Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Jinja and Free

Cicadas, frogs and monkeys in a who can shout the loudest competition. Bright red roads surrounded by a whole heap of green, topped with a sky that switches between sun burn and apocalyptic. Ladies with jackfruit on their heads. Concrete huts painted in Airtel colours. Smiling children running to wave as you pass. Smells like Africa to me.

I stumbled bleary eyed into Kampala at four in the morning, where I was shown my first bit of smiley Ugandan kindness, when hotel security took pity on me and gave me a room. I say pity, I was pretty stinky by then so they may just have wanted my stench out of the way.

I didn't really linger in the capital, instead I headed off as fast as I could to Jinja, Uganda's backpacker mecca. I spent my first day proper rafting the source of the Nile. Now I thought that that rafting was going to be on fast moving water, which meant paddling would be a novelty rather than a duty. But no, they properly made you earn the buzz of the rapids.

The local dish appears to be the rolex, it's an omelette inside a pancake. Eggtastic.

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