On the Game (Drive)

So, safaris are awesome (in a literal sense, to all of you fans of semantics). Sunrises, early morning game drives, camping by the Nile (with a view of the Blue Mountains of Congo) or at the top of a waterfall, observing some incredible animals from just a few metres away - it all gives you a bit of a surreal feeling, like you're watching a documentary....but not....because you're actually there.

Friday was Rhinos: Incredible creatures.
We were told we'd have to walk at least 20 minutes through "the bush" (which posed a problem for me as I hadn't packed trousers or shoes) in order to track-down the beasts. In reality we rounded a corner after less than 5 minutes and there they were, just chillin' out. There was a male, female and a wee baby. Out of the three the female (Bella) was the most amorous and seemed very interested in coming over for a chat. The rangers that were with us had to continually say "Bella, cool." or "Back Bella, back". I later asked if the Rhinos spoke English. He told me they did.
In any event I was happy he was there because there were a couple of occasions when dearest Bella tried to outflank us unawares and we had to high-tail it out of there. As Charlie pointed out though, it was like a rubbish slow-motion car chase because we were told never to run; so we just plodded through the bush, occasionally glancing backwards to make sure she hadn't caught up.

Saturday was on to Murchison Falls National Park: B-e-a-yoooo-tiful.
We crossed the Victoria Nile and headed towards the Albert Nile, where we would camp for the night. For this part of the journey our "over-land truck" did a kind of Transformers act (in fact all they did was take the tarpaulin off the roof and let us sit on the balcony/viewing deck) to enable us some better views of the wildlife and scenery. Along the way we saw Ugandan Kobs, Antelopes, Hippos, Buffalo, loads of birds and, most impressively, giraffes. The bumpy ride made it hard to take pictures, but we stopped a few times, which made observing and photographing a lot easier. The highlight was definitely stopping for about 10 minutes to watch 10 or so giraffes hanging about, drinking water very close to the truck.
Set up camp by the Nile, had some tasty grub around a campfire and went to bed.

Sunday meant an early start for a game drive and a boat trip to Murchison Falls: Mighty waters.
The early morning game drive brought us some close up views of elephants, a load more giraffes, monkeys, baboons a whole herd of buffalo and...a lion! Just one and it was a fair distance away, but at least we saw one! A swift breakfast and then back to the Victoria Nile for our boat trip.
We travelled up-stream heading towards the waterfall. Along the way we saw loads of hippos chillin', fightin' and some even running at a fair pace and diving into the water; a few crocogators sitting perfectly still by the river bank in that eerie way they do; and a good deal more birds.
On reaching the falls we had about two minutes to take pictures (although by this time my useless excuse for a camera had died) and then we were thrown overboard to fend for ourselves. Well, we had to find our own way to the camp site at any rate. A sweaty twenty or so minutes later saw us arrive at the top of the falls and saw a most spectacular sight. The "falls" don't so much fall as they do chuck themselves downwards as if angry at the pace of the river preceding it. It reminded me of the Seoul subway at rush hour - everyone jostling for some semblance of space and willing to batter those around them to gain it.
We spent the night at the top of the falls and had one of the best meals I've had in Uganda - I even got the recipe and intend to cook a big pot of whence I return.

Monday was the journey back: bumpy.

So that's that. Enjoy the pictures and I'll see some of ya'll on Thursday!

Weeraba (goodbye)!

Kampala, Kampala, Kampala!

This is the cry from the "conductors" of the Matatus around Jinja. These small, minibus style vehicles are the only cheap way to travel from city to city; very handy but you certainly get what you pay for. Want to share three seats with five people? Want to fly over speed bumps at 80km an hour? Want to stop every 10 minutes to pick someone up? Hop aboard a Matatu! Jinja to Kampala in 2 hours for just over a pound though works for me - I didn't come here expecting extreme comfort after all.

