Welcome to Uganda!

We left wonderful Namibia on the 22nd early in the morning flying via Johannesburg to Entebbe, where we arrived at 19:00. Our aicraft was flying over the giant Victoria Lake and we virtually landed on the runway, surrounded by water, pretty cool!

When we had to pay $100 at the Immigration counter, the officer refused Shelly's good old American dollars since they were older than 2006 and could have been counterfeit. So I came to the rescue and paid with the strong Euro of 80€ and everything was fine. Shelly actually got away with changing one of the old bills but with a bad exchange rate. (1$=2450 Uganda Shilling, like always a little bit worse when in town, where you get 2500). During the flight we get to know our neighbor,Don, who was a lawyer in Kampala. He had a driver waiting for him and he gave us a lift to our Karibu Lodge. We felt our first bit of luck here in Uganda.

Next morning we had a great breakfast, overlooking Lake Victoria. We decided to visit the famous Mabamba Swamp to see the big Shoebill Bird. Never heard about it??? Me neither, but I am sure our bird friend Joern from Hamburg has and would be thrilled to come here!

So we hired a cab for a day and drove through muddy roads and passing little villages in the rain. Shelly was making fun of me for not bringing my raincoat but - told her not to worry and I was right. Finally the rain stopped, when we arrived at the little town and took a boat ride going for a hunt for the Shoebill. We saw a lot of other birds and wonderful swamps, but there was no Shoebill to be seen. Later we heard, that only nine of those birds are living at the lake and today they must be on holiday as our crew laughed and shrugged their shoulders.

When we arrived back at the dock, there were several boats unloading sacks of coal from the boats onto little 100cc Honda motorbikes. They were attempting something unbelievable in our eyes, they were loading three giant sacks on the motorbike's seats and fixed them with a rope. The driver had very little space on the tank and could barely reach the gear or Brake shifts...We talked to them and one guy said, that he is a Senior Driver and you need to be tall and good balance to drive! Our guide Peter laughed and said I am too short and that's why I am your guide.

So one after another left this little harbour, leaving us back completely speechless.... On the way back we witness a man driving a sofa horizontal on his motorcycle as he passed us. The more we saw the more it aroused our curiosity to explore our new and strange surroundings. We decided we needed to rent a Boda Boda to take pictures after our tour.*A boda boda is a motorcycle driver who will take you around quite cheaply.

After a great dinner at our guest house we decided to go pack and get ready to sleep. Frank saw the towels and a little treat on his bed. Hmm Genuine Leather said the package as he ripped open the package greedily, white chocolate danced before his eyes as he plopped the bar into his mouth. Within seconds he was spitting it out choking and at the same time realizing he was trying to eat a bar of soap. He ran frantically to the bathroom to brush his teeth while I laid on the bed laughing myself to tears....