Getting out of Kampala was the first challenge…ended up with all my luggage on two boda bodas to reach where the rental car was waiting. But soon after we were on our way to Jinja – situtated at Lake Victoria and famous for being the source of the river Nile. More recently it seems to be the place to go in Uganda for extreme sports / water sports, so it’s full of young back packers who annoyingly party all night! (makes me sound old and grumpy, I know, but it was a right pain!)
Our tents overlooked the river and it was incredibly beautiful to just go for walks and enjoy the sunset! I also managed a quick swim although it cost me my sun glasses which are now at the bottom of the Nile!
Jinja, the town was nothing special – just a smaller version of Kampala – but we spent a morning there… Amos having a hair cut in the saloon (not a spelling mistake, that’s what they call it here…!) and I went shopping at the market. On my walk through town I got a companion, a young man who wanted to tell me all about this political party he wanted to start to try and reduce the corruption and killings happening in Uganda. He was talking quite passionately about the killings part…have no idea if there was any truth in it, though. Anyhow, quite an angry man for his young age!!
After a second almost sleepless night because of the heat and the noisy drunken backpackers, we got up early to get on the road north. Whilst brushing my teeth with the sunrise outside my tent, a young hungover (or most likely still drunk) guy came out from the hut above to pee over the balcony – totally naked 😳 He didn’t seem to notice me, and if he did, he didn’t care and just kept relieving himself! Gave me a good laugh anyway!
Right…after that, off we went! We followed the Nile north to Murchison Falls National Park. It was a long day of driving… and Amos did well on the really dodgy roads – I was glad I didn’t have to drive three! We just had one minor map reading / driving disagreements – seems that’s a universal thing… haha – but it was quickly resolved by asking a local boda driver!
The long drive was mainly filled with music and conversation (plus some silence when I fell asleep, which happened a few times – oops).
Whilst in Kampala I was preparing a playlist and asked Amos for some music wishes… I was totally speechless when he said Jim Reeves!! What?? Amos is 29… but it seems they used to sing some of his songs at school. Anyway that is now the reason why I have The Best of Jim Reeves on my iTunes!
During the drive I also found out that Amos’ favourite song at the moment is Major Lazer & MØ with Lean On… random!!
Other topics included sarcasm, flyovers & roundabouts and favourite foods!
Otherwise I just enjoyed seeing some of the country… one of the things that really struck me though, was how many children were out and about and therefore not at school – either playing, collecting water with their mothers or siblings or selling things at the roadside…
Amos told me that it’s expensive to pay for school for all children. He for example pays for his youngest sister, who is 11, to go to school. It costs around one million Ugandan Shillings a year which is not a lot of money to you and me (£225 p.a.) but if you consider that there may be 5-10 children in the family and that they normally just have 30-40,000 shillings to live of each week it is a lot! Therefore, many children never make it to school… and around 20-25% of the population is illiterate, majority of these women of course – fills me with sadness…
BETINA IN AFRICA 