28 days and counting…

A thought for 2013:

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all year. I will live in the Past, the Present and the Future. The spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”  

           Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol)

It began on New Year’s Day, with ‘Great Expectations for 2012’ and fizzled out, on October 30^th, with ‘Skyfall- shaken and stirred’.

Surprisingly, despite having not posted for the final quarter of the year the year, the annual Crunchy numbers summary from Word Press indicates that in 2012 ‘Pipedreams…’ had 54,000 views (from 174 countries) – which is more than twice the number of hits for 2011.

I embarked upon my blogging career with ‘Out of Africa 2010’, in March of that year. It coincided with early retirement and time spent abroad, doing charity work, in Zambia (The Bookbus Project) and Rwanda (VSO). Despite having added no further posts since my return to the UK in December 2010, amazingly, it still continues to attract visitors – 170,347 since its inception, with 52,890 of those last year!

I had resolved that after nearly three years, on and off, and 307 posts, enough was enough and it was time to draw a veil across my journalist efforts. But as we know, all too well, resolutions are there to be broken.

Speaking of which, my performance, against a far too ambitious 2012 list of resolutions, was patchy to say the least

• Pedalled 1800km on the exercise bike by the end of August – and then hit a wall (metaphorically speaking) and nothing since. Sir Bradley, newly crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year, has nothing to worry about 🙂
• The beginners’ guitar and the Spanish Foundation course started well enough but petered out by the end of March – manana 😦
• The ‘daily blog’ became a chore at times – and I haven’t written since October 30^th. Nevertheless, I added 67 new posts and the blog had 54,000 views – an average of 150 hits per day 🙂
• Successfully cut out chocolate until Easter and pretty much for the rest of the year 🙂
• The caffeine habit proved harder to crack, as did cutting back on my alcohol intake 😦
• Chris and I did visit a few new places in and around ‘the Shire’ – but nowhere near approaching the over ambitious target of one per fortnight!
• Our Highlights of Indochina trip through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia enabled us to tick off a few more must see sights from our ‘bucket list’ – including Halong Bay and Angkor Wat 🙂
• An early burst of enthusiasm in the kitchen flattered to deceive and culinary inspiration came and went in fits and starts, with a twice a week commitment to knock up an evening meal proving unsustainable. Thank goodness for jacket potatoes and baked beans! 😦
• We managed seven outings to the cinema and, as recently as last week, went to see Ang Lee’s 3D adaptation of ‘The Life of Pi’ – a cinematic delight 🙂
• Pleased to say I did read 30 plus books this year; funnily enough, starting the year with Yann Martell’s ‘Life of Pi’  and finishing it, aptly enough in his 200^th birthday year, with Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ 🙂

According to psychologists if you want to keep New Year’s resolutions they should be clear, realistic and brief.  So this year there are but two:

• A dry January – no alcohol until February
• No coffee for the same period

I’m not sure which will prove the most challenging – 28 days to go and counting…

This week’s winners and losers…

BoJo – on being appointed Mayor of London:

On being re-elected – ‘We survived the rain, the BBC, the Budget and the endorsement of David Cameron’

On becoming Prime Minister – ‘My chances of becoming PM are about as good as finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive.’

On how to vote – ‘Voting Tory will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3.’

  

Roy Hodgson – on being appointed England Manager:  

‘Dealing with the mass media has been part of my life, not one I’ve shied away from. But my forte, and what I want to do, is coach footballers; prepare, build and improve football teams. If I’m going to be vulnerable or lacking in any area, it might be that I don’t have a thick enough skin to deal with you guys (the press)’     

 

Following my SE Asia sojourn, it’s high time I got back into the blogging groove…

We touched down at Heathrow, just over a week ago, having returned from an amazing, thirteen-day, whistle-stop, ‘Highlights of Indochina’ tour, through Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

Following a nineteen hour return journey, from Siem Reap, we arrived home to experience, at first hand, the much publicised border control delays – just about clearing passport control within the 45 minute maximum waiting time.

Back in the Shire, we were greeted by brooding, slate grey skies and a lawn which resembled the paddy fields we had left behind in SE Asia. Pretty much incessant rain during our time away, has barely abated since our return, making a predictable mockery of the official, drought status, afforded to much of the country, just prior to our departure.

I know how the argument goes, wrong type of rain, wrong time, wrong place – it’s just like leaves on the track! What about improving the infrastructure – building a few more reservoirs and fixing a few leaks in the mains distribution system?  

Unfortunately clear blue skies and temperatures of 40˚C are already a fading memory. 