Upon arriving in the capital you can immediately feel the difference between the sleepy, colonial-style town that is Jinja and the bustling, almost manic, atmosphere of Kampala. It's a good change of pace....for a while at least. As I have learnt from my travels, the key to a successful day is plenty of assigned rest periods involving at least one cup of tea, some water and perhaps even some food. If you're feeling especially fruity you can even have a beer or two. With this rule in mind I suggested that our posse (Mike, Debi and me. Is that enough for a posse?) jump into the nearest cafe before we even started the day. Our chosen cafe was a nice enough place - quite modern by Ugandan standards - and we settled down to some tea and toast. Having ordered English tea, real tea, I was quite surprised to find it smelling distinctly like cinnamon and served with hot milk. I may have commented to my amigos (big on the Spanish theme today) that it was "a bit weird", to say the least, having hot milk and cinnamon with real, quality, British tea. In fact, now I think about it, I probably remonstrated quite audibly about the quality of the beverage served to me. The waiters picked up on this and asked if everything was satisfactory, and in true British fashion I answered "Yes, everything is just splendid, thanks". Unfortunately my initial complaints had caused an atmosphere between us and the staff. One waiter asked me four or five times if everything was okay, but said it in a manner which suggested that he'd rather things weren't alright at all and, indeed, wished me to choke on my cinnamon and hot-milk tea. There were other incidences throughout our  brunch, involving cutlery and ketchup, that led it to become less than civilized and as we left I had to assure the staff that we had enjoyed our beverages and that I would blog favourably about the cafe (hence this overly long reminiscence).

Fully replenished, we headed towards the Parliament area of the city to see some government buildings and the like. Along the way Debi was in "Japanese tourist mode" as she calls it and snapping away with relish. Mike and I spotted a police van and, after our experience at Mandela stadium, began warning Debi to put her camera away. She seemed not especially bothered by our sound advice and continued taking pictures, even managing to point the camera directly at Mike's face - which happened to be right in front of the van. Only afterwards when Mike and I asked why she had done such a thing did she realize what had happened. "There were police there?! I took a picture of them?! Oh, scheisse!", was her response.

After checking out the parliament buildings (not especially exciting) and visiting the craft market (bought Mum and Fern some stuff) we went to get a couple of Bodas to take us across town to the Anglican cathedral. The usual haggling over price ensued, but we were soon off, holding on for dear life. It was an interesting experience to say the least - we saw the presidential convoy working its way through the city, saw some guys scrapping, another group of guys being chased down the street, dodged our way past cars and had a mid-Boda-ride high-five. Sorry mum. Our only regret was that we didn't film it.

The Anglican cathedral was nice, but we spent only about ten minutes there. After which we headed down towards the old town where lies the recently completed mosque, funded by the one, the only Colonel Gaddafi. It was a stunning building and we got to have a wee tour around it; only after Debi had kitted herself out in veil and leg coverings. Turns out it was started by Idi Amin (if you don't know who he was, look him up) way back in the day (70s) and sat unfinished as a concrete eye-sore until 2003. The Muslims within Uganda wrote to Gaddafi asking for his assistance who promptly came in, ripped down the original structure and built what is standing now. Good on the ol' psycho.

Another rest, and a cheeky beer saw us ready to leave this busy, behemoth of a city. Before that we decided to quickly have a look at the old-town fort: turned out it doesn't exist (or so we told ourselves after half an hour walking around looking for it).

The "taxi-parks" in Kampala are not places you want to be - about 20million people, a lot of mud and exhaust fumes. After trying the "new" taxi park (didn't look that new to me) without any luck, we headed to the old taxi park in search of a Jinja-bound Matatu. After some arguments about price (Easter rates mean more than double the price it seems) we were away and fairly content to be heading back to our beloved Jinja Township.

My Easter weekend was very nice, but I don't have the energy to write about it now and I'm sure you good people are just about spent in terms of blogage. I very much hope everyone's easter was lovely - do feel free to tell me about it if the mood takes you.

Going on safari tomorrow, back on Monday, fly back to Blighty on Wednesday.

