at the Walk to Work procession, who are making a peaceful protest.

Very sad that there is such a crackdown with people injured and the government later claiming that these people have no rights to protest! At BP House I meet with some lovely young leaders and we chat about a few of the problems they are dealing with as an association, including owning valuable land that is underutilised. They organise for me to meet with their Chief Commissioner this afternoon so in the meantime I visit the Uganda Museum and amongst the poor displays there is a photography exhibition from a new book, Extra Ordinary Women from Uganda.

While at lunch there, I get a call back from Ngamba Island that they have a group on Thursday that I can join to visit the Chimpanzee Sanctuary. What great luck, and between short rains I walk downhill all the way back to town past green scenic golf courses to find Speare House very near where I am staying. I meet with Morine Wayamunno, Uganda Girl Guide Association’s Chief Commissioner at her work office. Morine is lovely and I mention the museum’s photo exhibition with the photo of the Presidential Advisor, Juliana Bezuidenhuit in her Girl Guide uniform. Morine shows me a copy of the book and tells us that she and her daughter are also in it and the photographer is a friend of the family. Ooh I now know someone famous! Back at New City Annexe reception I try and extend my stay in my windowed room so I can spend a few days going to various concerts, plays and dance exhibitions as well as visit Ngamba. Yes its possible until Friday.

Exploring the nearby Nakumatt and Garden City plazas, I find there is half price cinema today at both malls. I choose to see Viva Riva, a very gory story about a handsome Congolese being chased by an extremely good looking Angolan, looking for his stolen oil. In the African way they all end up dead but it was something different.

Then tonight is The story of John Akii Bua: An African Tragedy at the National Theatre. Starting time is 7pm and I stroll over around 6.30pm to find a reception going on for invited guests and crew. I get in on the basis of being a mzungu and drink up the free beer but not quick enough to beat the hungry Africans for the free food on offer! lol John Aki Bua won gold at the Munich Olympics in 1972 for 400m Hurdles but died unknown at 47 years of age. He was one of 43 children form a father who had 8 wives, joined the police force and trained as an athlete. HE should have defended his record in 1976 at Montreal but was withdrawn after Idi Amin announced that Ugandan athletes would not take part, as a protest at New Zealand playing rugby with apartheid South Africa. He was soon barred from competing abroad by the ruling General and he fled to Kenya with his family when the war with Tanzania was at its climax. International media found him at a camp in Kenya, rescued him and Puma offered him employment in Germany, where he and his family tried to settle but at that time being African in Europe was very difficult. After returning to Uganda he died in relative anonymity. His family were present and the theatre was full of Akii Bua admirers as each appearance was applauded. The General Amin character was also applauded but I wasn’t sure if that was for the actor or whether they actually liked General Amin.

Another night at the National Theatre for Uganda’s National Contemporary Dance presentation of ‘The Power of Hope’. It is choreographed to original music written by a US composer especially for the company. The Power of Hope is set against the usual African backdrop of impending drought, famine, war and the eventual rise of the human spirit to surmount these issues. The dancers include 12 youths from Kayda Orphanage, percussionists and video footage. It is stirring music and the choreography was fabulous, 10,000 shillings (A$3.50) for a wonderful evening. Thursday I head off very early to arrive in Entebbe in plenty of time for the 9am boat to Ngamba Island. I find the office but alas the booked group have not paid nor turned up and no one can get any confirmation from them. Another girl turns up at the last minute but that still is only two of us, they are very sorry unless we want to pay $150 each. I rebook for Saturday, when they assure me they have paid bookings, pay my money and spend a pleasant few hours at the Uganda Animal Sanctuary, checking out a few rescued animals and enjoying the rural peace here. There is a great display set up by the ‘Soft Power Education’ www.softpowereducation.com all about the historic and present Murchison Falls. They have all sorts of interesting evidence including The African Queen playing on a flat screen, more video footage of an interview with Idi Amin trying to talk to the crocodiles, clippings about Hemingway’s holiday jaunt and near fatal air crash there. There were audio recordings from witnesses of the Lord’s Resistance Army trainings there and interviews and re-enactments within the park from reformed poachers.