But, despite the damp dismal days, it’s been an interesting and busy week with one or two noteworthy events raising a wry smile or two.    

In the world of politics, local elections have produced a mid-term anti-austerity backlash against the coalition government, and a second term as London Mayor for one Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, aka BoJo, who survived the endorsement of ‘Call me Dave’, bucking the national trend.

Passed his sell by date, ‘Red Ken’ Livingstone, failed to withstand a media battering and sadly exited, left, a life in politics, spanning over 40 years, to spend more time with his newts.          

It was an extremely close run mayoral election that turned out to be more about personality than policy, and one which Labour might have won with a candidate that carried less baggage than Ken.

It was interesting, but hardly surprising, that the electorates in Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham and Coventry (traditionally all part of Labour’s heartland) rejected Cameron’s call for a mayor in every major city. 

I still don’t feel comfortable declaring Thursday’s results a great electoral comeback by Labour. Even I would concede it was more a case of votes against the coalition and that there is still a long way to go in winning back public confidence before the 2015 general election. 

However what the results have done is secure Ed Miliband as leader of the opposition, which many Labour supporters will see as a negative rather than positive. Although, egg splattered, Ed thought it was a cracking result, even he conceded it was just a start. There is no doubting his honour and sincerity, but he lacks the clarity and sure-footedness of  brother, David, who packs a much bigger punch. I fear the wrong Miliband is in charge.      

All parties should be concerned at such nationwide apathy. A turn out of 31% is disgraceful, no matter how disillusioned people may feel about politics and politicians. A silent majority of 69% is not a healthy state of affairs and in effect only serves to encourage those in power to continue doing as they please, with impunity.

 In the sporting press, the appointment of England’s new football manager caught out most pundits. He might not drop his aitches, like ‘Arry, but as ‘The Sun’ cruelly pointed out, ‘Woy’ has a speech impediment of his own.   

As we know all too well, the Murdoch press, like to get their way. The red top had thrown its full support behind media friendly, Spurs manager, Redknapp, as the next man to pick up the poisoned chalice. But to the FA’s credit they were not intimidated, and following a rigorous appointment process, opted for, the mild-mannered, school masterly, ‘Baggies’ boss, Roy Hodgson. 

Like the playground bully who doesn’t get his way, ‘The Sun’ typically, and unfairly, hit back by immediately ridiculing the FA’s new man.

In my opinion the FA have made a good choice and are to be congratulated. I never thought ‘Arry was right for the job and, to be honest, his performance as Spurs manager has been pretty tame since the speculation, surrounding the England position, kicked off.

Hodgson’s C.V. stands head and shoulders above any other English manager in the Premier League. He has European experience, both at club and international level. He even got the Swiss to 3^rd in the world, for heaven’s sake!   

His record, with limited resources, at Fulham and West Brom, cannot be faulted. Yes, there was a glitch at Anfield, where to my mind he was pretty shabbily treated, essentially for failing to be ‘King Kenny’.  

I hope the media and England football fans will, moderate their expectations and give Hodgson the backing he deserves. Although unlikely, it would be lovely if England could spring a surprise at this summer’s Euros. In which case ‘The Sun’ would, surely, have to acknowledge, ‘It’s Woy Wot Won It‘    

Watching yesterday’s FA Cup final, it did cross my mind that if ponderous Liverpool had persevered with Hodgson, there might have been a better brand of football on display from the men in Red – we’ll never know.   

Certainly, in my opinion, Liverpool under Dalglish, have failed miserably, with both their on the field performances, and off the field behaviour – a legendary club brought into unseemly disrepute over the Suarez saga. Kenny’s crown is beginning to look tarnished and distinctly wobbly.   

Yesterday his team certainly weren’t at the races for much of the game.

There was a time when the FA Cup final used to be the undisputed televised sporting occasion of the year. Sadly what was a jewel in the English football crown, has lost its sparkle in recent years.

Times move on, and a domestic knock out cup competition, with a history that was once the envy of the footballing world, is now no more than second-rate, a shadow of its former self.        

At half time in yesterday’s tepid tea time affair, I came very close to switching from ITV’s lacklustre coverage, to ‘Come Dine with Me’ –  which just shows how uninspiring the first 45 minutes had been.    

But the 11 million viewers (undoubtedly, ‘the Cup’ still has a nostalgic allure for many) who stuck with it were eventually rewarded. Chelsea at 2-0 up, after Drogba’s customary Wembley Final goal (four in four) switched off. Liverpool’s last throw of the dice pitched on their over-priced, under-performing striker, Andy Carroll. For one Twitter wag, Carroll galloping into the fray evoked memories of the famous White Horse Final of 1923! 

