From Jinja to Kampala and on to Masindi

After 2 fun days at the Nile High Camp Site in Jinja, we left our little adventure paradise for Kampala in hopes of securing permits to see Uganda's gorillas. But our attempts to secure 3 of the very highly sought after permits were unsuccessful, so we changed our plans and have decided to head north rather than south. Not to worry though, we won't be going too far north where the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) continues to wreak havoc on rural communities with a decade long civil war, but close. We sat at the bus station for 4 hours waiting for a bus to leave for Masindi, and finally at 1pm it did. OUr goal is to get to Murchison Falls National Park which is tucked away in the far western part of Uganda, about as close to the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as you can get. Most people who come to the park, known for the Nile's biggest and most spectacular waterfalls, thousands of hippos, crocs, and bird life, not to mention lions and even giraffes!, do so on organized tours from Kampala. As such, public transport ends in Masindi, 85km from park headquarters. But being an independent traveler always looking for an adventure, I suggested to my travel companions that we do this one completely on our own. No hired vehicles, no tour operators. Hitchh hiking!

We arrived in Masindi much later than we had anticipated, and our chances of hitching a ride into the park at sundown were slim, but we gave it a valiant go anyways. As the dark rain clouds moved in and the gusts of wind picked up every leaf, piece of trash, and dust particle not secured firmly to something, we conceded to stay the night in Masindi and resume our efforts in the morning. We found a small guest house to stay in just as the skies began to light up with bolts of lightening and the thunder echoed across the hills. And then the rain came. Bucket and buckets of rain poured from the skies, quickly turning the streets into rivers of mud. Just in the nick of time, we checked into a local guest house, dropped our bags, donned our ponchos, and took to the streets of Masindi, running from store front to store front in search of a restaurant and a little relief from the storm. Nobody else was stupid enough to take on the rain drenched streets, but waited patiently for the storm to pass huddled under any form of cover they could find. How ridiculous we must have looked--3 muzungus barreling down streets and alley ways, leaping over the instantly formed rivers and lakes, ponchos flapping in the wind! We eventually found a restaurant and bar and were warmly welcomed by the others who were seeking refuge there. Beers, matoke and beans, a few games of cards, and even American music videos in the background, all under an African rainstorm in the middle of rural Uganda. This is why I love traveling!