Day 8: 5 August 2002 10:00 pm
Most of the group leave on an excursion to the Chimpanzee Sanctuary but a splinter group decides to explore Kampala.
At last a free day and it was our best day yet. Most of the group went on a visit to the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Lake Victoria, but we chose to stay and spend the day exploring Kampala.
Kampala is a great city - laid back, vibrant, no hassle from anyone, people are friendly and it feels safe. We were advised to walk in as a group and carry our backpacks on our front. I think our tour leader has to say this to cover all bases, so we can't turn round and blame our tour leader if we get mugged. This is fair enough.
First we changed money, but they would not take a pre-1990 dollar bill. Make sure you take bills printed after 1990 to East Africa to avoid problems. We wandered around the craft market behind the National Theatre and bought a batik painting depicting everyday Ugandan life. Tom has gone all native and bought two necklaces - one with wooden elephants, lions and giraffe and the other is in the shape of Africa. The Lariam must be warping his brain.
We often saw men holding hands as they were walking around the city. This is socially acceptable among male friends. We had lunch in a bakery and Tom purchased a pair of Ugandan "Power" trainers for Ush 25,000 as he wants to do some running.
It was great to wander around on our own and we met a few independent travellers who had already seen the gorillas in Bwindi. To get back to the camp site, we managed to squeeze seven of us into a taxi. As soon as we had piled in, the taxi pulled over into a petrol station. Ugandan taxis are notorious for running out of petrol as they only fill up if they get a fare so that if they are stolen, the car won't go far.
I can now share my top five essentials to bring to East Africa:
Life Venture Trek Towel
They dry in a matter of minutes not hours.
Head Torch
Nights are pitch black in Africa, there is very little light pollution.
Convertible Trousers
Don't bring shorts separately. Trousers always need to be worn in the evening.
Scrubbing Brush
You'd be amazed at how dirty you get just wandering around town. Scrub those finger nails and your feet.
Dry Savlon
Spray on antiseptic that dries in seconds. Cream leaves bites and cuts too moist.
Also, do not under estimate how chilly and wet it can be in the highlands of Kenya and Uganda - come prepared.
Positives: Our best day yet - we pottered round Kampala, savouring the delights of the craft market.
Negatives: Worrying that our best day was one spent on our own. Received bad news about the gorilla permits and I have a strange rash on my arm.