Lake Bunyonyi: 18th - 20th December

We headed down to Lake Bunyonyi, which is a couple of hours from Mbarara. It is a flooded valley, and the views from our hotel, Arcadia Cottages, were absolutely stunning.

View from the Bar Terrace

View of Lake Bunyoni and some of the Islands

Sunset over the Lake (with a volcano in the background!)

The next day we woke up to the beautiful sight of the mist rising over the lake. We really were above the clouds, and you wouldn't necessarily have known there was a lake below us.

Rising Mist

We decided to do a community walk, which was arranged through the hotel. Our guide Monday (so-named because of the day he was born) took us on a walk right down to the lake, passing alongside fields and houses.

We took a boat trip on the lake to see the different islands, including Punishment Island. This was an island where unmarried pregnant girls were left to die by the Bakiga tribe, unless they could manage to swim to safety (pretty unlikely), as a punishment for what they had done. Any man could go to the island, and take the girl as his wife, without having to pay the usual bride price. A pretty gruesome practice, and it only ended in the first half of the 20th century.

Punishment Island

We stopped off at Bushara Island for a swim and some lunch, before heading back to the mainland to start the steep climb up the hill back to our hotel. We attracted an ever-growing crowd of children, who proceeded to follow us up the hill. Monday took us to a village near the hotel, and we had a walk around. We didn't go into people's houses, which I was very glad about, but we learnt a bit about how the villagers live, and what they grow in the fields etc. We were all extremely tired after the walk (it took about 2 hours to get back up the hill), so were glad to refresh ourselves with a cold Club (beer) when we got back to the hotel.

Mbarara and Lake Mburo: 14th - 17th December

When Mum and Dad arrived in Uganda, we thought it would be nice to bring them to Mbarara for a few days before we started travelling properly so that they could settle in to Africa a bit and also see where we live.

Mum and Dad at the Equator on the way to Mbarara

It was fantastic to see them again, and we were very grateful for all the gifts they brought us - there was so much chocolate that we nearly couldn't fit it all in the fridge!
We spent the first day showing them all the interesting sights in Mbarara, like the university, the market, the high street....and that's about it really. We had dinner with a few friends and colleagues in the evening at the Agip Motel (about the best restaurant in town), which was really nice.

Arriving at Lake Mburo National Park

The following day we set off early in the morning for a trip to Lake Mburo, which is a couple of hours drive from Mbarara. We had planned to have a guided walk with a ranger when we got there, but it was raining really hard, so Andrew the ranger came on a game drive with us instead, getting out to walk if we came across anything interesting. We saw a huge hippo wallowing in a mud pool and Andrew took us to within about 10 metres of it; I was a bit scared that it might start charging at us or something, but luckily it got out of its pool and waddled away in the opposite direction.

Hippo not looking impressed at having its wallowing session interrupted!

Jason and I have been to Lake Mburo a few times now, but we really love it. It's a pretty small National Park, which means you generally don't have to travel too far to see all the different animals. There are no elephants or giraffes there, and we have never seen any lions (although there is reported to be one pride inside the park); but it is one of only two parks in  Uganda where you can see zebras, and there are also impala which aren't common in other national parks. There is a lovely boat-trip you can do around the lake, where you see things like crocodiles, loads of hippos, and lots of different kinds of birds - we saw one called the African Finfoot, which is apparently very elusive.

The day after our trip to Lake Mburo, we relaxed in Mbarara. We were invited to our friend Gary's farewell dinner, as he was returning to the US after 4 months of teaching and research at MUST. Leaving dinners at the university are a pretty formal affair, with a top table for important people - my parents were a bit surprised (and slightly embarrassed!) when they were called to sit on the top table (especially as they had never even met Gary before), but they enjoyed it in the end. My Dad particularly liked being introduced to Waragi, which is the local gin!

Epic Tour of Uganda!

Since the university semester finished for the Christmas holidays, we have been on an epic tour all around Uganda. My parents came out to visit us from 13th - 28th December, and our friends Christine and Peter were with us from 27th December - 8th January.

