Friday 22nd October – The trip to Rukingiri
After a very short sleep we were all up again at 5.30am, breakfast at 6am. This was a wonderful meal of fresh fruit, hard boiled eggs, toast and jam. It may sound mundane but if was so fresh and tasty. After breakfast we had the chance to stand outside in the dawn light and watch hundreds of fruit bats fly overhead.
We then loaded the bus with all the luggage, 28 boxes and cases all manhandled onto the back seats of the bus, leaving just enough room for 6 passengers. The other 8 got into the Global Care utility vehicle and we were ready to go. At 7.30am we set off, in convoy, on the 400Km (250mile) journey to Rukingiri, we expected it to take 10 hours and had planned three stops along the way.
The first stop was to collect bottled water and to allow people to buy sim cards for their mobile phones. Then it was off through the Entebbe rush hour traffic, a hair raising experience, there is no road discipline, traffic signs are ignored and traffic lights are advisory only at the best of times.
Most of us had been snoozing when the bus stopped and did a U turn to get back to the others. When we parked by them we realised we had crossed the equator and slept through the experience. We took photos of each other, one foot in the North, the other in the South. Then we watched the most amazing demonstration:- 3 bowls of water set out, one 10 metres North of the equator, the second on the equator and the third 10 metres south of the equator. When the plug was taken out of the first the water circled clockwise down the plug hole, the second, the water went straight down without spinning and the third the water circle anti-clockwise.
We continued on our journey and an hour later, again the bus was in front, when we got a call from the others to tell us they had a puncture and for us to turn back to help them. Sure enough the rear tyre was as flat as a pancake so, as this was a new (pre-owned) Global Care vehicle we spent some time reading the manual to find where the spare wheel and tools were. After that it did not take too long to get the wheel changed and back on the road again. Whilst the wheel was changed the rest sat in the shade chatting to a young disabled boy and an old lady, whilst across the road two young girls sing and wave for us.
As we drove through ever changing scenery, we were also climbing as Entebbe is 1,000ft above sea level and Rukingiri, 5,000ft. We saw gazelles and Barbara was ecstatic when she spotted Zebras grazing in the distance.
By now we had about 150km left to go and apart from the unscheduled stops we had also had to have several toilet stops, however finding suitable facilities was difficult and plenty of notice was required by the drivers. At one petrol station there was only a ‘Gents’ so we had to make sure that they were empty before standing guard while the ladies on the trip used the facilities.
At this stage Paul informed us that our Guest House had told us we could no longer stay there as President Museveni was coming to town and had ‘taken over’ the whole hotel for four days. Fortunately Reverend Moses had been able to book us all into another Guest House.
The state of the roads is so poor it is dangerous to drive at night in Uganda and because of our stops we were now very late and would have to complete the last 40km in the dark. Taking extra care because of the potholes and vehicles without lights we arrived at Rukengiri at around 8pm, 12 and half hours after leaving Entebbe.
We were all exhausted. The guest house was able to provide us with a supper, a supper which was devoured hungrily. We made our plans for a late breakfast the next morning (9am) before we all went off to bed for a good and long night’s sleep.
As we drove through ever changing scenery, we were also climbing as Entebbe is 1,000ft above sea level and Rukingiri, 5,000ft. We saw gazelles and Barbara was ecstatic when she spotted Zebras grazing in the distance.
By now we had about 150km left to go and apart from the unscheduled stops we had also had to have several toilet stops, however finding suitable facilities was difficult and plenty of notice was required by the drivers. At one petrol station there was only a ‘Gents’ so we had to make sure that they were empty before standing guard while the ladies on the trip used the facilities.
At this stage Paul informed us that our Guest House had told us we could no longer stay there as President Museveni was coming to town and had ‘taken over’ the whole hotel for four days. Fortunately Reverend Moses had been able to book us all into another Guest House.
The state of the roads is so poor it is dangerous to drive at night in Uganda and because of our stops we were now very late and would have to complete the last 40km in the dark. Taking extra care because of the potholes and vehicles without lights we arrived at Rukengiri at around 8pm, 12 and half hours after leaving Entebbe.
We were all exhausted. The guest house was able to provide us with a supper, a supper which was devoured hungrily. We made our plans for a late breakfast the next morning (9am) before we all went off to bed for a good and long night’s sleep.
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