Butembe

After a relaxed morning in Nile Adventure campsite, I bought what is known locally as a 'Rolex' which is a capatti filled with various ingredients of your choice - I had egg, green pepper, onion and tomato filling and it was delicious. I took it down to the river to eat and saw two big river otters tracking across the river about fifty metres from the jetty. There were also river birds such as the large black and white, hovering, pied kingfisher and the tiny iridescent blue malachite kingfishers and a smaller reed cormorant (that swims very low in the water with only its head above the water) spreading its coat-hanger shaped wings to dry. There were also lots of 'tiamata?' fish by the shore coming to the surface for insects which look like piranha but without the bite and are a staple for the local fishermen. I recorded the tropical sounds of insects and birds in the trees surrounding the campsite where vervet monkeys played, bounced across tents and roofs and occasionally squabbled angrily, chasing each other through the trees. The heavens opened about midday and a big, lightning flashing, thunderstorm soaked everything. As we left the campsite on our truck the drama began - we bumped about a quarter mile down a slippery and muddy track when we slid off the road into a deep ditch, throwing us and various objects across the truck and leaving the truck at a worryingly steep listing angle. As we exited the truck and slipped through the mud to take up various positions at the side of the road, many local men came running up the road to try and help free the truck. After several failed attempts, a digger was summoned from a nearby garage where it was being repaired to try and extricate the forlorn, entrenched yellow truck. After several unsuccessful attempts to tow the truck out from both ends, brute force was the final desperate solution as the digger lifted and shoved the truck backwards where our truck could then be towed out and we were free at last after about two hours. (In the meantime a young boy from the next door house came and said 'hello' - he said that he had been to school but that his mother could no longer afford the fees. He wants to be a mechanic when he grows up - he asked about my trail running shoes and said he had no shoes of his own - this put our temporary difficulty in stark perspective!) Often, our driver, then accelerated forwards in a brave and successful bid to set the truck free, continuing on to the main road. We all slipped and staggered in the mud to catch up with the truck. Then further drama ensued as the locals asked for payment from Often who remained remarkably calm amidst the melee. I also became embroiled in it as I was trying to wash my muddy feet from a water tap on the truck - a local helped, unbidden, to wash my feet - but I had to then extricate myself from the jostling crowd of locals with the help of Often. We headed for our next stop in Kampala with a story of our stranding to tell our fellow travellers who were taking alternative transport from the campsite after their whitewater rafting trip.Read more