But the Geordie with the ponytail, seen by many, as more of a cart-horse than thoroughbred, transformed the game and for the final twenty minutes we actually had a spectacle worthy of the occasion.

It was quite alarming, how a Chelsea defence that had been untroubled for over an hour, suddenly buckled, under Carroll’s physical presence. The big man showed deceptively quick feet, in the face of some appallingly pedestrian defending by former England captain John Terry (Roy Hodgson take note) before powering a left foot shot into the roof of the net – game on!

As Liverpool rained yet another long ball into the Chelsea box, Carroll found acres of space to climb and head powerfully towards the top corner. His goal-bound effort had equaliser written all over it, but as it clipped the underside of the bar, Chelsea keeper Cech somehow clawed the ball away before it had entirely crossed the line.

At least that was the linesman’s take on it, and one which, thankfully, appeared to be upheld by countless TV replays. But surely this was another clear example of the case for goal-line technology.  

For sure it was the defining moment of the game, and the single piece of action which will linger long in the memory. ‘Chelski’ deserved their fourth FA Cup win, in six seasons, under the Wembley Arch, picking up a trophy for delighted, caretaker manager, Roberto Di Matteo. But they have far bigger fish to fry, in Munich, in a fortnight’s time.                             

Elsewhere this week, I was invited by the North Worcestershire Rotary Club to give a presentation on the work of VSO, and my recent placement in Rwanda. It was surprisingly well received, and not only have I received a welcome cheque for VSO funds, but also there is a distinct possibility that the Club’s International Committee might become involved in raising further money, for a specific project, involving the two Rwandan schools I worked with – so a pretty successful night!

 

On the music front, I attended Wednesday’s opening gig of this year’s Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Legendary, Grammy Award winning, song-smith Steve Winwood, former guitar/keyboard and vocalist with the Spencer Davis Group, Blind Faith and Traffic, was in fine form rocking the colourful Festival Big Top with his current group of highly talented musicians.

I look forward to returning on Monday, when Paloma Faith closes this year’s event, with a world exclusive, performed with the Guy Barker Orchestra, showcasing previously unheard material from her follow-up album to, ‘Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?’.          

 

                     

 

England’s Winter of discontent / Building a future for cricket in Rwanda!

Building a future for cricket in Rwanda:

‘It is always heartening to hear of cricket spreading its roots to unfamiliar territory, and bringing so much new pleasure to players and spectators. Given Rwanda’s troubled past, I am sure cricket can play a strong role in bringing the people of Rwanda together.’

Jonathan Agnew (former England Test cricketer & BBC cricket correspondent)  

I’ve been making the most of BST. The clocks sprang forward last weekend and although it may only be March, it’s been a case of making hay while the sun shines. Not literally of course – more a matter of mowing lawns and hacking back shrubs. Oh yes, and in between sneezing and dosing myself with Piriton, I’ve also been carrying out a ladybird census (through streaming eyes of course) – we seem to be inundated with them this year!

Anyway, the English cricket season starts in earnest next week so it will almost certainly be back to more normal seasonal weather, with hail, sleet or snow stopping play up and down the country.

Meanwhile the England cricket team’s winter of discontent continues. Having been out played by Pakistan in their UAE ‘home’, losing all three Tests, the world’s ‘top team’ found themselves spinning to a fourth consecutive defeat – this time against Sri-Lanka in Galle.      

I’m not quite sure how two Tests constitutes a ‘series’, but the best England can do now is win in Colombo, next week, to share the spoils.  

The Galle cricket ground is one of the most picturesque in world Test cricket, overlooked by the old Dutch Fort and fringed by the twinkling Indian Ocean.   

Back in August 2003 I stood on the fort ramparts, admiring the view. There was a local game of some description in progress, but unfortunately not a Test match. Sixteen months later, I watched TV news footage of a ground  devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Three years on, following renovation, the stadium re-opened and in 2010 it provided the setting for, a fairy tale ending to the Test career of, arguably, Sri-Lanka’s greatest ever cricketer, mystery spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, when he took a world record 800^th wicket, with the final ball of the match.   

It was sub-continent spin bowling which once again proved England’s Achilles heel, as they slid to a 75 run defeat, in Galle this week. Rangana Herath, a decent enough left arm spinner, but not in the same league as Murali, took twelve wickets, for which he received the Man of the match award, ahead of his captain, Mahela Jaywardene, who top scored in the game with 180 crucial first innings runs.          

England’s Jonathan Trott finished up on the losing side, again, despite recording England’s first century of the winter.

