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Published: August 28th 2008
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the jewel of africa
our first view of uganda, about 15min over the border from kenya 2 avocados
1 loaf of bread
2 border crossings
8 new bruises
and 36 hours of bumpy bus rides later....
We are in Jinja, Uganda!
After a couple of days exploring some of zanzibar-a last visit with the parents and Rory, many sundowners on the beach with Louis, Nathan and Marissa as well as a couple of aussies, a sunset sail on a dhow, and some beautiful diving- we decided to head inland. Marissa, Nathan and I got on the ferry from stone town to Dar es Salaam for a very bumpy 2hr ferry trip, but well worthwhile when a school of flying fish flew past!
We arrived in Dar at dark only to find every hostel and budget hotel full. Luckily, after some patient persuasion and lots of smiles, we managed to convince the woman at the desk at the YMCA to let the three of us rent the one remaining room (not rented because the fan was broken). It actually turned out to be a very comfortable, and pretty cheap, two bed room on the top floor with a balcony looking out over the city. 3 people squeezed into two beds doesn't really work well with mosquito
nets though, and marissa and nathan both woke up covered in mosquito bites. Luckily for me, the mozzies seem to like them more than me!
We were up at 5am the next morning and off to the scandinavia bus office only to find that all the buses were fully booked, so we continued on to the main bus station-Ubungo- and caught a slightly rickety, very bumpy, and very slow, bus to Moshi.
Marissa hopped off in moshi, and Nathan and I caught an evening bus to Nairobi.
This was an experience....I'm actually glad it was dark so I couldn't see the road!
The road from Moshi to the kenyan border is very potholed and the driver must have been going at about 140km/hr. Nathan was bounced high enough off his seat to smash his head into the overhead luggage racks twice, and I have a few nice new bruises on my arms from crashing into the arm rests of the seats. The upside was that the bus was half empty and so when the road did smooth out it was comfy to sleep, although the temperature dropped to Kilimanjaro like temperatures once we climbed into kenya.
We arrived in
Nairobi somewhere around 4:30am and everyone stays sleeping on the bus until sunrise rather than brave nairobi in the dark. At about 6:30 we climbed off the bus and set off down the road to find a bus to Kampala. About 15min later we were back on a bus, this time the Kampala Coach, and headed off to the Uganda border.
The scenery throughout western kenya is beautiful and quite different from the south. The Ugandan border crossing was, as border crossings go, great! Friendly people, and I discovered that on an irish passport you don't have to pay for a visa! As we crossed over the river and into Uganda the landscape changed dramatically. It seems strange that there can be such a dramatic difference in just a couple of hundred metres, but as we pulled away from the border into Uganda thunderclouds built up, rain poured down, lightnight lit up the sky behind the setting sun, and we were soon driving through thick bush. It is a stunningly beautiful country from what I've seen so far.
The road between the border and Jinja is under construction and one section of about 30km must have taken nearly
the nile
view from the deck at NRE camp just above bujagali falls, Jinja 3hrs. We finally arrived in Jinja last night at about 8pm and, a beautiful 10km boda boda (motorcycle) ride later, we pulled off the dirt road and into Nile River Explorers campsite.
The first cold beer after 3 days of travel has never tasted better!
The campsite is beautiful, set on a cliff overlooking the nile, about 4kms downstream from the source at Lake Victoria. They have double and triple bandas, dorms, and a campsite as well as a bar/restaurant set hanging out over the cliff top. Just outside the gate are a couple of chapati stands so breakfast is easy to find. Chapatis are almost like a crepe, and come with any fillings of your choice-often omelette, tomato, avocado, etc. At about 40 cents US per chapati it is nice to be away from expensive tanzania prices finally!
The usb ports on the computer are broken so photos will be added soon!
For now, i'm off to explore Jinja and dream of waves on the Nile...
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