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!
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