Our second stop is the capital city of Kampala, a truly international city with beautiful views from the seven hills, rich culture, a variety of restaurants, fabulous coffee shops, music, traffic, embassies, and heartbreaking slums. Buzz around town on the back of boda-boda for a close-up view! Zip through the bustling streets and hold on to your helmets. Boda-bodas are the Ugandan version of Uber, only the ride is on a motorbike. Don’t worry, they can carry a whole family and some chickens on one boda-boda! We will cruise past the Parliament buildings. You can visit the tombs of the Bugandan kings, pass the Gdaffid Mosque, and the soccer stadium where Idi Amin imprisoned his political opponents. For a riveting look at Uganda in the time of Amin, check out The Last King of Scotland. If you’re lucky, there may be a performance you can catch at the Ugandan National Cultural Center which is surrounded by a great craft fair where you can shop for some souvenirs, like those African pants that everyone will be wearing on the plane ride back to the U.S. They're great for dinner by the lake after all the sightseeing. If you're looking for something to do while sheltering in place, take the famous Ndere Music and Dance Troupe challenge! How many pots can you balance on your head at once? These are the same pants I was wearing today for my bike ride. OK, enough about me, time to get ready to rock some mileage. Get your sweat on for our friends in Uganda and report your sweat equity… Thank you for trekking with Global Village Connect!
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When you arrive anywhere in Uganda, the first thing you hear is a joyful, “You ah welcome!” It is announced with such love and appreciation; folks are genuinely honored that you have come from so far away to visit their beautiful homeland, and they go the extra mile to make you feel at ease. On our way out of the airport, we pass the State House, residence of President Yoweri Museveni, installed in 1986. He has conveniently eliminated presidential terms & age limits!
The journey to Entebbe, Uganda is a long one, so we begin our trek in a lovely sun-splashed inn with big, cooshie outdoor seating. Someone brings fresh squeezed juice – papaya or pineapple, perhaps. There is music playing that sounds something like this. We rest, have a lovely meal with locally-grown fresh fruit & veg, a little fish from Lake Victoria, the largest tropical lake on Earth, then we rest and prepare to explore the Ngama Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Kindly leave a message if you have arrived and completed your first workout! |