An interesting bus experience and a ride down history lane

The bus ride to Kampala did – as we feared – turn out to be a really tough one. We left our hostel in Arusha, Tanzania at 2:30 PM and arrived in Kampala at 3:30 PM the following day. What happened in between was no game! The bus from Arusha to Nairobi was 30 years old and we were constantly worried about hitting our head against the roof when we lifted about 30 centimeters from our seats (the driver was playing race driver on a gravel road with very deep potholes). We got dropped of in Nairobi (goes under the name Nai-robbery) downtown at night with two hours to the next bus, which again turned out to have no toilet, air-condition or suspension what-so-ever. But we arrived safely in Kampala with a memorable experience :-).

Uganda’s poverty and horrifying recent history (seen The Last King of Scotland?), have not influenced the spirit of the people. Kampala is a wonderful place with happy and open people. After one night in Kampala we drove west across the beautiful countryside where small terraces with crops are carved into the countless rolling hill that make up the western part of Uganda. We stayed 2 nights at the beautiful Lake Bunyonyi before heading deeper into Africa.

As we drove west the increasing number of UN vehicles and finally a Red Cross refugee camp in Kisoro made it clear that the region is not yet rid of all its troubles. With just a few km to the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the absolute “hottest” spots on earth right now, we turned south towards Rwanda.

Rwanda is like Uganda, a very welcoming country, but the history of Rwanda is almost even more horrifying. Who does not remember the Genocide in 1994 where up to 800.000 of the Tutsi minority were slaughtered with machetes in less than 3 months? Hungry to learn more, we drove through the countryside (please read the update on mountain gorillas) and continued to the capital of Kigali to visit some memorial sites from the genocide. A visit to the famous “Hotel de Mille Collines” (seen the movie Hotel Rwanda?) was also on the itinerary.

Needless to say that our last week have been an amazing experience! We are now back in Uganda and tomorrow, we fly to Dar Es Salaam and continue to the island of Mafia for a week on the beach before heading back to Scandinavia.

See you all soon!