Soroti, soroti

Well… well…

At last we were on our way into dark Africa. On Tuesday morning we packed our things, went to the store with Pamela and bought all the neccessities we could think of to survive in the bush. And off we went!... to Soroti…

Soroti… where nobody we knew had ever been to…

Soroti… where boda-bodas are bicycles, not motos…

Soroti… the only part in Uganda with no wild live…

Soroti… which has only two streets, main street and market street…

Soroti… grotty Soroti…

On our way we noticed how the road condition, the condition of the houses and live standards in general got worse. The futher we drove from Kampala, the capital, the worse it got.

After one hour of driving we got to Jinja, which is considered to be the next biggest town in Uganda. Well, to explain the term "considered to be", the truth is that nobody knows exactly what is the exact population of any town in Uganda, and for me it seems that the population of the country itself is also unknown! This might have something to do with the constant influx of rural refugees, settling in the towns, especially in the north, with towns like Lira and Gulu, where population has trebled for the past decade.

The town Jinja can consider itself relatively "lucky", because there you can find the source of Nile. Therefore many tourists pass through Jinja and to get a close look at the source you "only" pay 7 dollars! And like the true tourists we are we went to get a close look at the source of Nile. It was a great and glorius feeling standing in the same shoes as Mr. Speke, who was the first European to discover this giant lake and find the source of Nile, the world¥s longest river.
After that we went on to Mbale, which is pretty much the last drop of civilisation you can find before going further north to Soroti. We walked around and tried to memorize the most important places, the pub and the restaurant.

We went on north, with only one hour to go. After Mbale the geographical climate changed, from plantations to Savannah. The scenery was beautiful. Everywhere you looked you could see savannah, with one huge tree here and there, like cut out from the "little house on the praerie".

That was the only thing you could see… for miles… almost…

If you looked closely you could see a grasstop here and there inside the savannah. And if you looked even closer you could see these where houses. Grass-thatched-houses.

It was absolutely beautiful. The houses fell completely into the landscape and filled you with excitement… this you had only read about and maybe seen once or twice on CNN, but hello!
After 10 minutes of a remarkable feeling it began to rain. That¥s when you realised that no matter how "cute" the houses were, people actually lived in them! The walls are made of dirt and the floors as well. Their only hope when it rains like that is that the grass roofs would hold the water so their floors or walls would not be washed away. My exitement turned to sadness immediatly…

After a silent one hour ride in the rain we arrived in Soroti. Soroti town was crowded with smiling faces, people, kids and boda-bodas (which are bicycles by the way;). We went straight to Pamela¥s house and were welcomed by her sister, brother and friends. Her house here is amazing and we are so grateful of the welcoming and hospitality that she and everybody has shown us.

Well, I could keep on writing forever, because the last 4 days here in Soroti have been very eventful, but that has to wait better times. Yeah, yeah… I know you must be excited, but be patient!!! Yesterday, for example, the internet was out in the whole district!;;)

Cheers,

Harps

Some pictures from Kampala and others:

David showing off his lovely cows.
We found some Icelanders (of course) in Kampala. Kristjan and Karl from ICEMARK, and they knew how to play Bridge!
...we played well into the night...

A busy street in Kampala.
Here are Harpa and Pamela at the source of the river Nile.
(the time sequene of the pictures is a bit out of order). Kampala again.
David in his humble abode.

David and Vignir at the equator, where the water flows both ways.
Harpa and one of David's cow.
Kampala.
..again Kampala.

The restaurant where Harpas sister used to go to when she and her husband lived near Kampala.
The busy, infamous, taxi park. Belive it or not, this is where to get a cab.
Here we are at Kitetika primary school.
David helping with cleaning the peas.