Thursday, July 22, 2010

Uganda Adventure: Day 1; Source of Nile

Airpoty View HotelLake VictoriaEntebbeAfter a few unsuccessful tries by birds, alarm clock, and weird dream to wake me up, I finally awoke at 9.30 am. The air was fresh after the overnight rain, the hotel grounds very tropical and the country side views relaxing. The breakfast was full service, with a menu and everything; fresh fruit, fresh milk, eggs, sausage, coffee,... We were all still in a haze, the all non-morning persons crew was trying to get over the jet-lag. We left the 'Airport View' hotel at around noon, and headed over East to Jinja, through Kampala.

mapNsanbya church grottoBefore leaving the town, we stopped at Nsanbya church, where there is also a warehouse for all that comes to the bishop's office for the diocese. The church was closed (with no handle - like St. Austin's), but they had a nice little grotto on the side.

Kampalaboda-bodasheep on the roadOur plans changed from the original ones, and we were not going to visit Kampala this day because there was African Union Summit (AFS) there this week and the streets were very crowded. We passed through the bustling city, and the extra traffic on the road slowed our trip to Jinja. Most roads off of the main road were just plain dirt roads, with plenty of holes. There were so many sights on the side of the road, that only pictures can describe well: street-merchants along the road selling EVERYTHING, from food, meat, clothing, to appliances, tires, furniture, and construction material. It was flea market to the power of 100! These were sold mostly in little sheds, sometimes just on the blankets on the ground. Some were little concrete cubes, that actually looked better than the sheds behind them that appeared was where those people lived.

cute little girl plant

'jack-fruit'chickenstea plantationBecause of the AFS, the security on the roads, everywhere between Entebbe to Kampala and onto Jinja, was very high. Every couple of minutes we would see a group of 2-3 uniformed (different kind) men with guns keeping their eyes on the road and stopping random cars for checks. Once we reached the rural areas, there were sugar cane and tea plantations and tropical forest. We stopped couple of times to get bananas, freshly picked. I also saw what a jack-fruit is. To me it looked like a porcupine!

In Jinja, we crossed over the only dam in Uganda, over the river Nile. We were staying that night at the Little Sisters of St. Francis. Both the hotel in Entebbe and the sisters' house had tall, concrete walls around them, with huge metal door gates. The hotel also had an armed guard in front of them. We just left our bags and headed over to the park where the source of the river Nile is.

Bell beerRiver Nile damsource of river NileRiver Nileon River NileNile river point zeroThe park was very tropical looking. There were several huts selling souvenirs along the steps down to the river, and a restaurant on the water. We ordered our beer and decided to take an hour long boat ride over to the source. It is not actually a spring you can walk up to, but the spring is under water, down inside the Lake Victoria, so it can only be seen from a boat. There is a little island next to it, where some group was filming a documentary with a couple of locals. That spot is known as 'point zero', or 'mile zero' of I don't know how many miles the river Niles is. The tour guide explained all the birds and wild life we saw on the way. When we got back, our meal was ready, and so we enjoyed it in the beautiful scenery.

Tusker beerat the source of river Nilewhite flowerblue birdred dragon flyMalachite Kingfisher (Alcedo cristata) The sisters back at the house also had the dinner prepared for us. They actually had another large group of Ugandans there, so there were 30-40 of us for dinner. There are 3 sister who live there, and 4 other young adults, so those few people prepared and served all that food. It would have been rude to not try it, so we joined them.

There is a computer at this place, which is where I type this from, but their Internet connection got busted after a really bad power outage yesterday (that blew out their washing machines as well), so I don't know when I'll be able to post it. As I write this, I notice the first mosquito I've seen on this trip, sitting on the curtain next to me. All three places we've stayed in so far have had the mosquito nets over the bed. I guess I'll need it tonight.

river Nileriver Nileriver Nile

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