Someday, I will get Andrej to post on this blog again. But right now, he has more important things to do when we find a decent internet connection (file his taxes), so once again, you get to hear from me.
So, once again we had quite the transportation adventure. It really was quite memorable, so I might go in to a bit of detail (how unusual, I know...)
To get from Arusha, Tanzania to Kampala, Uganda, you can take a bus. It seems that all the bus lines run their route through Nairobi, Kenya and were supposed to take about 17 hours. We were planning to use a company that we had used before which has on-board toilets (unheard of in these parts, but oh so important) and air conditioning. Of course, we come to find out that company stopped their route to Uganda 2 weeks before. So, we went with another company they recommended. The bus was nice by Tanzanian standards, but was lacking in a toilet or a/c. Anyways, since we bought the tickets the same day as we were travelling, we didn't get the greatest seats. They were in the back of the bus, and the ride was incredibly bumpy. Many, many, many times we flew at least a foot off the seat. The road out of Tanzania was pretty much all under construction. Which means sometimes you are driving on a road, sometimes not, but you are always on a dusty, bumpy, gravel, one lane track (for both directions...). At the border, our bus driver told us we had 5 minutes to go through the Tanzanian side of the border crossing, and 5 minutes to go through the Kenyan side of the border crossing, and we should be back on the bus in 10 minutes. Well, if you have a bus full of people, and other people are also at the border crossing, and the officials issuing your stamps and visas are in no particular hurry, 10 minutes is totally impossible. So, while we were in no-mans land (between borders), we saw our bus pulling away. Andrej sprinted after it, and I just kept walking, mouth open, trying not to cry. But, lucky for us, we were just confused and our bus was just going to park at the other side of the border. Seconds after we got back on the bus, it pulled away and we were in Kenya.
The rode in Kenya was much smoother, which was awesome. Nairobi seemed to be quite a nice city. The highway even was divided and wide enough for about 3 lanes on each side. However, they didn't seem to see the need for putting in actual lane markers, so it was just a really wide road with a hot mess of cars. We stopped at a small cafe in Nairobi to use the toilets and get food, and we were off towards Uganda.
This was an overnight bus, and we left Nairobi around 10:30pm. African countries seem to like having police checkpoints on all their rodes, but Kenya was especially fond of them. We were stopped about every half hour the entire way through Kenya. I was glad we were on a bus and not driving ourselves, because I would have been terrified being stopped by multiple guards with rifles every half hour all night long. We weren't sure what they were checking for- they only came on the bus a couple times and poked their flashlight around at the luggage, but didn't actually inspect anything. Anywways, it being a night bus, we had hoped that we would sleep on the bus. ha. HA! We soon realized how foolish we were. After leaving Nairobi, we were soon in the middle of never ending road construciton, much like in Tanzania. There were a number of times where I swore we were tipping over or that we had popped a tire. But we never did, and we kept plowing through, stopping every once in a while for the men with their big rifles. We also stopped once for a bathroom break. Which, in these parts, involves the men going out to the field at the side of the road, and the women going behind the bus, on the highway, hoping that no one comes along on the road. At one point, somewhere around 1 am, Andrej and I started laughing uncontrollably because we couldn't believe how bouncy the ride was. I have been on wooden roller coasters smoother than this bus ride.
We made it to the Ugandan border around 5am. We seemed to have a little extra time (either that or everyone was just too tired to care) and we made it through pretty smoothly. Once we were in Uganda, the road was actually quite nice, and we managed to get a couple hours sleep. About an hour or so outside Kampala, we went through Jinja and passed over the Nile River. The source of the Nile is apparently in Uganda. It was cool to see. Anyways, about 18 hours after leaving Arusha, we arrived, very tired in Kampala.
A monkey in the tree on the grounds of our hostel in Kampala.We spent the rest of that day resting, and the next morning we decided to do a low key day trip to a nearby town on Lake Victoria called Entebbe (also home to the international airport). The goal of this trip was to go to the Wildlife Education Center, where the guidebook said they had a wildlife refuge for animals rescued from poachers and trafficing. It turned out to pretty much be a zoo, but it was still neat. We got to see a lion up close, as well as chimps, crocs, otters, snakes, rhinos, and others. There were also a number of monkeys and cool looking large birds (can't remember the name) that seemed to live in the park and roam free. There was a small playground that the monkeys took over later in the afternoon.
One of the neat cranes wandering around the park.
Another crane. This type is seen all over the city, especially at the garbage heaps.
Andrej at Lake Victoria.The next day, we took off for a little rest and relaxation at a beautiful lake near the Rwandan border called Lake Bunyonyi. I think you have heard enough about our transportation adventures, so I will spare you that this time around, but I will just say that it wasn't what we expected or hoped for. Anyways, we decided to stay in a rustic cabin at a small budget resort on an island in the lake. To get there, we had to take a dugout canoe. So, we piled ourselves and our bags into a canoe made out of a hollowed out tree, and set out for the island (along with a 'driver' to show us the way and do a lot of the paddling).
About 45 minutes later, we arrived.
Our cabin had a nice view of the lake, and its own bathroom and shower. Although, it was rustic. The bathroom was a compost toilet outside, and the shower was also outside (but mostly enclosed, no one outside could see anything but a shower head) and lacking hot water. But, it was incredibly nice, peaceful, and simple.
Viewing our cabin from behind.The island was small and very rural, so there were no stores on the island, so we always took our meals at the lodge restaurant, which was good and dirt cheap. The weather there was quite cool- probably in the 60s most of the time. We were apparently 6,000 some feet above sea level. We went for some walks around the island- enjoying the local birds and nice footpaths.
Andrej enjoying a walk around the island.
A school bus, island style! We came across this on a walk.
This is what a dugout canoe school bus looks like.We also rented a dugout canoe a couple times and paddled around the island. One morning, we canoed to a neighboring island with the intent of attending a church service. We ended up going at the wrong time, but we had a pleasant walk on that island, and we enjoyed seeing the church.
Another highlight of our time there for me was learning to play backgammon. Andrej taught it to me, and it was so much fun! I wish we had a small travel board to take with us.
Other photos from our time on the island:
We also decided we wanted to spend a couple of days on the mainland side of the lake, because we heard you could rent bikes there. Unfortunately their bikes were broken, but we had an enjoyable time there still. We went to a small market on the lake one morning and bought fresh pineapple, sugar cane, and bread for lunch. We also hiked in the hills a bit around the lake. This was a little more grueling than I hoped for, so it didn't last all that long. We also got a little sunbathing in, although it was just a little too cold to go swimming.
We had arranged to visit the schools of the Rotarian I mentioned before and do a little volunteering starting on Wednesday, so we ended up leaving the lake after about 5 days and headed back to Kampala.
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