It was also an England team which boasted a strong, but ultimately disappointed, Notts CCC contingent, with Samit Patel making his Test debut alongside county colleagues Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann.

Having had a brief but close association with Rwanda, as a VSO volunteer, my ears pricked up when TMS commentator, Jonathan ‘Aggers’ Agnew, announced that during Wednesday’s lunch interval he would be talking  to the project director of the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation – ‘Building a future for cricket in Rwanda’.

It was an interesting and inspiring interview by Oli Broom, a cricket enthusiast, who had previously raised considerable sums of money for the British Neurological Research Trust and the Lord’s Taverners with 14 months of pedal power, cycling the 15,500 miles from London (Lord’s) to Brisbane (the GABBA) in time for the start of the last  Ashes series.     

Please follow the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation link, above, to find out more.   

 

 

‘Pigeon English’

Thoughts for the Day:

‘You are not responsible only for what you say, but also for what you do not say.’

‘Everything that is done in this world is done by hope.’

‘Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God.’

Martin Luther King Junior (1929-68)

Martin Luther King Day (17.01.2012)

A principal figure in the US Civil Rights campaign, the Baptist minister advocated non-violent direct action in the battle against discrimination, winning the 1965 Nobel Peace Prize before his assassination, in Memphis Tennessee, on 4^th April 1968.

King will forever be remembered for his, ‘I have a dream…’ speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC, following the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of the US nation – August 1963

The 3^rd Monday of January – close to his birthday of 15^th January – is designated a US Federal holiday. This year he would have been 82 years old.

‘Jambo Rafiki!’

It was an unexpected surprise to briefly catch up with my friend (‘rafiki’) Msafiri last night, owner of the ‘KMC’ bar in downtown Nyakarambi (Rwanda) – home of the special omelette, goat (‘iheni’) kebab, ‘Primus’ beer and big screen Premiership football.  

During my ‘VSO’ stint in Rwanda, a visit to ‘KMC’, a couple of times a week, was a social highlight. It was the only bar in Nyakarambi with its own generator so when the regular power cuts cloaked the village in darkness we were still in business.

The Internet in Rwanda, as with the rest of Africa, is notoriously unreliable, painfully slow, and so it’s difficult to maintain regular correspondence. But last night, quite by chance, Msafiri and I were both on ‘Facebook’ at the same time and managed ‘talk’ for a while.

Msafiri was in the capital, Kigali, closing a deal – expanding his ‘business empire’ by the acquisition of a 30 room hotel (with its own small garden) in the city. I really hope it works out well for him.

It’s nearly a year since we last met up in Rwanda. It was Msafiri, with his safari guide friend Ben, who accompanied Chris and me on our unforgettable Tanzanian voyage of discovery in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro.

Africa is calling. It would be great to return – perhaps next year!                       

 ‘Pigeon English’  

Perhaps I’m a bit slow off the mark, but I’ve just finished reading Stephen Kelman’s debut novel, ‘Pigeon English’. It was brilliant, ‘Asweh!’  – to pinch a favourite Ghanaian expression from the central character, eleven year old immigrant, Harrison Opoku.

It is a story written from a child’s view point, but it is not a children’s book. Recovered from a literacy agency’s ‘slush pile’, it famously became the subject of a bidding war between twelve UK publishers, before being secured by Bloomsbury for a high six-figure fee and gate-crashing the 2011 ‘Man Brooker Prize’ shortlist.

Putting the hype aside, it is an excellent read, funny, moving and ultimately, as Harri might say, ‘hutious’ (frightening).

It is a tale about the pressures of growing up in modern urban Britain, with its attendant poverty, gang culture and knife crime. It owes much to the real life experience of the author, growing up on a Luton housing estate, and the tragic case of 10-year-old Damilola Taylor, killed on a Peckham estate in 2000.

Harri, newly arrived in London from Ghana, with his mother and older sister, Lydia, lives on floor 9 (out of 14) in ‘Copenhagen House’, a ‘Dell Farm Estate’, tower block.

His father, grandmother and baby sister Agnes are left behind in Ghana, until enough money can be raised for them to relocate, to a ‘better life’ in England.     

Harri is pre-occupied with the excitement of adjusting to a new lifestyle in an alien culture, and coping with the half-understood menace that pervades the shady underworld that surrounds him.           

Harri narrates the story and much of its humour comes from the mixture of ‘pidgin’, that he naturally uses, and his interpretation of new ‘Londonese’ words and phrases he picks up along the way. “In English there’s a hell of different words for everything. It’s for if you forget one, there’s always another one left over.”              

