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I get up at 4:45am to get ready and I wanted to wash my hair for maybe the last time in a while with nice shampoo and conditioner, unfortunately I’m so tired (and, as Tim says, blonde) that I end up using liquid body soap instead of shampoo - at least I used conditioner and not body moisturizer!
GOODBYE GORAH
Andrew meets us at our tent at 5:30am to take our bags and us down to the car, remember that we can’t walk alone in the dark. While Andrew and I were having a bit of a chat (as you would expect at that time of the day) Tim tells us to be quiet and listen. Nearby we could hear the lions roaring and the Hyena’s howling, it also explained what the noises were we could hear that night - we presumed it was the Americans. Andrew also gives us a bag with breakfast in it, it’s a huge bag and has everything from fruit and juice to biscuits for morning tea. We shouldn’t have expected anything less! We give him the champagne from our room and after the car is loaded it’s away we go. We have to follow him the 10km to the gate so that he can let us out.
Driving to the airport is easy enough, dropped off car and then headed inside. Nice easy airport to work your way around. Couple of hours to kill then it’s off to Johannesburg. I’m surprised not more people miss flights there though. We were at our boarding gate and they called for passengers to Durbin to board through the same gate number, we could see our plane through the window and they walked a different way so we were confident we were still in the right place. Then people started walking to our plane! No-one ever called for Johannesburg passengers to board, I went and asked and sure enough it was our plane! We still never heard a call all the way out…
On the flight I sat next to a really friendly South African guy called Daryl, who is a Director with Coca-Cola and is in charge of all of Africa and much of Asia, he was on his way to Vietnam and the Philippines. He had lived in Uganda for 8 months so was able to tell us a little of what to expect, such as our 34km trip from the airport to the hotel possibly taking anywhere from 1 to 5 hours! When we told him what happened to us in Cape Town with our credit card he even asked if we needed any help, we were so flattered! He was great company and we chatted the whole flight, surprising huh!
When we got to Johannesburg Daryl showed us the way to get bags, check in etc. We had to go through a different check in counter so we agreed to meet for lunch somewhere in departures. Unfortunately the airport is so massive we weren’t able to find each other.
Great airport, it had everything and more. It even had a massage place that did water massages. You laid face down in a pod and when the lid was closed over you (you’re head is still poking out the end) a rubber sleeve is over the top of you and hundreds of jets of water go up and down your body. Kind of like a massive spa without getting wet.
The boarding gates were all very close together and not a plane in sight. They started calling for passengers to Uganda to board about 45 minutes before departure time so we figured that everyone had checked through and perhaps we might leave early. But no, the reason is you all have to get on buses to take you to the plane (similar to Bangkok). We got to the plane and it was packed, there was not even enough space for all the hand luggage so the passengers who got there late had to put there’s in the hold. Finally ready to go then someone had to be removed from the plane and their luggage found, finally we left!
The guy that Tim had to sit next to was in no way as friendly as the guy I had previously, he was a very angry looking Ugandan man who did not seem to appreciate how lucky he was having two very excited Aussies to talk about his country to!
Entebbe airport in Uganda was something else! We had already got our visa’s before coming (because we were told we had to - this is not the case), but the 2 lines with people still needing them went quicker than ours!
When you collect your bags and head out into the greeting area it’s something else. There’s about 5 metres then there is a wall of people, some holding signs, others just waiting but over-all it was very very loud, everyone yelling for passengers, do you want me to take your bag, do you want a taxi van, do you want a hire car, do you want, do you want…..
We needed to get some money so found the money changer. It turns out that they don’t use US dollar, they use the Ugandan schilling. I wasn’t prepared for this so had no idea how much we would need. Eventually I found someone who would take our Australian dollar but would only give us 1,000 schilling to 1 of ours. US dollar was being exchanged for 2,000! But I guess the Aussie dollar would be much harder for them to off load.
Managed to push our way outside to a taxi booth. We thought you paid for a taxi voucher and then went on your way. But in fact this is just where all the taxi drivers wait for people. We were told it would be $35 US to our hotel or 70,000 schilling. So now it seems some things you can pay in either, but later we realized that not so many people accept the US dollar, mainly taxi’s from the airport and hotels.
We met up with a driver who starts walking into the back of the car park, seemingly dodgy is the only way we can explain it. It’s pitch dark, very little lighting and we’re following this strange guy to who knows where…. It turns out that all the taxi’s are parked here, whew!
The drive to Kampala was like nothing else we’ve experienced. You have to not only be crazy to drive here but brave! Thailand and Bali has nothing on this place. There was so much traffic that if our driver didn’t overtake into oncoming traffic or push motorbikes, bicycles and pedestrians off the road we would still be driving there.
The taxi’s petrol light was already on when we got in the car and along the way he had to stop and get petrol, but only a few litres, just enough to make the light go out!
We had 2 cars full of soldiers armed with AK47’s pass us. We asked the taxi driver if anything was going on, he just sort of shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.
It took an hour and a half to get to the hotel, so considering the worst case scenario we were told about on the plane, we did pretty well. Roads were poor, no lighting anywhere and the roads are packed with people and cars, chaotic is an understatement!
We’re staying at the Kampala Sheraton, probably on the pricey side for Uganda but we want to leave our luggage there when we go to trek the gorillas, so the price was worth it for the security it would offer. The first thing you notice when you arrive at the hotel is the level of security. There is another fully armed guard sitting in the office and a security guard checks the whole car for explosives, under and in the boot as well. Then he asks the driver if he is armed, he said no…
Good news - our new credit card has arrived! Good news for us or maybe we would be sleeping in the street!
The room is great, the door even opens onto the thinnest balcony ever, but it still opens. You can hear all the sirens and also bats in the palm trees. We get room service for tea and organize ourselves for the next few days away.
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Ros Gregson
non-member comment
????
What ..... no photo's???