Like this:

I realise that I’m starting to sound like Jeannie D (although hopefully less annoying), since every post contains the word ‘amazing’, and every experience is described to be more ‘incredible’ than the next one. My apologies for the exuberance

Perhaps it’s only because the reality we’re enjoying is in stark contrast to some information or comments we received before leaving. One memorable visit to a doctor we were consulting for our travel medicine needs included a warning that we stood an “87% chance of being attacked” in Uganda.

Now, you don’t have to have studied under Prof George Claassen to figure out that this sounds like a dodgy statistic. “Attacked” by who? An armed gunman? A mugger? A pickpocket? A street vendor trying to sell you a goat sosatie?

Anyway, in the doctor’s defence, it’s probably better to avoid the northern part of Uganda, the long standing base for the infamous Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army. But, for that matter, it’s better to avoid the northern part of Kenya, too – although the situation seems to be improving, the region bordering with Ethiopia is said to suffer under roaming bandits (or shiftas). He didn’t warn us about that.

Since a UK newspaper just reported that a “machete race war” threatens to derail preparations for the World Cup, however, it’s probably a good idea to take such warnings with a pinch of salt. Either way, it’s best to get up-to-date information about these regions in the country itself.

Back to our itinerary, then…

We headed to the foothills of the Rwenzori mountains, also known as the Mountains of the Moon, next. Passing through the towns of Kasese and Kilembe, an old copper mining town, we settled at a great backpackers’ on the hill, run by a crazy Australian (or does that qualify as tautology?).

We did a little walking and hill-climbing while we were there, but the trails seemed pretty intimidating (hence the ‘crazy’ classification – the backpackers’ is responsible for the trails in the area). Despite the fact that he described them as “easy for young whippersnappers like (us)”, they climb from about 1500 km above sea level, going up as high and higher than Table Mountain from there, but with precious little zig-zagging in comparison to the good old Plattekloof gorge route.

Even more idyllic than this place (yes, I did it again), however, was our final Ugandan destination – Lake Bunyoni, near the town of Kabale in the south of the country.  Steep, terraced hills line this beautiful, Bilharzia-free lake. And, since we could hire a row boat at the campsite for only 4 000 shillings (about R16), we spent a big chunk of time checking out the lake’s islands.

As luck would have it, we were there on a Friday (market day) – quite a sight, not just for the fresh produce and other goods on sale, but because many vendors and clients arrive via canoe. If you think that doesn’t sound special, you’ve obviously never seen a relatively tiny sliver of a canoe piled high with matooke bananas.

It was definitely a high note on which to end a great two weeks spent in Uganda, even if the final boda-boda ride to town was one of the fastest and most terrifying of the trip so far. But that was probably a good thing – I was just starting to get addicted to motorcycle rides!

In other news, I found a fancy internet café (but still cheap, since Telkom is but a distant memory to us at this stage), complete with qwerty keyboard…

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