The title refers not only to the way Harri speaks but also to a feral pigeon that he tries to befriend and that he comes to believe is watching over him – a sort of guardian angel.  

Alongside Harri’s childlike desire to outrun everyone in Y7, in his treasured ‘Diadora’ trainers (from the Cancer Shop), and his growing affection for bespectacled, blonde, Poppy, sits a dangerously naïve fascination for the threatening Dell Farm Crew gang members.  

There’s also a murder mystery to solve. Who ‘chooked’ the dead boy outside ‘Chicken Joe’s’? Harri and his friend Dean, who knows everything about being a detective, aim to find out…

‘Advise yourself!’ – it will make you laugh, and cry, ‘for donkey years.’    

 

 

East African Odyssey – ‘The Pearl of Africa’

Sat 9/4/2011:

13.00: Leave ‘the Shire’ bathed in unseasonal sunshine. The forecast early Spring heat-wave is now a cast iron certainty while we are away!

21.15: London Heathrow Terminal 5. Board overnight flight BA63 to Entebbe, Uganda; scene of the dramatic 1976 hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and re-enacted on celluloid in the movie ‘Raid on Entebbe’, led by Charles Bronson!

Not surprisingly it doesn’t feature on the in-flight play list and I settle instead for ‘True Grit’. The 2010 Coen brothers re-make manages to live up to the hype; Jeff Bridges’ Rooster Cogburn, for me better than ‘the Duke’s’ 1969 Oscar-winning performance, and an outstanding debut by the much feted 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld.     

Sun 10/4:

08.45: Clear blue sky, hot and sunny as we touch down on the edge of Lake Victoria, having virtually skimmed its surface on our descent. We are all set to discover something of the country Churchill dubbed the ‘Pearl of Africa’.

Stuart (a VSO colleague) greets us with his distinctive Scottish lilt and ever-present genial smile, and we are whisked away in his  Toyota Land Cruiser; a 40km drive to Kampala and the apartment he shares with wife Elisabeth.

They are on a two-year placement and have a country-wide brief to support the development of the schools’ inspectorate.

The accommodation is amazing; spacious, all mod cons and we even have exclusive use of a shower room for the duration of our stay. S & E have an ensuite!  As we lunch on the sun bathed balcony, sipping an ice cool ‘Club’ beer, overlooking a neatly tended and secure compound, they admit it is “VSO for softies!” 

After lunch it’s time for a cultural visit to Wamala Tombs; a bit of a mission to find them, and the heavens open to deliver a short sharp downpour. However by the time we leave the 19^th century thatched roof tomb, of Kabaka (King) Sunna II, the sun is shining again and William, the ever so slightly inebriated “careytaker” is requesting we take a photograph of him holding Stuart’s umbrella!

Traditional culture demands that the kabuka’s palace also becomes his tomb. We are required to enter the building bare-footed, before kneeling on the ground and making an ‘offering’ to the custodian of the dead king’s spirit, so that the dead king might grant our wishes!

Not unreasonably, we request a thoroughly pleasant holiday and lots of sunshine, before being given a Ugandan coffee bean to chew on (apparently a traditional form of greeting) and retreating respectfully, backwards, from the dead kabaka’s presence.  

Apparently, the better known Kasubi Tombs have recently been burnt down in an act of wanton vandalism related to on-going tensions between newly re-elected President Museveni, ‘the man with the hat’, ( although I thought that was the man from ‘Delmonte’!) and the current kabaka (Ronald Mutebi II).

One way and another Museveni has managed to cling to power since ’86, having been instrumental in the armed rebellions leading to the demise of both his predecessors, Milton Obote in ’85 and the infamous Idi ‘Last King of Scotland’ Amin in ’79.

The kabaka belongs to the historically dominant Bugandan tribe. Museveni is not Bugandan and there are unresolved issues arising from the complex co-existence between president, prime minister and royal family that date back to the immediate post-colonial era (following independence in 1962).   

Our return to S & E’s home, in the relatively prosperous suburb of Ntinda, takes us through some pretty rundown and squalid areas as well as a first encounter with the northern bypass which is not recommended after dark due to the constant stream of pedestrians and stray cattle!

Smoke belching ‘matutus’ (overcrowded mini-buses) and kamikaze ‘boda-bodas’ (motorbike taxis) are central to the omnipresent traffic-jam chaos in downtown Kampala. The ‘New Vision’ newspaper reports that there are five deaths, daily, as a result of boda-boda accidents.

