Goodbye Uganda, hello Tanzania!

Hello from Tanzania! We'd booked a direct flight from Entebbe to Kilimanjaro airport with Precision Air. Emma had warned me that her previous experience hadn't been good... We got a taxi to the airport and walked to departures to find a big crowd waiting outside and nobody allowed in. I still don't know why that was because I got slightly distracted by the departures board which didn't show any flights with Precision. Most of the flights it did show were cancelled! I left Emma with all the bags and went to find the airline offices, only to find Precision didn't have one! Eventually someone said to go to Air Uganda, who it turned out have taken over Precision's flights from Entebbe as they no longer fly that route. Not that we'd been told! Unfortunately, the bad news was that all Air Uganda's flights had been cancelled for a whole week. I begged and begged, and the staff were lovely and eventually found us two options. Both involved travelling with Kenyan Airways to Nairobi, then Nairobi to Dar es Salaam and then with Precision to Kili. The first option left in the evening and got into Kili the next morning, after our safari was meant to start. The second got in the same day but was fully booked so we had a very anxious wait to find out if anyone had cancelled. Eventually about 30 minutes before the flight we were told there was space so we ran through check-in and security! I have never known as many security gates as in Entebbe, I think I went through 5 metal detectors in total! Slightly stressful when you're running for a flight and have to take your walking boots on and off every time! Then suddenly we were on our way to Kenya!

After a very short flight on a very smart plane we arrived in Nairobi and waited in transit for our next flight. I got more and more stressed as our flight was half an hour late taking off and we only had 1 hour 5 minutes in Dar to change flighta. I spent the whole of the second flight bouncing up and down and willing the plane to fly quicker, as we really didn't want to spend a night in Dar! In the end we landed 30 minutes before our next flight. We ran through to immigration and pleaded for help. The visas took ages as they make it using the picture from your passport. We then had to queue again for passport control but a man took pity on us and waved us through! We then grabbed our bags and ran through a tiny corridor to departures which was totally empty. It was 10 minutes before our flight was meant to leave so obviously check-in had closed. We pleaded with some officials who phoned a lady who very reluctantly checked us in and then refused to give us our tickets until we gave her some money. We didn't really care at the time but are now feeling rather annoyed that we had to bribe her! We ran up the the gate to discover that, surprise surprise, they were running late and everyone was still waiting! Two men had been told to walk to the plane with our bags and we watched out the window to see if we could see them. Finally, 7 hours late, we arrived in Kili airport and were amazed and delighted to find our bags there waiting! Maybe bribery does help... So now we're in Tanzania! We stayed at an Ethiopian restaurant/guesthouse but arrived too late for food so we'll have to wait until after the safari. It was such a relief to have made it to Arusha, even if we did go a very long way round (have a look at a map to see how close Entebbe and Arusha are and how far away Dar is!) I love Africa but there are times that I'm glad that I'm European and don't have these problems every time I travel!

Entebbe and the Ssese Islands

We're on holiday! Our first stop was the town of Entebbe, near Kampala and on the banks of Lake Victoria. It used to be the capital and the airport's still there. It's joined to Kampala by a long road which is lined by a series of towns and villages so it feel like they merge into each other, but Entebbe is much smaller and quieter than Kampala, and in our opinion much nicer! When we were at the gorilla camp we got chatting to the boss who was visiting for a few days from their office in Entebbe. She said we should stay with her in Entebbe and we later found out she meant for free! It was so sweet of her and it was a lovely place to stay. In between her house and the company office there's a small annex with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and sitting room and we had it to ourselves the whole time. It even had a TV and games console and really comfy sofas and it felt so cosy and Western compared to our house in Kagando! The first night we stayed in the guesthouse and had a lovely meal cooked for us. We were very excited to discover BBC world and catch up on the world outside rural Uganda!

The next day was Emma's birthday. We walked into town, although every boda-boda (motorbike taxi) and matatu (minibus taxi) stopped by us asking if we wanted a lift. As usual when we are in a big town our first stop was a supermarket! We then went to the zoo, or offically the Ugandan Wildlife Education Centre. The animals there have all been rescued from poaching or other threats and they use it to educate people about the threats to wildlife in Uganda. It was really interesting and we saw lots of things that are hard to see in the wild like a leopard, white rhinos and chimpanzees. The chimpanzees were in a huge enclosure and we spent ages watching them climbing trees, play-fighting and swinging on the ropes. We met up with a friend from Liverpool, Jemma, who's been working on the paeds ward in Kagando's sister hospital further South. It was really fun to see her and exchange stories. I was a bit jealous as they had interns (first year doctors) and 2 consultants on paeds there and more resources. After the zoo the 3 of us went out for a birthday meal, its so nice to have a variety of food!

