Like this:

After a few days of slow internet, I’m way behind on the story-telling, but nevertheless we need to start where we left off – in Kampala (even though we have now travelled all the way to Rwenzori mountains in the west of the country).

We liked the city so much, we ended up staying four nights, which is quite a lot if you consider the distance we plan to cover. The hotel we stayed at is partly to blame, since it was cheap and clean – probably the most luxurious place we’ve stayed at so far, and still within our price range!

Also, when we first arrived we were starving after a long, bumpy matatu ride from Jinja. When the lady at the lunch buffet heaped a big heap of steaming mashed matooke bananas on our plates, along with some beef stew and all kinds of other veggies, we were pretty much sold.

As a city, Kampala seemed to have a kind of energy about it that we’ve never really encountered before. Traffic was insane, as was the number of people on the sidewalks. But, even though I was momentarily convinced it was the most populous city in Africa, it turns out it’s home to only about 1,5 million people (half the size of Nairobi, and only a little bigger than my home town of Port Elizabeth).

Anyway, the city was crowded, but safe at the same time. People were friendly, even if most greetings were prefaced with “hey, mzungu!” (as in, hey white person). I also have genuine respect for the gazillion boda-bodas or motorbike taxis operating in the city – it’s a dangerous job, but they’re everywhere, super-convenient and cheap, too.

We walked, mostly, but when I picked up a paper one day at lunch and saw President Jacob Zuma was speaking at Uganda’s parliament that afternoon, we took a bike to try and get in. While we were stuck in traffic, the driver of the matatu next to us (called Moses) even asked us our names/where we’re from/what we were up to, and wished us well.

Notwithstanding a friendly chat with a Ugandan policeman at the gate, however, we were not allowed in. Usually you’d be required to give a day’s notice to visit parliament, and with another president around, security was even tighter than usual.

There’s was plenty of exploring to do, though, with the highlight of the visit probably being the St Balikuddembe market. You can pretty much buy anything here, and I don’t just mean that in an over-enthusiastic-traveller kind of way.

Jeans, t-shirts, baseball caps, belts, dresses, suits, rolls of material, calabashes, spices, flour, beans, fruit, vegetables, fish…you name it, they had it (in spades). I even saw a few wedding dresses  hanging in one stall, and they weren’t half-arsed either – really big, fluffy, beaded gedoentes.

We were a little hesitant to take photos at first, but when we started to, people really warmed to it, and even insisted we take pictures of them! Since few had easy-to-reach postal or e-mail addresses,  we decided to come back the next day to give them the prints, which were very enthusiastically received.

One guy who managed a clothing stall bought us cooldrinks on the first day (taking pictures with me on his cellphone as a trade), and was so chuffed with the pictures we brought him that he gave me a pair of white hotpants as a gift. I’m keeping them, even if I never wear them…and, as weird as it might seem, I’m actually pretty impressed that he correctly sized up my bum

(Despite the wide variety of restaurants in Kampala, some of which we tried, I have to confess that I had a serious craving and bought Debonair’s pizza the one night. There seems to be plenty of SA brands in Uganda, including Steers and Nando’s in Kampala, and MTN pretty much all over the country. Some exports, however, are not that great – for instance, if you experience a powercut/rolling blackout during your stay, thank Eskom Uganda!)

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