A busy but enjoyable first day is rounded off at ‘Mamba Point’, “the first and last word in genuine Italian dining in Kampala” (‘Lonely Planet – East Africa’) – excellent pizzas from a wood fired oven and a couple more ‘Club’ beers.  

Mon 11/4: 

07.15: Early start, as we head for ‘Backpackers’, a hostel on the Natete Rd in the Lunguja district, across the city centre to the south-west. The rush hour traffic is building up nicely, with whistle happy traffic police, clearly out of their depth and largely ignored, merely adding to the confusion.

08.45:   Our ninety minute ‘commute’ is over. We thank Stuart profusely before he heads off  into the traffic again to battle his way back across the city!

‘Backpackers’ – “set in lush gardens…an escape from the bustle of the city” (‘LP’) is to be the starting point for our budget, two night Murchison Falls excursion.

This was all booked via email, with no down payment, so it’s a relief that we are expected. There is to be a party of just three; we are joined by Stefan, a taciturn German anaesthetist who lives and works in Trondheim (Norway) and of course speaks perfectly enunciated English.    

09.15: We are away – on safari – with  Winnie, our tour leader and Geoffrey our driver.

Around midday our first port of call is the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, around 170km NW of the capital city. It is 70-sq-km reserve run by ‘Rhino Fund Uganda’ set up to reintroduce the species that was shot to extinction by poachers around a quarter of a century ago.  

Uganda’s total population of nine white rhino roam the savannah and visitors are taken on foot to view them. Our informative guide, cabin (who has a perfect set of glistening white teeth) slings a rifle over his shoulder, scouring the earth for footprints and hands around a piece of recent rhino dung to show we are on the right track.  

Ten minutes later we discover a mother and child, crouched in the long grass sheltering from the heat of the midday sun. Of course, Tabin knew they were there all along!  Our view is partially obscured but not to worry, a short distance away we spot a lone male standing in the shade of a tree, head erect, sniffing the air as he senses our arrival. Apparently his eyesight is so poor he wouldn’t be able to see us clearly even after a trip to ‘Specsavers’.  

So having seen a third of the total Ugandan population of rhino, it’s time for a picnic lunch that Winnie has knocked up in our absence, before moving on.

It’s late afternoon as we take a dirt road signposted, Karuma Falls Nature Reserve. We had managed to pause on the main road, for a first sight of the impressive falls; a fleeting Kodak moment, as the armed police won’t allow us to leave the vehicle and we have to keep the engine running. 

Having parked up, and following a steep descent down a muddy, wooded slope towards the thundering roar of tumbling water, we are rewarded with spectacular views of the cascade through rainbow scattered spray. 

We soon spot a group of lithesome, naked young men fishing in the churning waters, at the foot of the falls. Geoffrey hails a couple, who cover themselves as they wade ashore and dart into the trees. By the time we climb back to the top they are waiting, fully clothed, with their catch of the day.

Winnie drives a hard bargain before handing over 5000 shillings (about £1.50) for a couple of large glistening fish that will form the basis of our evening meal. Fish don’t come much fresher than that!

Just before sunset (around 7.30pm year round) we pull into the recently opened ‘camp’ where we will spend the night. We had been expecting a tent but are pleasantly surprised when Nora, the site manager, (a delightful young woman with braided hair and an enormous smile) shows us to a traditional Ugandan ‘banda’ (a round hut with a thatched roof) with a spacious double bed!

The sun sets very quickly out here but there is time to enjoy the colourful spectacle while sipping on an ice cool ‘Nile Special’ beer. Winnie comes up trumps with a traditional fish dish which she spices up with ‘Royco’, a staple ingredient in Ugandan ‘cuisine’.  

Meanwhile Nora gets a campfire underway and we finish the day in the warmth of its glow beneath panoply of stars.    

Tues 12/4:

Up before the crack this morning. It’s too early and too dark to make use of the bucket shower facility!

We’re away at first light and in only a few minutes we roll into Murchison Falls National Park, pop up roof already open for optimum wildlife viewing. During its heyday, back in the ‘60s, Murchison was home to one of the largest concentrations of animals in Africa, including 15,000 elephants!

Sadly, numerous species subsequently suffered at the hands of poachers and Idi Amin’s troops. The entire rhino was wiped out and only a few prides of lion survived.

However the wildlife is fast recovering and today we are lucky. During our morning drive we are lucky enough to encounter: Ugandan kobs (an antelope and the national animal), hartebeest, buffalo, warthogs, giraffe, impala, hippos, an African fish eagle, a pair of grey crested cranes (the national bird) and, tucked beneath a bush, a  slumbering 3-legged lion who had lost a leg in a poacher’s trap.

