IS THE RAINY SEASON OVER YET?

(Gorilla Tales Part 3)

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This part describes our travel from Jan 2 to Jan 6, 2003. First, a few answers to some commonly asked questions.

How is the travelogue written?

Paul keeps a daily written journal of our travels. It covers a variety of items including where we are staying, how much we are spending, what we did, who we met etc. When we go to an internet cafe, he opens the journal and we start writing a narrative based on what's in the journal. Some things are excluded and other things are remembered and added. Once it is written, we give it a quick proof read and start sending the e-mails.

What about Internet Access?

Based on our guidebook (published Sept, 2002), we thought we would find internet access to be limited to Kampala and relatively expensive. So far, the reverse has been true. It has been available in the three cities we have traveled to and costs from $1/hour in the capital to $2/hour in Mbale. If this keeps up, you'll be getting tired of our e-mails in short order!

What are the Economic Conditions in Uganda?

According to the newspaper, the rate of inflation in 2002 was 5.6%. The ANNUAL per capita income is $390, with a purchasing power equivalent to about $1100. Three or four dollars a day is a pretty good salary for the average unskilled person. We gather from newspapers and conversations that things have been getting consistently better over the past 10 years.

What is the weather like?

Rainy (DAMN!). The rainy season is supposed to be over, but nature is not cooperating. It mostly rains whenever Lois leaves her poncho in the room. There is a major downpour every day or night. It has not interfered with what we are doing, but it has changed our plans. That 5 day backpack to the peak of Mount Elgon is not going to happen. People tell us the rainy season is ending... We hope that happens! The temperature has been very nice. Cool in the evenings and warm during the day, but not unbearably hot.

Our last e-mail had us leaving Kampala and heading toward Mabira forest reserve, about 60km east of Kampala on the road to Jinja. First, we went to the "New Taxi Park" in Kampala to find a taxi to Jinja. "Taxi" here means a 14 passenger minivan or a Toyota Camry stuffed with a few more people than it can comfortably carry. "Special Hire" is what we think of as a taxi. Lois and I are avoiding the "Special Hires" and using the "taxis" - which means we have had a number of people sitting almost in our laps over the last few days. BUT, still much better than Cambodia where they put four in the back of the Camry. Here it is "only" three!

The taxi park looks like an overcrowded parking lot with hundreds of identically painted minivans with no obvious organization or road in/out. But, when we told people our destination, they all pointed to the same spot where we found the right taxi. After 25 minutes of waiting for it to fill up (nothing leaves until it is either full or overfull), we're off. First we have to get out of the park which involves an intricate dance and a do-si-do of various taxis until we're on the street. Through the in-town traffic and the van hits its second speed - 120kph (75mph). The other speed is barely moving!

Mabira forest reserve is set in second growth jungle with many different species of plants, trees, birds, butterflies and a few types of monkeys. We rent a banda - a 12 x 12 cabin with a double bed covered by a mosquito net, a lantern, towels, soap, a 5 gallon can of water, a table with two stools and a broom. It's in the trees with a 3 x 12 front porch from which we can watch bands of red-tailed monkeys. All this for only $8. The only minus is the outhouse and the walk to it in the middle of the night. Thank god we rented a banda and didn't camp. It rained giraffes and elephants that night! We spent a pleasant day hiking around Mabira and hearing or seeing all sorts of birds that we know nothing about (not being birders).

From Mabira, we went to Mbale, small sized town about 100 km north of Jinja. There's not much to attract tourists here, but it is a good place to rest, relax, use indoor plumbing and have some excellent Indian food.


Next, we headed to Sipi Falls and the Mount Elgon area. As previously mentioned, we decided to skip the 5 day backpack trip but figured we could still spend a day in the area and see the 90 meter Sipi Falls. It's a coffee growing region and the base of the mountain is at about 2000 meters. (Peak is 4700 meters/15,600 feet). We stay at the most popular place in "town" - there are 5 other tourists here! More than we've seen in the last week. It's a banda again, but this one is not nearly as nice at Mabira and cost about $13. Very expensive for what you get, but at least there was a hot water shower. They have a nifty device made out of an outdoor stone barbeque and a 50-gallon oil drum. A wood fire heats the water in the drum and then a pipe takes it to a "shower" down below where we had some excellent hot water - a great way to change your whole outlook on life!

 

Our thoughts so far on the trip - it has been interesting we've tried some new food, seen some monkeys and birds, etc., but it has not been a "great" trip. We've spent a lot of time relaxing and reading - nothing wrong with that, but on other trips there has been so much to see and do that we had much less time for doing nothing. Only 40,000 tourists visited Uganda last year (2002). This is another factor. There are less people you come across to hang out or trade a few stories with. We've made some great friends on previous trips that we plan to stay in touch with for many years.

Tonight we are back in Mbale before heading to Soroto, Lira and then Murchison Falls Park. We had dinner at the best restaurant in town for $7.50. As soon as the rain stops, we'll head back to the hotel and it's time for bed…

                 

 

all content is copyright © Paul Schneider, 2003.