What a morning! A 5am start, not to our activities but cleaning up the 5 million flies we all had in our room. Sally did give them a name and explained their biological nature, but all we know is that they die randomly and only follow light.
We headed out to Jinja town, for the morning and early afternoon. As we arrived the chants of ‘mizungu’ could not be avoided, translated it means ‘o white one’, but it is said in a friendly way, with no offence intended. The centre of Jinja is a place full of history and colour. To see the old buildings on the high street all marked with the date they were erected and the names of the owners, all Indian, reminds you of the history and turbulent times this country went through, something we could all relate to because of the film released a year ago; The Last King of Scotland.
The markets are full of absolute freshness, fresh meat, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and the most refreshing people. Customer service is miles better than what we have in the UK, it is mainly down to the fact that if you sell you can feed your family and if you don’t you cannot, so competition is really heated.
Our bargaining skills were absolutely atrocious, it was virtually impossible to get them to budge on their price, Sally was quick to give in and would give them what they asked for, it resulted in Sally choosing her items and walking out of the shop, they assumed Sufian was her bodyguard and that he was not from England, so he managed to save us a lot of money. Shop keepers were willing to pay him to go away!!! That is how much he haggled with them.
All the students had lunch in the only pizza place in Jinja, it excited everyone a great deal seeing menus where they could recognise the items. We spent a few hours in the markets and then headed towards Lake Victoria and the source of the Nile, where we stopped for a few hours. A thousand snaps taken and a strange sort of attachment to the source of the Nile, watching the students wave at the Nile and actually say goodbye to it, was strange. We headed towards Bujjagaali falls, we wanted to be there for sun set. What a moment that was, a silence from all of us, jaws dropped and pure tranquillity surrounded us, the sound of water crushing down at the fall and the sight of the sun setting, a moment words will never do justice to. Wow, oh my God, were the only words echoed as we walked away.
We headed towards our campsite, just when we thought we had seen the most amazing view, things just got better. The sight was a traveller sight for foreigners, with tight security and a restaurant with a view, we stopped and just contemplated why Winston Churchill called Uganda the pearl of Africa, because it is as some would say ‘Heaven on Earth’.
We had a no set time to sleep, so we sat uWe had a no set time to sleep, so we sat up in the restaurant, gossiping and enjoying the views, the smell of fresh breeze as mosquitoes seem to drop dead after tasting the deet in which our skins were drenched in. All of the students enjoyed a really sociable evening and got a bit of a taste of a travellers hostel. The people there were from all over the world and spent the evening checking out which Country you were from how far you had travelled and where you were going next. Karen raised a noticeable cheer from an Irish contingent while Vicky showed off her amazing dancing skills for the whole of the people staying there and even got called an inspiration! The accommodation was interesting Sally, Erin and Melissa thought theirs was great, Sufian and all of the students were less impressed so the night was a restless one with people trying to get comfortable and stay safe from mosquitoes as there were lots around as we were much closer to water.
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