The next day was really hot so we met up with Jemma again and went to a posh hotel to spend the day by their pool. The pool was massive and had a 10 metre diving board. We spent a very lazy day reading books, swimming and sunbathing which was lovely. There were lots of tourists there, it's strange to see so many muzungus!

The next day we packed up and got the ferry to the Ssese Islands, which are in the North-West of Lake Victoria. The ferry took 3 hours. We splashed out on 'first class' (for £6 instead of £4) and were glad we did as it meant we had enough space to lie down on the sofas as the journey was very rough and we both felt very sea-sick! The Ssese islands used to be a popular tourist destination but the ferry stopped for a while and so people stopped going. Our hotel definitely felt rather derelict and past its hay-day! We'd paid for half-board which we later regretted as there was only one veggie option for Emma and the food wasn't great. The people were friendly though and the hotel was right on the beach with amazing views of the lake and other islands. The water level is much higher than it used to be and there was a jetty and a parasol about 20 metres out which used to be on the beach! At first we felt a bit deflated but it was nice to relax and have time to catch up on blogs and read. We stayed there 3 nights and then got the boat back. It was much less windy and a much nicer, less rough journey.

We had one more night back in our lovely accommodation in Entebbe before leaving Uganda. We had a fun day doing some shopping and eating nice food again! Our host Lydia, had had a baby in our absence which is exciting but she didn't manage to be discharged from hospital before we left so we left her a present in the house. Next stop Tanzania!

Lake bunyonyi

I've realised I haven't written about a trip we took ages ago, in May, to a place called Lake Bunyonyi. It's about a 6 hour drive from Kagando, quite near the border with Rwanda and the gorillas. There were 9 of us in total as 5 new medical student had arrived that week and Jess and Becky were still there. We left after ward round on the Friday and had a long and bumpy drive down on the nursing school minibus which we'd hired. The scenery was amazing though and we spent most of the journey gazing out the window. FIrst we went through Queen Elizabeth National Park, which is flat savannah. We then climbed up into some hills which were really green and lush, with lots of different plants growing. It was fun to see all the food we eat growing. Then we passed lots of tea plantations. Most of the road was paved but there was a stretch for about an hour which was really bumpy and dusty. Lake Bunyonyi is about 20 kilometres from Kabale but between them is a massive hill which the minibus struggled up and we saw lots of vehicles being pushed! We then went back down again with amazing views of the lake. It's said to be the most beautiful lake in Uganda and we were told that after you've seen it you realised God must exist. I'm still not sold but it was incredibly beautiful!

We were staying on an island so we got canoes there. It was pretty hard going against the wind and our group (3 girls and a guide) had only 2 pairs of oars so we were very slow. On the plus side we got to rest a lot whilst the others had to row the whole way! We passed lots of islands and eventually got to ours. We stayed in a place called Byoona Amagara which is an Eco Lodge. We stayed in their geodomes which were huts with open fronts with amazing views of the lake. The showers were heated by solar power and had amazing views too but the loos were compost toilets and less pleasant! They don't have a generator so all the power comes from solar panels. The lake it quite high (over 2000 metres) and it got pretty cold in the evenings.

I stayed in a room with Jess and Emma which was fun. It was nice to have a big group and lots of different people to talk to. On the Saturday we went on a guided walk on the mainland. It was a really steep climb up but then we were rewarded with gorgeous views of the lake. Our guide told us stories about the islands. There's one tiny one which used to be used as a prison for girls who became pregnant out of wedlock. They were sent there with no food and it was too far to swim. Their only hope was to be rescued by a man who was too poor to afford to pay for a wife! Luckily that doesn't happen any more! When we got back we went for a swim in the lake. It's one of the only places in Uganda with no hippos or crocodiles and (probably) no schistosomiasis (bilharzia) so it's safe to swim. That evening we had a late meal (as the food arrives about 3 hours after you order it) and then the staff all came out and started dancing so we all joined in. It was very spontaneous and great fun.

We swam again the next day before opting for the lazy option and getting a motorized canoe back before our long journey home. It was a great weekend through and probably one of my favourite places in Uganda.