International Youth Hostel Uganda Kampala

... almost right after Rachel blew them out the power went (as it does quite often in Africa). We lit them up again and then when the power came back on a little while later Rachel got to blow them out again!

That night we had a bit of a party in the bar. Around 8pm we noticed a lot of lightning flashes way off in the distance. We thought maybe that it would pass us by but by 10pm the heavens had opened. It was probably one of the heaviest downpours we have ever seen. For at least an ...

... others. Money situation: We all paid money when we booked the trip but we didn’t pay the full amount. We have to pay what is called a "kitty" payment to our tour leader when we arrive. That way he can have cash on hand to pay for park fees, food, campsites, and other stops along the way. I had to pay $1120 in cash along all the others. I find it ironic, if somebody knew how much cash the truck was carrying from country to country, we would be robbed ...

... ourselves a fair distance from the anchored dhow which was a bit unnerving. I was assured that the sharks don’t go near the reef so I stayed as close to the reef as possible. On the road again with Kebab, the taxi driver, we stopped off for an interesting spice tour. Did you know that ‘Vicks’ came from the root of a cinnamon tree? We watched a young boy climb a coconut tree while entertaining us with a very boisterous ...

... good and pretty cheap once again at $5 and I have left over for supper lol. Went to the largest mosque in East Africa which was built by Mohammed Gadaffe (I am probably killing his name) and was greeted when I entered the gate by a "tour guide". The guy brought me to this reception area and pulled out this registry with all kinds of people's signatures and said I had to pay 10,000 for the tour. Now I had heard you were encouraged to ...

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Well, long story short, we w**e chased up and down and up and down. Then we waited in front of the office, because no one opened when we knocked. Aft** a short while a man came and ent**ed, so we knocked again. Then he came out with a woman. Now, one could ask why she did not open when we knocked. But hey, I do not want to imply that she ignored us; maybe she was in one of those offices without door to the hallway. And who knows how many th**e really are ...

... who makes the food for the airplanes works, or to the China Garden Inn, which is described as interesting by the tour books... Our hotel is very overpriced for Uganda. The food is what you would pay in Canada, so I refuse to eat my meals here... if i can avoid it. Everyone is so friendly, smiling and saying hello. The town is relatively clean, lots of playgrounds filled with children. Tomorrow we start work. It feels a little surreal being here...

... I was a little girl and watched the movie “Gorillas in the Mist”. For a long time I considered my dream job to be a field researcher where I could live in Africa and research the gorillas; to be the next Diane Fossey. I’ve read several books about gorillas and used to spend hours by myself at Como Zoo just watching and drawing sketches of the Lowland Gorillas. Now, my time had come. The next morning we awoke before sunrise to prepare ...

... the tourist trail so the people here were pretty surprised to see us turn up. A lady said we could come into the compound as long as we promised not to use our cameras. The reason for this was that the rituals performed are part of the traditional belief sets of the Buganda and a lot of people who come claim to be Christians so don't want to be photographed taking part in these customs. The rituals themselves are ...

... shrugging his shoulders when asked when the meeting would begin and seeing the words come sluggishly from his lips, "It's Africa Time, Daniel." I had gotten used to the idea of it, in principle at least, if not in practice. But this? I was incensed, but I could do nothing. I turned to Courtney and shook my head. To her credit, she simply smiled back at me. Her admirable demeanor calmed me somewhat, but I was still at a loss. What were our options? What could we do? It had been a ...

Hi Everyone, So I thought I would let you know what I have been up to in Kampala.....I have been staying with friend Heather for quite a few weeks now and have updated you on the more adventurous side trips we have taken... but haven't said much about Kampala. What was going on last night was me not sleeping... at all. I swear every freaking dog in the city of Kampala was barking, howling or attacking another dog... or squealing from being attacked. It was brutal. It ...