The refuge itself is ok but memorable only for the close views of a couple of Shoebill stork and Crested cranes. They also have a couple of Uganda Kob which are reddish brown antelopes and part of Uganda’s coat of arms. Nearby are the Entebbe Botanical Gardens where many Tarzan movies were filmed – I wonder which vines Johnny used? Walking about I meet with Dick and Beanie who have been travelling a few weeks here in East Africa but made time to make a flying visit to Juba to see the newest  world country, South Sudan. Beanie first visited Africa as a Peace Corp member in 1964 and was based in Ethiopia for 2 years! I could not even begin to imagine what Ethiopia must have been like in those days. Since then the couple have been supported and sustained by collecting West African art and crafts to resell from their home, twice a year. We join up for a lovely lunch of half decent pizzas and great coffee at Annas Corner Cafe. There is a shop on site with loads of jewellery, local fabric crafts etc and we all linger finding more things to buy. Soon enough we part ways, they to head back for a last few hours of four star luxury before flying out tonight and me back to town for a spot more shopping at Uganda 2000 Crafts which is stocked wall to wall, floor to ceiling with all manner of local fair trade arts and crafts. After scouring the shelves I come up with a few women table mats. Then a lovely walk back along Kampala Rd in the twilight with everyone either closing up, going home or setting up for the evening.  Tonight I see a comedy night at the National Theatre and even though the accents were heavy, and a lot of the jokes in local language, there were still enough skits that I ‘got’ even if just for their African flavour.

Next day I get a call from Ngamba at 9am, that I can join a tour today – too bad the boat went two minutes ago and I am still in Kampala. Spend a lazy day online updating the blog, then head out to Alliance Francaise but they don't have a café there – I am shocked! So I head to a different shopping Lugogo Mall where I find another branch of Banana Boat with more Ugandan souvenirs, b*gger more shopping. I get a Bodaboda back through town during peak hour which in itself is an adventure. Tonight I dine out on Turkish before heading back to the National Theatre for Dance Transmissions Festival, 2011, contempory dance workshops, exhibitions and performances. All was fine until the third dance, a Ugandan dance company who portrayed prophesies according to the Book of Revelations in the bible. This was the crucifixion of Jesus and again I find myself debating religion as part of culture? I get that it is a big part of their lives while they struggle to understand anyone who admits to not having religion etc etc….

All week I have been extending my stay at New City Annexe and there is no guarantee of the same room again tomorrow night so I pack up in anticipation of being moved whilst visiting Entebbe tomorrow. I also pack another back of souvenir goodies that I will try and post at the Entebbe Post Office tomorrow!! After another early start I get to Entebbe to find that the PO opens at 9am – b*gger.  Heading on to the pier, I am given a lift from Ngamba staff to wait at restaurant at Uganda Wildlife. I caht with with a couple who were robbed second day in Kampala!! No boat, but I'm reassured its coming. Then the boat arrives but no people. I am confused and start to walk to the boat – a staff member turns up to tell me to go to the boat, more folk are coming. Meanwhile she has another bloke with her to take to another boat. I volunteer to take other boat (hoping its bigger cause the weather is rough and the waiting boat is small) but by the time we get there, that boat has left. Returning to the first boat it is now full with Alex on board. It’s all turning African and I am happy to give the whole thing a miss.

The staff are distraught but I cheerfully offer to rescind my passage to be paid by Alex. Upon leaving I ask them to give the chimps my regards, telephone Kampala to check out (cause my bags was already packed) and get great service at the now opened post office to send a 2 kg parcel off home. Early lunch back at Annes Corner with their lovely plunge decaf coffee followed by a long and slow taxi back to Kampala. I pick up my pack, grab a couple of Govinda’s gorgeous samosas take away and installed on a coaster bus to Jinja within the hour. Visiting Ngamba just wasn’t meant to be.

NOTE: Entebbe is situated right about on the equator and is infamous amongst those of us old enough to remember the plane hijack that was force landed in Entebbe in 1976. The hijackers were Palestinian and german terrorists who held Israelis on board after sending all the other passengers off. This was going to be Idi Amin’s big moment on the world stage if he could only broker a deal and have Uganda rescue the hostages on behalf of the world. Israel, however, had other ideas and sent in its own small rescue team who clinically eliminated the hostages and rescued their countrymen. One women was missing, who was taken to hospital during the siege – she was never seen again.

