Uganda - Meeting the Missionaries

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Wed 22 - Sat 25 Oct
There had been much speculation regarding safety of travelling up to Arua. Over the following few days I checked out possibilities with flights (scheduled and private), buses, tours (Murchison NP) and networked as much as possible with the missionaries in and out of the guesthouse.

I got a transit visa for Kenya and attempted to get a visa for Sudan. They sent me to the British High Commission who liaised on my behalf but concluded I should wait till Addis Ababa. Red Chilli Hideaway for lunch.

One afternoon I took a bus down to Entebbe just to look around. Bought ground coffee and a pot of yoghurt.

One of the characters staying at the guesthouse was Maud. She was on her way to Congo (DRC) with US$5000 of medical supplies. She entertained us with recollections of previous experiences like being held hostage by rebels and making a daring if not desperate escape by light aircraft, attending to a fisherman who had wrestled with a crocodile losing his arm jamming an oar down its throat swimming ashore badly mauled, collecting a new Land Rover from Mombassa and managing to write it off on the road back before reaching Nairobi.

Sun 26 Oct
Eventually I achieved the ideal option which was to travel up by road with some missionaries returning to Arua; it had taken me five days of "networking" but now I had the back seat of a 4WD driving first up to Masindi then on to wonderful views of Lake Albert with the blue mountains beyond, taking the ferry from Wanseko across the Victoria Nile through seemingly endless hours of papyrus, and across the top of Lake Albert. Up-country I saw many ladies wearing cream white dresses with big puffy sleeves often looking like they were on their way to or from a wedding in Wiltshire. I couldn't work out if it was because it was Sunday - or because they simply like dressing up. We drove on up to Arua arriving between sunset and nightfall. Communal supper. Nice single room guest accommodation.


Uganda - Meeting the Missionaries

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