It was really good to spend time with family and friends again, and it also gave us an excellent excuse to travel all over Uganda. We visited so many places and saw so many wonderful things that we thought it would be best to describe them all in separate blog posts.

We really were very lucky to see all the fantastic things we did - as our driver Herbert kept telling us "We were blessed"!

Weddings, Caves, Bonfire Night and a Film Premiere

It's been such a long time since we have written a blog, so I thought I should update you on what we've been getting up to.

The university semester has nearly ended - the only thing remaining are the exams which start next week. In just over 2 weeks my parents are coming to visit for a couple of weeks, and we have 2 friends arriving on the day they fly back to England...so we have an action-packed month of travelling to look forward to. We have got permits to go Chimp tracking on Boxing Day, which we are really excited about.

Last month we went to a town called Fort Portal for a wedding. It was Jason's colleague's sister's wedding, and it was the first wedding that we'd been to in Uganda. Lots of Jason's colleagues were also going to the wedding, so we hired the university bus for the trip rather than getting public transport. The drive there was lovely - the road went right through the middle of Queen Elizabeth National Park, and we even saw an elephant, which made my day. Fort Portal is in the mountains, and the scenery was breathtaking.

The wedding began with a church service, followed by a reception at one of the local hotels. The service was lovely, and pretty similar to a wedding in the UK, although the priest did a 45 minute long sermon all in Rutoro (the local language). The bride looked beautiful, as did all her bridesmaids (she had about 8 of them!).

The Church

When we arrived at the reception venue, the heavens opened and it started raining like I've never seen it rain before - we had to shelter in our vehicle for about an hour, waiting for it to die down. We eventually braved the rain, and went into the hotel grounds. There were marquees for us to sit under, but they had no flooring, just squelchy mud - not good for open-toed sandals! The poor bride and groom had to wait in their car, hoping the rain would stop, but they eventually arrived. They had to enter the reception venue through an arch, but they first had to cut a ribbon.

Cutting the Ribbon to get into the Reception

There must have been about 400 people there, and I wondered how they were going to cater for everyone, but they had a Ugandan buffet which went down very well with all of the guests. There was also entertainment in the form of a dance group, a singer and a man dressed up as a Zulu warrior - all very good indeed.

The Entertainment

We didn't stay at the reception as long has we had planned to, because we were cold and wet, and needed to warm up a bit in front of the log fire at our hotel (who would ever have thought you needed fires in Africa?!)

Mud!!

The day after the wedding, we went out into the countryside to see some the Amabere caves and waterfalls. We had to walk through the jungle to get to the caves, and as it had been raining it was very muddy (Jason fell over 3 times!), but it was worth it. The caves have some stalactites and stalagmites in them which are supposed to resemble breasts (!), and the drips from them are apparently meant to represent breastmilk (according to local folklore). There was also an amazing waterfall by the caves.

Jason in the Caves

Behind the Waterfall

Jason and his Colleague, Amos

Group Photo

Our bus-trip back to Mbarara included the usual event of breaking down - luckily it happened when we were in a town, so we wandered off to get lunch while someone made hasty repairs to the brakes on the bus (we found out later that one of the brake pads had completely worn down, and the mechanic didn't have a replacement, so he just disabled the brake!). We made it home in one piece though....

The following weekend, we had a VSO cluster meeting at Shivaun's house - we decided to combine it with a barbecue and 'fireworks' to celebrate Guy Fawkes night. Jason was put in charge of the barbecue, and cooked goat and pork kebabs and some burgers courtesy of Chef Shivaun. We even had marshmallows to toast over the fire later on. We didn't really have proper fireworks; just some giant party popper things, and some big sparklers that are supposed to go on top of wedding cakes, but they are pretty spectacular. It was a really nice evening and good to catch up with the other VSOs to discuss our placements etc.

Fireworks!

