Sep 25, 2011 - 5 Star Backpackin'

The inclusive breakfast turned out to be great. Spanish omelette, two pieces of toast each, banana, coffee, tea, and a sausage. It was lots! Sometimes the inclusive breakfasts don't amount to much but not this time. Service was also very quick this morning. Anther tourist had tipped us off about spending the day at the 5 star Lake Victoria Hotel around the pool. It only cost 10,000 shillings or about $4.00 each for the day. They even supplied the towels and the lounge chairs. Many servers to bring you the drinks and food you wanted too. Al...

Sep 24, 2011 - Camp Entebbe

The tropical downpour this morning kept us in our room longer than we would have liked. The thunder was intimidating! The first real rain we have witnessed on our trip. Deciding to hang around here worked to our advantage. A young lady from Holland organizes volunteers from mostly Europe to work in Uganda. She was meeting the new volunteers here today so we chatted for a while about her work while waiting for the rain to quit. Her driver offered to drive us to Camp Entebbe on their way. We took them up on the offer as it was still very...

Sep 23, 2011 - Bugs and Kids

Just as I shut my eyes to go to sleep last night I heard the loud whir of beating wings and then felt something big land on my mosquito net. I just hadnto take a look so I turned on my head lamp to verify that, yes, it was a large cockroach. As I checked it's underside I estimated it to be about 2 inches in length. Nice! I though it best to try and flick it off so it didn't chew through the net. With two very hard hits with my hand I finally heard it fly through the air and land hard on the floor behind my bed. I made sure my mosquito net...

Sep 22, 2011 - Wildlife Centre (Day Two)

Sept. 22 - Wildlife Center Day 2 Sleeping at the wildlife center is like sleeping in a tent. You hear all the animal noises throughout the night. Some we could identify but others . . . we were not so sure. Needless to say we did not sleep too soundly. There were animals around our Banda on and off during the night but that is part of the experience. Following breakfast we head into town to the bank. We manage to withdraw 700 thousand shillings each. Each US dollar is about 2800 Ugandan shillings (UGX). The internet cafe charged us 500...

Sep 21, 2011 - Uganda Wildlife Centre

Sept.21-Uganda Wildlife Center Once again we called the airport about our lost luggage. Hooray, finally they are ready for pick up. I can't quite believe that the airline doesn't deliver the bags to us. After all, losing them was their fault. Oh well, three days without was more than enough. Now we can move on. A couple of other tourists, UN workers on holiday from Sudan, were going to the airport so we joined them. On the way we were stopped at a police check and apparently we were asked to step out of the car. Al and I thought they asked...

Sep 20, 2011 - Kicking Back in Entebbe!

Breakfast today consisted of eggs and dry toast. We needed to pick up a few items like toothbrush and toothpaste. It is Sunday and we are afraid that nothing is open and we may be unable to get any local currency. Following some basic directions from reception in broken English we head into town on foot. Many attempts at bank machines finally lead us to an open currency exchange so we changed some Euros to Ugandan shillings. Twenty Euros gives us 185 thousand shillings! Finally we can try to get some basic supplies. Another problem arises...

Sep 18, 2011 - Empty Handed in Entebbe

Next To Nothing in Entebbe Al and I managed about 5 hours sleep before the noise at the backpackers woke us. It was not long enough. We ask to change rooms as the bed was far from comfortable and the carpet was musty smelling. Lucky us . . . . Room 10 is open although it contains bunk beds. Moving to our new room is quick since we have NO LUGGAGE! The rooms here provide mosquito nets over the beds so that is one less worry. We have only the clothes on our back and a book each, along with our cameras, Al's iPad and our ticket information....

Sep 17, 2011 - Uganda Bound

Last day in Holland More walks in the forest with the dog, Luna and visits with family. Did some shopping at the Hilversum market and getting ready to go to Africa. Said goodbye to the Netherlands saying " do - wee" our new favorite Dutch word meaning seeya. Uganda Bound Following a huge family gathering and supper the night before we left for Uganda. Carola and Caroline drove us to the airport for our second delayed flight (from Amsterdam to Cairo). So delayed in fact that we had to run with an escort to catch our connecting flight. It...

Sep 12, 2011 - Jinja to Entebbe: Ngamba Chimp Sanctuary

Ngamba Island Chimp Sanctuary Photos This morning we had an earlier departure time than we have gotten used to since joining with Kevin. We had to make it to Entebbe by close to 10:00 in order to catch our boat to take us to Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Driving into Entebbe we had the opportunity to witness the hustle and bustle of a Monday morning. Traffic was jammed just like it has been in most big cities. We passed rows of shops and a large outdoor market. They have the usual minivan transpos but also have...

Aug 8, 2011 - Flying Monkeys

Welcome to Uganda! We arrived sometime mid-morning and unloaded what I think was half of the planes luggage onto a billion carts. I must say I was a little disappointed going through the customs line. Some people were given really cool full-page stickers for their visas, while all I got in my line was a little stamp! We had to wait a bit for the bus to arrive and pick us up, but we soon realized that their were monkeys jumping all over outside the airport and that kept us entertained while we waited. Some of the Ugandan team members came to...

Jul 28, 2011 - Entebbe

Luckily we had a few lazy days in Kampala, as Anna also contracted the mystery illness. We then headed to our last stop in Uganda, Entebbe, a much nicer, quieter version of Kampala on the shore of Lake Victoria. It was here we had a picnic in the botanical gardens, only to be chased out by monkeys (with hairy turquoise balls) who had a taste for la vache qui rit.

May 29, 2011 - Kampala, Uganda

We flew overnight on British Airline from London to Entebbe, Uganda. The jet sat two on each side and three in the middle. Rob and I were in the two seats on the right and Jan and Greg sat in front of us and had a exit seat and so had a little more leg room than us. We had a variety of movies or programs to watch on our little screens, but I was so exhausted that I did not watch a single one. Instead I tried to sleep. However, I found it very hard and tossed and turned the entire night trying to get comfortable. I used my earplugs and eye...