The River Nile runs through the park and during our afternoon boat trip we watch elephants down at the water’s edge and hippo wallowing in the shallows, before the awesome falls come into view.

Once described as the most spectacular thing to happen along the Nile’s entire 6700km length, the 45m waterfall really does give this park an extra dimension. The 50m wide river squeezes its way through a 6m gap in the rock, crashing through this narrow gorge with incredible power.

The falls famously feature as a backdrop in the old Hollywood blockbuster, ‘The African Queen’, starring Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart.

Another Catherine, ‘Cathy’, and Louise, both good VSO friends from Rwanda, amazingly take the same boat trip! They are on a short, out of country, break as it is Genocide Memorial week back in Rwanda and not a great time to hang around. We have promised to meet up with them again as we pass through Rwanda on the next leg of our expedition.  

Chris, Stefan and I have been given instructions to disembark close to the foot of the falls. All the other passengers are on a return trip.  A gang-plank is precariously lowered on to a riverside boulder which bears a sign, ‘Beware Crocodiles’ – now they tell us!

A large stride, an unsteady clamber and a jump takes us back on terra firma, in time to wave our audience goodbye, as the boat sails away leaving us stranded. And then a figure suddenly emerges from the shade of the trees, like a character from an espionage movie. “I am your guide, Emmanuel. Follow me I will take you to the top where Winnie is waiting with your vehicle!”

It is very hot by now and the climb is steep in parts. We make regular stops to catch our breath and admire the views. Forty minutes later we have successfully made it to the head of the falls and an altogether different perspective of their tremendous force.

A short drive later and we are in the Budongo Forest Reserve, a tract of virgin tropical forest on the southern fringes of Murchison Falls National Park.

It is dormitory accommodation tonight with running hot showers – bliss. We are the only visitors. Stefan has a dormitory to himself, Chris and I share another and Winnie and Geoffrey a third!

As we gather for a candle lit evening meal, a special curry topped with slices of boiled egg and washed down with bottles of ‘Nile’ lager, we watch fireflies and listen to the call of chimps in the surrounding woodland. We’ll be tracking them tomorrow!

Weds 13/4:

A more leisurely start today but we are up, showered, breakfasted and briefed (by our knowledgeable and smiley guide Evelyn) for 08.00. There are no guarantees that we will encounter the chimpanzees but we can hear them all around us calling to each other as we stealthily venture into the forest with its giant mahogany trees.

Ten minutes in and we encounter our first chimps crossing the track ahead of us, and some high up in the tree tops overhead. It is early morning and they are foraging for breakfast, constantly on the move.

As we continue to burrow through the undergrowth, tracking the chimps, they continue to skirt around us. They are reluctant to let us get too close at first but after 20 minutes or so seem to get used to our presence and slow down considerably. We are able to observe them at close quarters, as they ‘hang out’ in the nearby branches.

We spend just over an hour with man’s nearest relative before reluctantly leaving – it has been a fascinating experience.

With our mini safari over we head towards Kampala, nodding off en-route and arriving at ‘Backpackers’ around 17.00. Stuart kindly picks us up and taxis us ‘home’ where Elisabeth is busy preparing a tasty chilli dish.

Our hectic schedule begins to catch up with us and after a couple of glasses of wine we are ready to crawl under the mosquito net!

Thursday 14/4:

Today, Stuart is taking time off to drive us out to Jinja, famous as the source of the Nile River. It’s about a two-hour trip but first we drop Elisabeth off at work and pop in to take a look. S & E have a huge office for their sole use and a desk each. This is definitely not VSO as I know it!

Jinja has tropical feel about it, lush vegetation sloping down to the shores of Lake Victoria. The Owens Fall Dam across the Nile provides a spectacular gateway to the old colonial town but first we take the road down past the equally impressive brewery (an alternative ‘source of the Nile’ – special beer that is) to ‘the Kingfisher’ lakeside resort.

Chris and I are to take a boat trip from here while Stuart chases up his membership application at the Jinja golf club!

We have a boat to ourselves. We are barely underway before the skipper cuts the outboard motor and glides the boat up to a tiny island (complete with its own ‘gift hut’). We ‘jinja-lly’ step ashore and he points out an adjacent spot on the lake where the faster flowing water apparently indicates the birth place of the  Nile. Chris listens attentively (above) but it’s not at all spectacular!      

But the boat trip is, as we chug along, past countless egrets, cormorants and kingfishers, watching vervet monkeys sporting in the trees and local fishermen checking their nets.