We went to our first ever Film Premiere a couple of weeks ago, courtesy of the Kina-MUST project at the university. One of my students had sold me tickets, but Jason was pretty reluctant to go, as the dress code was 'red carpet' (i.e. formal). A group of students had made a movie about HIV/AIDS, and it was actually really impressive. It was about a medical student who got a needle-stick injury on the hospital ward, and how he dealt with the possibility that he might have contracted HIV. It was acually better than some low-budget films we've seen in the UK.

There was even an after-show party, where we got to mingle with the stars of the film. Both Jason and I had students involved with the film, and it was nice to see them enjoying themselves away from their studies. It was pretty funny though, because our students kept coming up to us wanting their photo taken with us - I wouldn't have been seen dead with my lecturers at uni! I don't know if there is any way that they can release the film to a wider audience, but I really think it deserves to go further than just Mbarara.

On the Red Carpet

Can't believe we've been here for 8 months!

We've just realised that we've been here for 8 months already - time is definitely flying by. It's been a pretty busy time for both of us lately, as the university semester is now in full swing - which means writing mid-term exams, marking assignments etc.

We went to Kampala last weekend, which was a nice change to Mbarara. I think we would possibly go there more often if the journey wasn't quite so horrendous - 5 hours in a battered old bus, driving along a road that is being resurfaced, and basically being thrown around the bus (you drive over the non-surfaced parts!). The bus seats are covered in plastic, to allow for easy cleaning (although I have doubts whether cleaning ever takes place), but it also makes the seats very slippy....I nearly ended up on the floor on numerous occasions. When we got to Kampala we stayed at the International Landmark Hotel, in Muyenga, just around the corner from the VSO office. It's not in the centre of Kampala, but it is near some pretty nice restaurants (proper pizzas, yum!) and an Italian supermarket that sells ice-creams, so it was a good place to be.

Hectic Traffic in Kampala

On the Saturday, Jason and I had to go to the Uganda Wildlife Authority office to get an annual pass for the National Parks. If you get a 2 year resident's permit, they will let you get this pass, and it's really good value - only $150 for a couple, so it pays for itself in no time at all. After that, we went to Garden City shopping mall, which is amazing - well, actually it's a bog-standard shopping centre in western terms, but we don't have anything like it in Mbarara so we are always quite impressed.

Shivaun and I went to have our hair cut by a Serbian lady nearby (too chicken to brave the salons of Mbarara!), and she did a pretty good job. After that we met up with some other VSOs in Centenery Park, and had lunch. The afternoon involved a big supermarket shop, with me scouring the shelves for things to use in my extemporaneous dispensing practicals (making creams and ointments etc). The lab at the university has hardly any equipment, and I really wanted the students to be able to make something, so I decided to buy all the stuff myself.

The journey back to Mbarara on the Sunday wasn't going too badly, which meant something had to go wrong....and it did! The bus broke down quite far away from town, but luckily the driver managed to start it up again. It then broke down again about 2 miles from Mbarara, so Jason and I decided to walk up the road and get a boda boda to take us home.

Things in the pharmacy department are going quite well, and I'm feeling a lot more comfortable in my role here. The fourth year students have to do a research project next semester, so we gave them a research workshop a couple of weeks ago. I did a presentation on plagiarism, which it seems that they have not heard of before, and didn't realise it was a bad idea (which is maybe quite worrying).

I did a practical with the third years this week. I'm teaching them Pharmaceutical Technology - so lots of theory about the manufacture of different dosage forms (like creams, ointments, suspensions) but very little opportunity to put it into practice. Anyway, the practical was quite successful - they made Calamine Ointment, and Lassar's Paste. We didn't necessarily use the right tools, as I couldn't get hold of them - instead of a porcelain ointment slab, we used plastic chopping boards, and instead of spatulas/palette knives we used decorator's scrapers! But the principle was the same, and it seemed to work quite well (despite me having to put them in groups of 5 to do it, which is less than ideal). Sometimes I really feel sorry for the students here, they pay lab fees, but I don't know where those fees go (cos it's almost certainly not spent on lab facilities). Hopefully things will get better soon, as the pharmacy and pharmacology departments have won a $1.2 grant from the Millennium Science Initiative, to improve facilities and develop the course etc.

