Blogs from Uganda, Africa - page 11

Welcome back, fellow traveler! I'm sniffling a bit, partly because I am just so overjoyed that you're still following this blog, and partly because I think I have a cold (mostly the latter). Where did we leave off last time? Oh yes, our rendezvous with the Michigan crew. Our Ugandan friend, Marius, had brought over some delicious mangoes and fried grasshoppers the evening prior, and we brought the little "critter fritters" over to share. I daresay the little 'hoppers weren't exactly delicious, but they were palatable enough if you didn't stare at them too hard and gross yourself out. Anywho, we didn't exactly scare the Americans off, but they have since left (ie. fled) to a week of community placements while we continue to pass the time with no fixed itinerary. Since we had a very ... read more

Greetings from Mbarara! What’s new? After six days in this new city, we managed to flood our bathroom, subsequently run out of water, and get invited to a Ugandan wedding! But first things first: Mbarara is a busy and bustling city. My first impression: wow, there are so many boda bodas! These Ugandan taxis on motorcycles are as numerous as cars and are way more reckless on the road (which is saying something since vehicle drivers are notoriously reckless). They also can carry up to three passengers behind the driver or transport large bunches of bananas, parcels, or even goats on occasion. Mbarara has held nothing but surprises so far. While some things may seem similar, in reality, almost everything is different. For example, the toilets in our house: we didn’t know that the toilet handle ... read more

We made it to Mbarara! This past week we finished up touring in Entebbe and set out for Mbarara. We drove from Entebbe to Mbarara (about five hours) through the countryside, stopping at the equator on the way. We took our picture at the circle denoting the equatorial line and there was supposedly a display demonstrating The Coriolis Effect on water, but since it was raining we decided to stop for it on our way back to Kampala. It rained the whole drive but the countryside was still picturesque. After leaving the cities (Entebbe and Kampala), the landscape became rolling, lush, green hills and constant communities. Unlike Saskatchewan, we were never driving on a stretch of uninhabited highway for more than a few minutes. The communities were so frequently occurring that the drive was never dull ... read more

It has been one week since we left Canada, and we are living the tourist life. We started with a couple of days of hanging out in Entebbe and seeing sights like the Botanical Gardens, which houses a variety of fruit trees from all over the world. I was hoping to see a baobab tree from Madagascar, but it turns out that it is much too humid here for these trees to grow. However, the gardens are home to another kind of resident; monkeys escaped from the Entebbe Zoo! Now, they wander the gardens looking for food, and mzugus (foreigners) like us admire them from afar. For our first meal in Africa, we convinced our guide to take us to an authentic Ugandan restaurant rather than a café that would serve us overpriced pizza. Pictured below ... read more

Hello blog world, its been a week since my last blog and I am wanting to update at least once a week, since my last post… I have been and gone to Ssese islands, we ended up going to the biggest of all the islands Bugala Island. We stayed in Kalangala at the Brovad Sands resort. It was so beautiful, we stayed 2 days and 3 nights, unfortunately the ferry to take us across from Entebbe was supposed to leave at 2pm… but we didn’t leave Entebbe until after 6pm, so it was dark by the time we reached the islands, so we just ate and crashed hard from the day of hanging out in the sun. I wouldn’t complain though as we got to lounge in the grass right on the edge of lake victoria, ... read more