Uganda - to Kampala

The border formalities weren't too painful. It was a mere half hour to exit Kenya and then only an hour on the Ugandan side to clear immigration and customs. However, the trucks were stacked up on both sides of the border in their hundreds. We had cash to pay for our entry visas - the trucks apparently pay their money into the bank. Problem: the banks are closed for the holidays. So nothing happens! And the trucks will be there for days till the banks open and then for days while the backlog is cleared up. Africa in operation.

We toyed with the idea of staying at the "Christian Guest House and Dry Cleaner", but decided not to and drove on. Even the "Universal Apostles Fellowship Church of Righteousness" failed to slow us down. The "Nice Peaceful Butchery" had its wares hanging in an open glassless window, but we were not tempted. There were fewer private cars than in Kenya, and not even many mutatus on the road. This western part of Uganda seemed very poor. We saw power poles being installed, so the villages here do not have electricity yet. Despite the fact that there was less traffic, what was there presented us with a dodgem car course. Trucks and mutatus weaved back and forth across both sides of the road and even off the road in order to avoid the washed away edges and potholes. Some sections of the road had only small remnants of the tar remaining, and the road was mostly one wide enough for one anyway. Then the roadworks started. You just had to push your way through - no signs, no indication about who has right of way! And then in the middle of it all, a mutatu with a roofrack covered with about 50 strapped down live chickens stops to let passengers out and blocks everyone!

We passed through small villages surrounded by rice paddies, tea, sugar cane and bananas, interspersed with swathes of thick, thick rainforest. Some natural wetlands that hadn't been converted to rice paddy were covered with blue water lilies.

As we approached Kampala, the villages looked more and more prosperous and the number of vehicles on the road increased. We passed through Jinga and over a bridge - the White Nile right at its source flowed away to the north and the Mediterranean beneath us. To the left we could see Lake Victoria.

Only a night at the Red Chilli Hideaway Camp and then off to visit some close relatives.