Mazungu are us.

White people. Very few of us in Uganda so we were quite the treat for everyone. Everyone waved as we went past and I've never met people who honestly wanted to please you more than they did. Nothing was a problem for them. By our standards, they are grossly poor but they have a culture we should aim to imitate. Flat tire? Pull over to the side of the road and 10 people appear to assist. No hot water and need a plumber at 9 on a Sunday night? There in 10 minutes. No credit card needed when you check into or make a reservation at a hotel. My hiking boots were mistakenly left in a van that didn't go to Kisoro (where we stayed before going to the D.R.C. for the gorillas). No problem. The van driver drove 10 hours to bring them to me and the manager of the hotel found some boots that were almost my size. As always, I love the daily life and scenes you fall across as you traverse an African nation. Here's a few I've found so far.

First gorilla photos

Here are a few of the first gorilla photos I've gone through. Impossibly hard hike to get to them but worth every step when you first gasp at seeing one.

Only have a few minutes

Jacqui and I are heading out to Jinga in a few minutes so I'll just post a few animal photos. Sadly, Uganda doesn't have a lot of wildlife left because they either hunted them or Idi Amin killed them. There are very few elephants, no Nile crocodiles and we only saw zebras in 1 park. But what's here is pretty amazing.

My new look - tres chic refugee

New knowledge...As far as I know, Uganda has only one Internet connection and it's in the hotel we've now come back to. Seriously, no email or Internet for the past two weeks which, other than not being able to blog, I haven't missed at all.

So, American managed to not get my clothes to Kampala before we left on safari so I've had nothing to wear of mine except for 2 pairs of long pants and 2 tops. The rest I've either borrowed from Jacqui or retrieved from the bag of clothes we brought to give away.

After days and days of that, I was seriously looking at this guy's wares.


Here's a sample of my new look. I think I wore these shorts every other day.

Who needs luggage

Who needs luggage when you're in the British Air lounge and you've had a shower, massage and a chocolate croissant. My luggage has taken a short-term separate vacation from me (thanks, AA, for canceling my flight and then rerouting me but not my bags). But they're working on it and we'll be reunited soon.

Off to take a nap in the "quiet area".

Itinerary

July 29 - 31 Fly, fly, fly and finally arrive in Entebbe
July 31 - August 2 Kampala - shopping to rid the country of cool jewelry + assorted old art and collectibles. Someone has to support the Ugandan economic recovery and it may as well be Jacqui and me.
August 2 - 3 Murchison Falls National Park - Murchison Falls, game drives, Nile River cruise for sunset game viewing. (All along the way on most game drives we should see the usual assortment of Africa's finest - hippos, elephants, lions, zebra, giraffes, crocs, Ugandan kobs, dik diks, buffalo, etc. - plus a ton of primates
August 4 - 5 Kibale Forest National Park - Chimpanzee and monkey tracking
August 6 - 7 Queen Elizabeth National Park - Mweya Lodge (located at edge of cliff overlooking Lake Edward), Maramagambo Forest, games drives, game cruise along Kazinga Channel
August 8 Ishasha Plains - Game drive to see tree climbing lions
August 9 - 10 Bwindi Impenetrable Forest - Mountain gorilla trekking on the 10th
August 11 - 12 Mgahinga National Park - Mountain gorilla trekking on the 12th
August 13 Fly from Kisoro to Entebbe and then drive to Kampala
August 14 Kampala - check into the hotel's spa and don't leave for the day
August 15 - 16 Jinja - sunset game trip - maybe canoe, maybe kayak. Anything that someone else wants to paddle for us.
August 16 Jinja to Entebbe - this is where Jacqui and I try to miss our plane so we can stay in Africa.
August 17 - 19
Fly, fly, fly.