9 - 14 OCTOBER 2011

UGANDA – Country number 22 – UGANDA

KABALE AND LAKE BUNYONYI

Current exchange US$=2840 Ugandan Shillings

Easy bus ride of 82km to the Ugandan border crossing from Gatuna in Rwanda to Katuna in Uganda. The Ugandan immigration official kept reading my visa, and reading my visa and checking my passport. Ten minutes passed and I asked a few times “Is there a problem?” He ignored me and I kept waiting and occasionally persisted with the same question. Eventually he admitted to being baffled by a stamp on the visa that was very faint – he couldn’t read what the stamp said. When I checked, I read out to him‘Ugandan High Commission, Dar es Salaam’ and then he was very happy stamping me into Uganda with the advice that when I returned to that office in Dar, I should tell them to use better ink!! Back on th ebus I chat with Pastor Robert who would like to invite me to his church on Sunday if I will be in Kampala? Yes I will and yes I’ll go – I am sure I can do with a few more blessings in my life! Another 23kms brings me to Kabale, the gateway to Lake Bunyonyi – a traveller’s paradise according to the blurb. Walking through to the other end of town, I find Edirisa, a community cultural centre, museum, restaurant and hostel. Checking in, I get a grand tour of the simple facilities with lots of info and being reassured that ”you are now part of our family”. Very sweet of them. The museum consists of an example of a traditional hut in a large room with many examples of tools, goods and dress.  There are canoe safaris on offer here and as much as I do like an occasional paddle, three full days is not too appealing especially when I learn you have to paddle yourself! Striking out to a local hardware store, I get a new sim card AND very groovy torch (in the absence of my head torch) that recharges directly from AC and is also small enough to carry (up to now I had only found battery lights and torches to light up a whole room). Let there be light! Then I check out a café downtown with great chai and free wifi of decent speed – whoo hoo!

Here in the dorm I chat with Lisa, an entomologist who is here trying to contribute to science teaching at a local school, but found she was right up against it because of a lack of student motivation to actually ‘learn’ and a general unwillingness to learn new teaching techniques on behalf of the staff!. I also chat with Rosie from Sydney, who has established her very own project and currently has nine children in an orphanage. www.foundationsau.org  I asked her how she determined to get here in the first place – she saw a doco on the ABC and telephoned to find out where it was, jumped on a plane and here she is!! Amazing determination.  A nice night at Edirisa and wake up to find three new travellers here in the dorm – the three Israelis whom I met in Moshi, Tanzania that quit the safari! They took an overnight bus from Kampala, arriving here at 5am! They are looking at a canoe safari but until they are all well, are heading to Byoona Amagara @ Itambira Island. I have also considered staying there but think I will stay on the lake shore and make a day trip out to the island one day for lunch.  I hope I can share a taxi with them to the lake so fill in a few hours online and then buying up fruit. By early afternoon they have decided that they’ll head to the lake later in the day so my next option today is to get bodaboda out there. A bodaboda is a small 125cc motorbike and with me and my pack on board we travel the 9km out to Lake Bunyoni along a fabulously scenic dirt road. I have now decided I will return to town on Friday, market day, when public transport is available to save another trip back on the bodaboda!! Especially as the short rains are setting in and I cannot see the road improving anytime soon.

Lake Bunyonyi is GORGEOUS, placid, encircling 29 islands and is surrounded by gently sloping hills with the small village here. All the countryside is terraced and farmed and with the daily short rains now set in, everything is a lovely emerald green. The gardens at Bunyonyi Overland Camp where I pitch my little tent on a ledge overlooking the peaceful lake are extra nice. Comings and goings on the lake are usually by dugout canoe so the only sounds are the splash of a paddle, birdies during the day and the froggies at night. This camp is a stop for many of the ubiquitous overland trucks which are huge things. They park at the top of the camp and disgorge 20+ folk who can be a very mixed bunch. They don’t seem to be very keen on to venture anywhere except for where they are pointed at!! That means no visits to the village, except if their tour leader takes them, no trips on the lake and certainly no meals anywhere else than other what is dished up by the truck cook. The constant pitching and striking of tents every day must be very tiring too. I think I’d be awol half the time on a trip like that because even if they have a free day it sees them hanging about, doing laundry and resting. My travelling seems like a never ending pleasure holiday compared to that style of ‘go, go, go’ travel. I guess you do cover large distances very quickly but you couldn’t have any interaction with local populations, even with its frustrations and only see what is ‘on the itinerary’. On another day the truck folk are taken in groups to an orphanage, which must be the lifeblood of www.littleangels.org because during the visit all are asked to sponsor a child whom you meet there and then! Is Uganda the home of the orphanage for mzungus? I guess with the steady stream of tourists, it must make it an effective place to get sponsors and thus money.

Next day I head to the village dock to organise a day trip to Byoona Amagara on Itambira Island, at the very heart of the lake. The little man agrees to 3000 shillings each way to take me there. There is an extra paddle on board our dugout canoe so I get to paddle along too, which is so lovely and relaxing as he did the navigating, steering and general commentary. The morning is sunny, water is calm and we arrive within the hour. On landing I meet the Israelis again, who are very enamoured of this place. Walking around, it is indeed very peaceful and the menu here is tailored for the mzungu and is nothing short of wonderful. After a great lunch, I watch rolling clouds closing in and head back to the canoe where the little man thanks me ‘for keeping time’. On the lake there are now waves and I’m keen to keep moving because I do not want to get caught in the middle of this lake in a heavy downpour, bailing. The little man tells me it will not rain and he is so right because threatened rains didn’t appear until the next day! I’d been told there were fine views over the lake from Arcadia Cottages high above us, so getting directions I head off the next morning. A hike and a half uphill, asking the occasional person I meet if I am still on the right track along with fab views all the way up. However environmentally it is an awful sight – eucalyptus plantations, cultivated lands and badly eroded tracks that are washing away with every rain.