Students doing their extemp. dispensing practical in the Lab

Calamine Ointment - note the non-scientific implements used!

To the loony bin and back again...

Lovely Lariam

To try to prevent the onset of Malaria, both of us have been taking the delightful drug Lariam since arriving in Uganda. Having used it in Ghana I always poo pooed the stories of people going a little mad, however I think maybe my opinion on the subject has changed.

Five months in we were going great guns, until we had get a new supply of Lariam, unfortunately all we could get our hands on was the Swiss version of the product Mephaquin, which is theoretically the same.

Of course I am fully aware how annoying and dim I am, but shortly after changing drugs, it became apparent that I was a very horrible person as after being home at about 5.10 instead of 5 on a number of occasion, I got into big trouble from Anna. Other things upset her too and she was in tears over very simple things like the washing was not done or she lost a Scrabble.

To further her anxieties she woke me up one evening to dress me down as I had just flown through the window and she try to sleep! This of course follows an episode of asking me why I had decided to grow vegetables in the bed…

Of course we concluded that the drug was having an adverse reaction and we decided request that she could change to another drug. Following a consultation, with a Doctor and after VSO’s permission she changed drugs to Malarone.

Thankfully now I am only annoying some of the time and she no longer cries when I am delayed or do not do the washing up. I have even stopped flying through windows as well.

Those of you who have worked with me, know I sometimes get angry when somebody incompetent has ensured that I have to do more work because they have caused havoc, however most of the time I am quite a placid creature. My effects on the drug were not as drastic as Anna’s however the new first years took a bit of abuse from me on a number of occasions as they cannot queue up when waiting for my class to leave lectures. However after changing to another drug myself, the first years still cannot queue up but at least I don’t shout at them as harshly as before.

Now I shall leave it up to you to decide whether the stories I have heard before are true!

Vrrrmmmmm!

A few weeks ago our VSO cluster arranged a goodbye cluster meeting for Danny a departing VSO and his wife Annie.

We decided to spend a night at Lake Mburo, to say farewell, we provided the drink, Shivaun made a fantastic cake and Sofie one of our VSO colleagues arranged a bespoke calendar with many photographic memories of their time here. A lot of beer was consumed, good food eaten and amazing wildlife seen at close hand.

A highlight was our trip on quad bikes around the park (I am sure some have already seen the delightful photos on Facebook). In Ugandan terms the trip was expensive (£35) but to be honest with you well worth it! 2 Hours of driving through the Safari tracks, including some of the harder to reach places was outstanding. We saw so much wildlife at close hand, and it felt a lot more exhilarating not being closed inside a vehicle.

Jason dons his quadding gear

Our trip was guided and very professional indeed, especially as en-route to the Quad bike centre, myself and Peter another VSO colleague had been talking about go-karting and how much I liked it going fast. Standing on the back of the pick up alongside our ranger, he joined in the conversation and also seemed to like the idea of going speed.

Not much of a fashion statement!

Matatu’s, “Outstanding” Driving and a Beautiful Lake

September is the time for change here in Uganda, and one of our other friends Meg was leaving Mbarara. Although she has been here on and off for seven years, she had never been to Lake Bunyoni before. We agreed to have a little weekend trip to see the sights and sounds of the place translated into English called “Place of the Little Birds”.

In the interest of saving cash (having spent a fortune on quads the week before), we opted to get to Bunyoni by mini bus taxi (Matatu).

Of course you always have an adventure on a Matatu as they are usually battered and bruised, fit 20 people into the vehicle instead of 14 and drive like absolute lunatics.

