Hi Everyone!
We are now in a little town called Mbarara - somewhere we had never planned on going to but due to a couple problems, we had to make an impromptu stop here for a couple days before we move on but I will get to that in a bit.
So since we last wrote we decided to visit Lake Victoria to visit a place called the Sese Islands. In order to get there from Kampala we needed to get onto a cramped Matatu (although we are used to this now) and then get a ferry from Entebbe. However, we failed to calculate how we would get from Entebbe to the ferry point so we managed to get a lift on two motorbikes who took us there - luckily this time round the ferry was much less stomach churning than our last visit to an island! The journey took about 3 hours and we walked to a place called the 'Hornbill Camp' where we rented a tent and camped on the grounds for the first time this trip!
The Hornbill was a truly beautiful place to stay and the view of the sunset on the beach from our hammocks was really something special. That night a dog who we named 'Scar' for obvious reasons took it upon himself to guard our tent from any animals, growling and barking when anything came near. The next day we decided to walk to the nearby town but were not quite sure how to get there so we decided to go on a spur-of-the-moment walk up a hill accompanied by a dog (who we named 'Twix) who attached herself to us. Once getting to the top we could see all the surrounding islands and sat there for a while taking in the view, but also trying to get our breath back! Once we got back to camp we decided to go for a quick swim in the lake, although Bilharzia is a threat the temptation to have a quick paddle in one of the world's largest lakes was just too strong!
The next day is what can be called 'The Hell Day.' We got a lift on what was without a doubt the worst matatu we have been on. Missing a couple windows and the door almost falling off, the van groaned as it went up hills (to which there are many on the island) and covered all the passengers in exhaust fumes as it struggled to cope. The problem with travelling on public transport in East Africa is that the other passengers have no care about personal space and will jab you with their elbows and lean on you just to get that extra bit of space for themselves. We then got the ferry and arrived on the mainland to continue our uncomfortable journey. However, what we thought was the most uncomfortable bus journey we had been on ended up being quickly out done as we got a ride on a bus to take us to Lake Bunyoni. The conductor seemed intent on over-charging us and because of our previous journey we were far to tierd to argue so we paid him. We were then shoved on the back of the bus with 10 people occupying 5 seats. As we started to move it became apparent to me that the man sitting next to me by the window was in excruciating pain because of his leg. This was not made any easier by the bus drivers' inability to see speed bumps and pot-holes. Emily then got out some pain killers and gave them to him to try and make things better for him. Really annoyingly, our good deed was not returned because the bus got incredibly hot and Emily became very sick and the guy was very reluctant just to open the window and refused to switch seats with her when she wanted to throw up out the window. As a result we had to get the bus to stop and got off in a tiny village not having a clue where we were. I was then told by a lady that the nearest town we could stay in was not far so we got a lift on another motorbike there and checked ourselves into a hotel so Emily could recover.
It turns out that Emily really was sick and has been in bed for the last 3 days but thankfully she is looking a bit better now. That night I went on a mission to find some food and was approached by a woman who tried to sell herself to me by saying she was 'Aids Free'! I turned her down without much hesitation and found a 24hr bakery which was a relief. We have decided now that we really do not have time to go to Rwanda which is unfortunate but there is not really much there apart from a museum which we wanted to visit and apparently it is quite expensive in the county - Uganda is definitely the cheapest out of all the East African countries.
So we plan on getting to Lake Bunyoni ASAP and we will then work our way back to Nairobi via Jinja in order to catch our flight home.
Look forward to seeing you all in just over a week!
Love Ryan and Emily
xxx
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