I make to the top and the views are breathtaking. Playing lady of the manor, I order tea and take in the wonderful vista especially those big black clouds rolling over the lake. I want to head to the other side of the village for lunch, so check which way the track is, head off back down the mountain. Soon enough I meet a lovely young man who wants to walk with me, with the rains gently starting and I slip down, landing gracefully (NOT) on my backside. He stays with me, guiding and holding my hand for which I was really grateful – the track here is awful with the continuing rain making it extra slippery. I feel so OLD but am very reluctant to topple down this mountain when my bruises from Parc d’Vulcan are healing so nicely. Eventually we make it down, part ways and I head to the Birds Nest for lunch. This is a fabulous building on the lake shores, which was originally built by a former Uni Chancellor who fell foul of General Amin (read disappeared/murdered). The building fell into disrepair over the years of internal strife then was resurrected by some Belgians who have turned it into a lovely hotel and restaurant. Continuing with my Lady Muck theme I dined on crayfish (fresh from the lake) salad, homemade ice cream with hot chocolate sauce washed down with a glass of South African white wine all the while watching the rains pelt down! Soon enough the short rain finishes and a light drizzle enables me to wander back to Overland Camp and I shift my tent out of the rain and under the shelter. The rain doesn’t let up all afternoon and when a new truck turns up, these tourists proceed to pitch in the rain. The first truck folk have moved their washing under the same shelter and I’m told “we are getting up at 4am tomorrow and will collect our washing so we hope we don’t disturb you.” Wasn’t that nice? Unfortunately in practice, collecting their washing somehow required them to stack the plastic chairs on which their washing was draped. And others felt that if they were up @ 4AM, then the whole world, which revolved around them, must be up too!! ggrrrrr And to make matters worse I wake up on the ground because of a leaky mattress so farewell old friend you have served me well.

Leaving it with a Congolese refugee because I’m sure he’ll find a use for it, if not repair it. I pack the tent and carry it back to Kabale in the hope that perhaps I can find a worthy recipient – perhaps Rosie’s orphanage could use it cause it could double as an insect net for sleeping babies?  A nice walk down to the boat dock and the market is getting underway – so the matolos are all lined up in anticipation. These matolos are privately owned passenger cars used for public transport, in which you cram four people in, back and front. We wait for one to fill but I’m in no hurry and its fun to people watch as they come from all points of the lake for this market. Finally others turn up and its an easy trip in a back to Kabale, compared to the slightly hair raising trip on the boda boda to get here. Checking in again I meet Emma, who is also travelling independently but has organised many volunteering stints at various organisations before coming out. She has travelled Ethiopia so was a mine of information, including enlightening me on the origin of the flea problem of which I heard so much about. More on that later, but let me tell you I will be searching for, and stocking up on flea powder in Nairobi before flying to Addis!! Before leaving Kabale, I receive an email from Ange that they have managed to locate my torch and have sent it with a friend to Kampala who is staying near the Jaguar Bus station. I get his cell number and am quietly excited because I am still naïve and believe that I just may get my head torch back. I preorder a rolex for my breakfast – a tasty combination of an omelette rolled up in a chapatti – to take on the bus. mmmmm

FACT: Uganda is located between 4 degrees N and 2 degrees S, straddling the equator but due to its elevation of 1100m above sea level (I appreciate the hills now) the weather is very pleasant. Established on seven hills and known as the Pearl of Africa Uganda is landlocked. Bordering Kenya, South Sudan, Rwanda, DRC Congo and Tanzania, its name comes from the Buganda Kingdom and gained independence in 1962. Their population stands at 31 million and growing at a rate of 3.6% which cannot be not good news for their struggling infrastructure. Then there is the rampant inflation currently sitting at 28.3%, rising from 21.8% in August and 14% in July. They are grappling with the worst economic indicators in decades and no relief in sight. Times are getting touch but an amusing aside to this was an article in the paper (as usual). It had a photo of a parish priest castigating his unhappy flock because ‘they are returning the Offertory Envelopes empty”. This priest had invited the press to embarrass his parish into giving to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal. If I was a parishioner, I’d tell him to get on a direct line to the Vatican and ask them!!