On the basis of my drive from Lilongwe to Nkhudzi Bay, Malawi roads take first prize, in terms of quality, in East Africa - and there is a particularly impressive bit of engineering on the stretch that comes down the escarpment from Dedza towards Monkey Bay. Malawi also takes first prize in terms of the observance by drivers of the speed limits - 50kph in town and 100kph elsewhere - because the Malawi police operate frequent speed traps and getting caught means ...

In transit in Nairobi airport having got up at 0600, left Fort Portal by road at 0700 and checked in at Entebbe for the flight here at about 1330. The Fort Portal to Kampala road is excellent and Herbert made really good time until we hit the usual traffic crawl between Kampala and Entebbe and the excruciatingly slow - and completely pointless - security checks at the airport perimeter gate (passengers have to get out and be frisked, but neither the drivers no...

The Uganda blog wouldn't be complete without a photo of Herbert, the excellent driver that Kirsten organised from Moses Tours and Taxis in Mbarara - and the (almost) unburstable Toyota Land Cruiser. Almost unburstable because the belt running the aircon compressor broke when Kirsten was coming up to Entebbe to collect me - but apart from that the Land Cruiser didn't miss a beat. Herbert always made good progress, but never drove too fast or had us clutching the ...

We have just been (expertly) driven by Herbert from Murchison Falls to Fort Portal - a distance of about 225km as the crow flies - probably more like 250km in reality. However, all but the last 50km was on dirt roads and so the journey took 10 hours - including 9 hours actual driving time! The section in the photo had been the scene of a big snarl up when a truck had got stuck the previous day and some people didn't get through till 0100 the next morning. Howeve...

This little girl crept up behind us whilst Herbert was having his matoke in the cafe in Kagadi. I assume the plastic bag on her head was something to do with the process of putting ringlets in her hair . She and her friends just stood and stared at us in the way that kids often do, but when I put my hand out they all wanted to touch it - Herbert said it was because many of them think that white skin is different to theirs.