We knew we were however going to have an adventure, as when waiting in the taxi park a young student, spent 20 minutes haggling with the conductor over a fare and proceeded to haggle for another 20 minutes over his immense luggage. Then just as we were setting off he decided to get out and delay us even further getting all of his stuff back. Let’s just say in England, I would have told him he was an prat an hour ago. The people in the taxi park though so too in the end and told him so, of course there was a little scuffle but nothing too serious and it soon settled down. Now I do not advocate any form of violence but I do sympathise a little with the Taxi Parks staff who were patient enough with the petulant gentleman.

Our trip from then on was uneventful except the driver drove as though he was 10 hours late. Imagine a scary driver (Bex, “other people I have been censored from writing”) but at 90 miles an hour on potholed roads, then times it by 10 and you have the quality of driving from this man. The smell of brakes and clutch did not help either, and the final death knoll was his pothole overtaking attempt on the wrong side of the road with a truck approaching. A lock up of the wheels later and the truck screeching to a halt, a) we were definitely not impressed and b) not too surprised that in the next town we stopped and then told we had to change vehicles. Now I was wary as I was told first and being careful wanted confirmation that everybody was getting out and we were not part of a scam. Thankfully we were not and we were even bundled into a very nice well kept “share taxi” (a car which they normally squeeze 8 people into). The rest of the trip was paid for by the Matatu driver, which I was very surprised about and our driver was very nice and careful indeed. Now being a businessman himself he opted to take us as he knew he could continue and take us to Lake Bunyoni. All in all we were thankful as the drive was far better.

After an eventful journey we were ready to get to our island. After a short boat trip, we arrived at our island and were given lovely furnished tents. The food for Ugandan standards was very good indeed and we relaxed and drank in a lovely setting.

As Bunyoni is a crater lake it is free from Bilharzia so we swam, dived off the pontoon and generally had a top time. This place is great for relaxing without any doubt.

After relaxing it was very sad we were only staying a single night, and therefore we were gutted to have to try and get a Matatu home again. After being lucky last time we called a Special driver who had found us a good Matatu last time, and we were very happy when he arrived in a Matatu himself in very good condition, announcing that if he could fill it he would himself take us some.

Unfortunately we were not as lucky as we had imagined as soon as we arrived in Kabale the main town near Bunyoni, the heavens opened and we knew our luck was out. After discussions with another Matatu we agreed to join a new vehicle, which proceeded to tout for business by driving around town looking for people sheltering but wanting to travel. Maybe an hour later we finally set off, and we were hoping with a better driver. This was the case until we realised that as the boot was partially open due to loads of mattresses being stuffed into the back, and being at the back we were going to become asphyxiated.

The drive until half way was uneventful, but afterwards insane, partly as we were high on fumes but also as most people left at the halfway point and the driver decided he had to race another Matatu to ensure he got business, therefore his driving became erratic too. This included overtaking at stupid places and driving into a petrol station at speed, and skidding to a halt 30cms from a pump!

Thankfully we arrived home in one piece, although Meg was sick all night from the fumes and Anna took three hours to sow some trousers she had ripped. I have vowed to try to avoid Matatus at all costs from now on!

NB: This was posted by Jason.

We have New Curtains!!

Now, I know that this is not a very exciting blog-post, but we have finally got rid of our nasty old curtains, and got new ones (that actually cover the windows, close properly and do everything that they should!).

A local lady who makes curtains was recommended to us by a colleague at the university. After coming to see our flat and measure the windows etc, our curtains were ready in less than 10 days, for a very reasonable price.

She sent three men to put the curtains up for us - I was a bit surprised when they arrived without a ladder, but they assured me it would be fine, despite the fact that our ceilings are 9 feet high! They had to replace the rails, and couldn't get to them by standing on the dining table (it wasn't high enough), so they proceeded to climb up the bars on the windows and do it that way. One of them also had the bright idea of putting one of the coffee tables on top of the dining table, and using that as a ladder..I was terrified they would fall off and hurt themselves, or the windows would come crashing down, but it was all okay in the end. They don't really go in for health and safety much over here!

Here are the before and after pictures: