After a couple of weeks or so of teaching, visiting the orphans, playing with the local kids, tilling the fields, attempting to defeat any intestinal urges, etc... We decided to take a break and go to Murchison Falls which is a game reserve on the Nile River.
We took a "matatoo" into Mbale. This is a system whereby 25 (I counted them) smelly people (this includes us) are jammed into a mini bus with bald tires and no shocks, squealing brakes, etc... We made it but the kids were all a little car sick. We then jostled our way into the bus into Kampala where, glory of glories: we all had our own seat. As it was a 4 hour drive, we had to stop in the forest for our pee break. For men, this is not unusual but this is not customary procedure for the women. Diana did not hesitate to participate but the girls opted to suffer for 2 hours rather than bare their behinds to take a pee beside several strangers.
When we got into Kampala, the bus stopped in what appeared to be some kind of mass riot. The bus driver informed us that this was not an uprising but the actual Kampala bus station and dumped us off into the turmoil. When we got off, we were swarmed with bus drivers and taxi drivers and beggars all trying to get a piece of the Mizoongo action.
Fortunately, we had brought a nice map of Kampala. This would be really helpful to us except for the fact that there are no street signs in Kampala. Plan B was to ask one of the many people thronging us for their assistance. This created much controversy about a)what we were saying in English b)how to best get there. Finally a burley looking man said "follow me". So that seemed like a good idea at the time.
In the end it actually was a good idea: he brought us the 20 (death defying) blocks to where we wanted to go and seemed very pleased to just walk away. I called him back and gave him 1000 shillings and he seemed stunned.
We arrived at the local backpacker hotel where we had reserved a house for $50 a night. When we unlocked the door, Paul and I went right to the bathroom and ...yes! There it was: something to sit on and it even flushed. The holiday was already a great success.
For us, the backpacker place was Mazoongo Central. They had a guarded gate so only the paying customers could get in so that was a little strange for us. Almost all of the other guests were doing the same thing as us: taking a break from some kind of project work elsewhere in the country.
That evening we went down the street to a spa where the girls got there hair washed and shampooed, a pedicure and Paul and I got a half hour scalp massage all for less than $30. The guy doing Diana's hair had decided to become an assassin as a youngster in the slums. That plan was interupted by his conversion to Christianity so he became a hair dresser... He now owns a bunch of land that he is going to develop into an orphanage.
The next morning we boarded the mini bus with a couple of other Germans and we enjoyed a pleasant ride to the Northeast corner of the country to get to Murchison Falls. On the way, I decided to buy a fried lutoki which is like a banana on a stick from one of the street vendors that push up against your window when you stop on the highway. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
The following description of what was experienced at the pleasant break at Murchison Falls will be given from my family's perspective. Alan's perspective was clutching his stomach in pain in his bed and then, eventually, (thank God) going to the bathroom to get the deep fried lutoki er,... through the digestive process.
We got up early the next day and went to the game reserve and saw everything that could be seen except for the leopards which are very rare to see. We got up close and personal with elephants, giraffes and lions. We saw so many hippos on the trip it became almost boring. That afternoon, we got on a boat and went up the Nile and saw crocodiles, more hippos, baboons and elephants. The next day we got up (Alan is now happy and healthy) and went for a hike to Murchison Falls which is where the Nile narrows to about 15 feet and falls 40 meters or so. We then drove back to Kampala. I did not buy anything from street vendors on the way back. Actually, I could not look at a street vendor on the way back or at any other point in my visit to Uganda.
If you're thinking of going on a safari in Africa, this seems to me like an awesome deal: $240 per person and you get to see it all. I think the cost of a safari in other places are much more expensive. Just stay away from the street vendors and you're laughing.
We took a "matatoo" into Mbale. This is a system whereby 25 (I counted them) smelly people (this includes us) are jammed into a mini bus with bald tires and no shocks, squealing brakes, etc... We made it but the kids were all a little car sick. We then jostled our way into the bus into Kampala where, glory of glories: we all had our own seat. As it was a 4 hour drive, we had to stop in the forest for our pee break. For men, this is not unusual but this is not customary procedure for the women. Diana did not hesitate to participate but the girls opted to suffer for 2 hours rather than bare their behinds to take a pee beside several strangers.
When we got into Kampala, the bus stopped in what appeared to be some kind of mass riot. The bus driver informed us that this was not an uprising but the actual Kampala bus station and dumped us off into the turmoil. When we got off, we were swarmed with bus drivers and taxi drivers and beggars all trying to get a piece of the Mizoongo action.
Fortunately, we had brought a nice map of Kampala. This would be really helpful to us except for the fact that there are no street signs in Kampala. Plan B was to ask one of the many people thronging us for their assistance. This created much controversy about a)what we were saying in English b)how to best get there. Finally a burley looking man said "follow me". So that seemed like a good idea at the time.
In the end it actually was a good idea: he brought us the 20 (death defying) blocks to where we wanted to go and seemed very pleased to just walk away. I called him back and gave him 1000 shillings and he seemed stunned.
We arrived at the local backpacker hotel where we had reserved a house for $50 a night. When we unlocked the door, Paul and I went right to the bathroom and ...yes! There it was: something to sit on and it even flushed. The holiday was already a great success.
For us, the backpacker place was Mazoongo Central. They had a guarded gate so only the paying customers could get in so that was a little strange for us. Almost all of the other guests were doing the same thing as us: taking a break from some kind of project work elsewhere in the country.
That evening we went down the street to a spa where the girls got there hair washed and shampooed, a pedicure and Paul and I got a half hour scalp massage all for less than $30. The guy doing Diana's hair had decided to become an assassin as a youngster in the slums. That plan was interupted by his conversion to Christianity so he became a hair dresser... He now owns a bunch of land that he is going to develop into an orphanage.
The next morning we boarded the mini bus with a couple of other Germans and we enjoyed a pleasant ride to the Northeast corner of the country to get to Murchison Falls. On the way, I decided to buy a fried lutoki which is like a banana on a stick from one of the street vendors that push up against your window when you stop on the highway. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
The following description of what was experienced at the pleasant break at Murchison Falls will be given from my family's perspective. Alan's perspective was clutching his stomach in pain in his bed and then, eventually, (thank God) going to the bathroom to get the deep fried lutoki er,... through the digestive process.
We got up early the next day and went to the game reserve and saw everything that could be seen except for the leopards which are very rare to see. We got up close and personal with elephants, giraffes and lions. We saw so many hippos on the trip it became almost boring. That afternoon, we got on a boat and went up the Nile and saw crocodiles, more hippos, baboons and elephants. The next day we got up (Alan is now happy and healthy) and went for a hike to Murchison Falls which is where the Nile narrows to about 15 feet and falls 40 meters or so. We then drove back to Kampala. I did not buy anything from street vendors on the way back. Actually, I could not look at a street vendor on the way back or at any other point in my visit to Uganda.
If you're thinking of going on a safari in Africa, this seems to me like an awesome deal: $240 per person and you get to see it all. I think the cost of a safari in other places are much more expensive. Just stay away from the street vendors and you're laughing.
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