Ugandan Adventure: June 13-17
Day 1: Wednesday 13th June 2013
Arrival in Entebbe Arrived in Entebbe after two flights, from Manchester and then from Doha. At the gate in Manchester I met Natalie, who had messaged me on Facebook and who was on my flights. She's really sweet, but hadn't flown in 10 years and was really nervy. We landed almost an hour ahead of schedule in Entebbe and cleared security really quickly. Because we were so early, we ended up having to sit in arrivals and wait to be collected, and I had to calm Natalie down because she kept worrying that no one was on their way to get us. Anyway Carla arrived at 6.45 and we hopped in a taxi to Entebbe backpackers hostel where the volunteers who had arrived the day before had slept. We were able to shower and then chill whilst we waited for the others to wake up. Well I was, Natalie couldn't get the shower to work for ages, turns out she was turning the tap the wrong way. The two leaders we've met so far seem nice, Alice and Carla. Alice went to Manchester Uni and she lived with a Jewish guy so she was saying all these names which seemed familiar but who I don't actually know. It was quite odd. At 8 Carla took Alfie (who is a volunteer who arrived yesterday) up to Kampala because he didn't finish his course of Hep B vaccinations. She went too because she needs to get a doctor to check her - she has been having really bad allergic reactions to her malaria tablets. We're heading to Jinja today for bungee jumping and white water rafting. Then it will be back to Kampala for the night before driving over to the lodge in Kanugu (11 hours from Kampala). Everyone seems really friendly and I think I've learnt all the girls' names, although the lads are basically interchangeable so I've only learnt the names of a couple.
Jinja
Arrived in Jinja at 6pm. I managed to sleep for a bit on the bus, at least until an was woken up by the driver yelling "SHIT!" really loudly over and over again. A taxi driving in front of us had come of the road and was lying on its side. Nobody stopped to help them or anything, mental! Didn't look like anyone was injured though. Anyway, we got to Adrift in Jinja and got settled into the dorms. The sleeping arrangements were triple decker bunk beds but I managed to claim a bottom one so that was a-ok. Bloody moxie nets however were full of holes, I got bitten on my ankle. Dinner was self serve spaghetti bolognese which set us back 13000 shillings (about £1.35) and then we got some drinks at the bar. I asked for a cider and got this alcopop thing which was apple flavoured. Some of the group did a drinks challenge where they had to flip upside down into a kayak which was balancing upside down from the rafters, and then do a shot. I got some pretty good photos of this, it was funny to watch. Went to bed at like 10.30 and then some woman sat on the step outside our dorm and chatted away in a really loud voice for hours. Once I was asleep I was out for the count, and woke up at 7.
Day 2: Thursday 14th June
Jinja
Got up this morning and went to stand on the veranda to watch people bungee jump over the Nile. It looked absolutely terrifying, but to their credit every single member of our group who signed up for it went through with the jump. Had soggy scrambled eggs and dry toast for breakfast (7000 shillings) and then went to pack up the dorm with Katie. She arrived after I did, she's just graduated in PE and sport something. Dunno. Anyway, she and I packed up and then went to shower. I took my iPad in with me, and we had a bit of a shower party. Shower alternated between scalding and freezing - no middle ground. We got dressed and went back into the bar where there was finally wifi. Checked my emails and Facebook and then I took loads of photos of random stuff to try and learn how to use my camera. Kayleigh (from Ipswich, works at McDonalds) saw a bright blue chameleon so I took some pictures of that and they came out really nicely. The group of us who had not gone white water rafting left Adrift just after three and got on the bus to Kampala. The group who went rafting were supposed to meet us in this little village 20 minutes after we got their, but it was close to an hour before they arrived. We waited in a town square thing surrounded by curious kids and suspicious adults. We got off the bus to look around and an little family of three kids came over to investigate us. It was cute until they started grabbing at my camera and and slapping me surprisingly hard when I tried to move away. Then a fight broke out between a bora bora (motorbike) taxi driver and another taxi driver. A mob formed and marched them to the police station. Then we just sat around on the bus some more. When the rafting group finally arrived we loaded everyone on to the buses which were completely full. Liz (very bubbly, plays water polo, dropped out of Birmingham and going to a different uni in Sept) then decided she had to pee, even though she was in the back row of our bus. We had to all get off to let her out and then wait for her to get back on. Finally we start on the two hour drive to Kamapla. I wrote a lot of random musings on the bus which aren't really diary entries, so if anyone wants to read them I might upload them separately. We went for an evening out in Kampala, which was nice. I was exhausted though, so Mathilde (from Denmark), Laura (looks like Molly Wortley), Katie, Hannah (just got back from a gap year being an au pair in Switzerland) and I shared a taxi home from the bar at 12.45. So funny, they all squished in the back and I got the front. We went and stopped at a petrol station where the driver just got out for a chat. Very odd.
Day 3: Friday 15th June
Kampala to Kanugu
The rest of the group who stayed out at the bar last night didn't get back to the hostel until 4.30 this morning, and we all got up and out by 7. Then we faffed around whilst they loaded all the luggage and got toast and Nutella for breakfast (5000 shillings). Finally at 8.06 (I checked) we pulled out from the hostel and set off for the lodge. I managed to sleep for a while, and I woke up as we arrived at the equator. We had a demonstration of how water flows differently on different sides of the equator and I bought a massive African shoulder bag with elephants on it. Ten we got back on the bus and I managed to sleep a bit more before we stopped at about three at a supermarket where we got food and supplies. Then one more stop at a petrol station and we finished the final five hours of the drive. Once we pulled off the Tarmac roads the journey got a lot dirtier, but a lot more fun. We were waving at all of the villages, taking bus selfies and laughing. Beth (from Manchester, reading Law in Sheffield) got so mucky - she was basically black. Quote of the day has to go to the 'other' Natalie (UCL Medical student) who was waving at cows. When I asked her what she was doing, she said "I'm waving at cows. None of them have waved back yet though, I think they are all busy." We're at the lodge now, our bus was the first to arrive. Very happy because I managed to get the last bottom bunk in my Banda! The others in my room are Mathilde, Laura, Katie and Kayleigh., so it should be pretty ok. Had our free welcome drink and now all relaxing whilst we wait for the other buses to arrive. Ps. Found a beer I actually like, wooh!
