Jinja Base camp delivered its final delight of our stay with a great cooked breakfast. We were heading for Entebbe but decided to stop to explore what’s left of the waterfalls and rapids around Bujagali and Itanda.
This area was a rafting mecca equalled only by the Zambezi until dams built in 2011 and 2016 submerged the waterfalls and the most famous rapids. Raft trips still run but they have to put in further along the river and the really big rapids no longer exist. Nonetheless even though we weren’t rafting we had an adventure all of our own as we followed the sat nav which took us along a narrow dirt road with deep ruts and red muddy slides. As we hit one huge dip we banged our heads in the roof and the back window popped open. Still it was quite entertaining and even though we can’t have been more than 20km from a busy town it was clear no one had ever seen a mzungu driving along here. Lots of waving, shrieking and “hello how are you” with lots of biscuit sharing along the track.
We reached the falls from the wrong direction and paid 20000 USH (about £5) to park the car and have a tour down to a rocky area alongside the falls. Had a little paddle in the Nile and marveled at a couple of teenage boys swimming acroas the river without getting sucked down river by the current.
As we drove off we went past the official falls site and paid another 20000 USH for a slightly different view point together with an explanation of the spiritual importance of the area. There were some rocks shaped like people and some shaped like a boat which were covered with brightly colored cloths. Local people here pray to them.
Our final driving adventure was into Kampala. Geoff drove like a local whilst Drew and I winced in anticipation of collisions which never came. Cara was in the front and mastered the art of poking her head out briefly and asking psychopathic minibus drivers to let us in. It took as an hour and a half to do about 20km.
Finally the roads became quieter as we passed the centre of Kampala. We entered onto an almost deserted brand new toll road complete with unmanned ticket booths and people sweeping the edges of the dual carriageway with small hand held brooms. With a spot of expert navigation from Cara we arrived at our Air B&B near Entebbe lake shore. It’s well located and clean but that’s about the only good thing I can find to say about it. And we have 2 nights here until our visas for Tanzania are valid. Oh well you win some you lose some. I should probably be honest here and admit that when we arrived 4 hours ago I was heading into a state of serious misery but I have just had a delicious pizza by the lake and a beer or 2 so right now it all looks a little more optimistic.
Pirate Travels 