Much love mon amigos x

The Discovered Country

I found him. He sits atop a hillock on the western bank of the Nile. He has a pink obelisk and a tatty looking sign confirming that on the 28^th July 1862 he discovered the source of the Nile. The search for Speke is over.

In the past two weeks I have been enjoying cups of tea made using a kettle and cold milk, having showers in a beautifully tiled bathroom and reading by an electric light hanging proudly from the ceiling - In short, I sold out. I abandoned the warm, friendly life of Moses' compound for a two-bedroom house and a shorter ride into Jinja.

In truth I made the decision mainly due to fiscal reasons as I have found myself a little worse-for-wear on this front. It turns out that sitting around drinking beer in your underwear for seven weeks in England and then going to Africa for two months leaves you short in the pocket. Who’d have thought?

I’m now working at another primary school called St Moses (see website). The compound I live on is an orphanage/care centre for children in the area and it’s reet nice. I’ve gone back to my roots and have been teaching English to a couple of classes, which has been more than enjoyable. Somehow I only have a single, solitary day of teaching remaining though – Easter and a trip away are to blame.

Outside of teaching I have been keeping myself busy playing and watching football, hanging around in Jinja for extended periods of time and getting my face roasted off in the midday sun on the Nile.

Let me start from the beginning (as is logical)…I recently played football just outside Jinja with a fellow Mzungu (who befriended me without asking) called Michael. He’s “in” with the local football team Mpumadde F.C. and we were invited along for training last Thursday. I was looking forward to playing a real game of football for the first time in many years, but a little worried that I’d be shown up by these giant, healthy Ugandan men. It turned out that I was in better shape than I expected and I held my own reasonably well, even managing a conciliatory goal for our team. The next few days, however, brought pain in so many new and varied points on my body that I struggled to get on and off a motorbike or even stand up from a chair. I think it will be another four years before I play footy again.

On Saturday we went to see the mighty Uganda Cranes (how many national teams do you know with a name like this?) at the Mandela stadium near Kampala. To summarize: The first half was a bit crap; half time saw a conversation with the police resulting in a bribe; and the second half was better. I don’t know how many of you already know about my brush with the law, but it’s worth a swift retelling….We had gone for a wander at half time in search of the necessaries (beer and food) and as Debi and I sat down to consume our rolex (lovely food: chapatti, egg and, if you’re lucky, avocado) we realized that our other companion (Mike) was currently engaged in a conversation with the law. I was quite content to leave him to it and finish my greasy snack, but he waved me over and I would have felt reticent in my duties as the eldest, and most responsible of course, if I didn’t immediately jump to the lads aid. Upon reaching the vehicle the two officers in the front announced that they were going to arrest young Michael for taking a picture of a turnstile; I voiced my displeasure at this particular train of thought and asked what could be done to change the situation. After some debate and what, to the casual observer, could be considered friendly “banter” between myself, Michael and the policemen we came to an agreement as to how best bring the matter to a conclusion. I agreed to give the driver and his colleagues some 20,000 shillings, which works out to be about 7 pounds. I gave him the money, he shook my hand and wished me a good day and drove away. T.I.A.

Yesterday we went fishing, or at least attempted a close approximation of it. We walked to the river, found a guy, requested the use of his expertise and his boat and set off on our way. What we hadn’t considered was the time of day. It was about 11.45 at the time of boarding that little blue boat and by 12.30 we were all ready to return to dry land and find some shade (N.B. Charlie fell apart first – these public school boys and their lack of stamina). I caught three snails, Mike caught a lot of worms, Debi caught less than us and Charlie gave up after 5 minutes and just dangled his rod in the water. It was an enjoyable time, but today I am redder than the red part of the Swiss flag (hope you enjoy that reference Debi) and I can’t be out in the sun longer than two minutes; ah the joys.

I’m going to go and have a cold shower and then rub after-sun all over myself. Kampala on the morrow all being well =)

Thanks to all for continued readership and commentings.

PLBH