Before heading off for lunch there is just time for a leisurely stroll around the Source of the Nile Gardens. It is from here, high up on the west bank, on 28^th July 1862, that John Hanning Speke allegedly gazed down upon the lake and proclaimed this spot, the source.

The intrepid explorer was later to die from a self-inflicted gunshot wound while out hunting in deepest Wiltshire – aged just 37!

Stuart suggests lunch at the nearby beauty spot of Bujagali Falls. Chris and I need to top up our Ugandan shillings first so we head towards the centre of Jinja. The main street is strewn with debris, there are smouldering fires at each intersection and a heavier than normal police presence. It appears we have arrived following a period of civil unrest!

We locate the ATM, which is operational, and make a speedy get away.

Bujagali Falls is a misnomer; actually they are a wide-spread series of large rapids. ‘The Black Lantern’ bar/restaurant, set beneath a traditional thatched roof affords wonderful views along the river from its elevated position.  

An extremely controversial Bujagali dam is currently under construction. It is likely to submerge the fast flowing rapids (at least to a certain extent) so now is a pretty good time to capture the view for posterity. As I saunter off to the edge of the terrace with my camera I am suddenly aware of someone trying to attract my attention.

Hearing, “Phil?”, uttered in a familiar Gallic tone, I spin around to find myself face to face with Abdel-Illah, a close VSO colleague from Kirehe district, Rwanda!

To misquote Bogart, “Of all the bars in all the towns in all the world…”    Abdel-Illah is staying here with Roisin (also a VSO friend from Galway) who arrives on the scene with a shriek of surprise and huge bear hug. They too have left Rwanda behind during Memorial Week, and are spending a few days rafting on the Nile.

Chris and Stuart can only sit mesmerised, over lunch, as Roisin brings me up to speed (at high-speed) with all the latest VSO Rwanda gossip, every sentence delivered in a thick Irish brogue and seemingly prefaced with “Oh my God…”   Well she is a good Catholic girl!

The return journey to Kampala is interspersed with texts from Elisabeth warning of possible delays en-route in the aftermath of a civil disturbance, in which the leader of the Forum for Democratic Change (Kizza Besigye) has been shot (in the hand) during a walk-to-work demonstration.     

According to Stuart the traffic is no worse than usual and we are back in time for a quick shower before heading off to ‘Cayenne’ an up market bar/restaurant, catering largely for ex-pats, and with as extensive a menu as we are likely to find in Kampala.

The place is heaving but we find a poolside table and thoroughly enjoy our final evening together in Uganda. Stuart and Elisabeth have been wonderfully hosts and we are very grateful to them.

Friday 15/4:

The ‘Daily Monitor’, ‘Truth Every Day’, devotes eight pages to yesterday’s ‘running battles with protestors’  in which Besigye was shot and 45 injured, including school children attacked with teargas canisters.

Clearly ‘the man with the hat’ feels he has free rein to order a violent clamp down on protestors voicing concern about the current economic hardships. This included a ban on live media coverage of yesterday’s demonstration.

It doesn’t seem like a bad time to be leaving!

Our flight to Kigali isn’t until 16.15.

Before Stuart delivers us to the airport there is plenty of time for a morning visit to a local school, which is sponsored by VSO volunteers in Kampala.

The ‘Pride Community School’ is accessed via a narrow and muddy track between what can only be described as slum dwellings. The route, thick with flies, is garbage strewn and we have to pick our way around fetid pools of water.

The school receives no government funding and exists purely on school fees and donations.  The original buildings are little more than run down shacks, the like of which I’ve never encountered in Zambia or Rwanda. But the VSO volunteers have provided a large new brick-built teaching space and a range of recreational playground equipment.

We are greeted by a sea of smiling faces. The children are a delight, and when Chris asks a class of P3/P4 students, “What is the best thing about Uganda?” they answer, in unison and without hesitation, “Education!”

After this morning’s school visit we feel a few pangs of conscience sitting in the opulent palm fringed surroundings of Entebbe’s Lake Victoria Hotel, enjoying a farewell coke with Stuart.

This place has recently been renovated and rebranded. Its former name, ‘The Libya Hotel’ is still etched into the façade. There has been a lot of Libyan investment in Uganda, while mad, bad and dangerous to know Gadhafi remains a close ally, although it is being played down at the moment!

Our 45 minute flight is on time. There are further spectacular views over Lake Victoria as we depart and head for the welcoming hills of Rwanda. We touch down in Kigali 15 minutes before we left Entebbe!

As we descend the aircraft steps and cross the tarmac towards immigration it feels almost like coming home…