This post is way overdue, as it’s now been one week since I left Virginia. The flight over was mercifully unmemorable, despite taking 23 hours for its two legs. Staggering through the Immigration procedures, I was immediately greeted by my new partner, Kenneth Tumusiime, and his friend, Wilfred (our driver). We beelined for my hotel, where I was granted the luxury of a 20-minute shower and change before we hurried to get some Ugandan Shillings. In case you’re wondering, a dollar buys 3,600-3,700 UGX.
We had research business in Kampala (securing final boat permission) but couldn’t do that the next day (Sunday), so we drove to Kenneth’s home near Lake Mburo National Park in south-central Uganda (if you consult a map, the nearest city is Mbarara). That took me over the Equator for the first time in my life (the event was photo-documented by Kenneth).
On down to their town, I met his charming wife, Miriah (who works for Uganda Wildlife Authority as a Conservation/Education Ranger and patrols in uniform with gun), his ...mmm...high-energy son, Elijah, and a slew of friends and neighbors. Then we drove over to see where he’s building a new home – a process that will start soon with making the bricks. And home for a family dinner of liver, matoke (mashed plantain), spinach, and various other delicacies. I slept well under a mosquito net for the first time since working in Venezuela (1977)! It was an honor to be taken into their home and meeting some friends and relatives (Miriah’s sister).
The next day we got an early start (much to the consternation of Elijah who missed our departure and wondered where The Mizunga had gone.
Retracing our steps to Kampala, the scene was very different. We’d come south on a lazy Sunday afternoon, but were returning through a bustle of energetic people getting their businesses going and their kids off to schools in the color-coded school uniforms that seemed to change every five miles. The loads that I saw balanced on motorcycles, bicycles, and heads were breath taking.
I have never seen people with better posture than I have found in Uganda. I’m standing up straighter since getting here.
Our time at Uganda Wildlife Authority was unsurprisingly frustrating. All the people we needed to see were off in a Senior Management Meeting that was to last ALL WEEK. So, we found other people, paid fees, collected receipts, and headed FINALLY toward Murchison Falls National Park.
I am forcefully resisting the temptation to write endlessly about Uganda traffic, but I’ll summarize with a simple message: if you visit Uganda (and I will be beating that drum soon), do not even DREAM of renting a car and driving yourself...unless you have worked as photographer for a war correspondent in the Balkans War and regularly juggle fire batons while wearing a gas-soaked t-shirt. Not to put too fine a point on it. Our driver Wilfred is skilled at all these things (especially the batons) and I owe him my life many times over.
And so we arrived up here after dark, which I ordinarily find disorienting, but just before we left the “2-lane-treated-as-4-lane" main road between Kampala and Sudan, we crossed the Nile. It was amazing how geographically defining that landmark was for me. That river’s position in the world is right up there with the Amazon, our Mississippi, and perhaps Mar-A-Lago...
How was the liver?