Backpacker Central
Trip Start
Aug 05, 2006
1
31
55
Trip End
Ongoing
Kampala,
Uganda
Friday, March 30, 2007
On the way to Kampala I met a nice girl named Li from Beijing and she was more than happy to help me practice my Chinese, which seems to have degraded severely since leaving China. Upon arrival here in Kampala we took a taxi to Backpackers Hostel. I think this was probably the first real hostel I have stayed at since being in Europe and one of the few places were I wasn't the only American there.
Uganda, like Kenya, is a much more popular travel destination in Africa than some of the other countries I have visited and it has a much greater party atmosphere. Kampala itself though is not all that nice. It is a more typical African city than Libreville, with the chaotic traffic and garbage piled high in the streets. The city also seems to experience regular power outages that can last for up to 24 hours. One thing it does have are some great bars and delicious Chinese restaurants.
After a few days in Kampala I booked a trip to Jinja which is the source of the White Nile and home to some of the World's best whitewater rafting. I spent the whole day fighting Class V rapids and enjoying the breathtaking scenery along the banks of the Nile. The only problem was that I was stuck on the old people raft and there was a particularly annoying American women who didn't want to fall in the water or get wet and constantly asked me if I could paddle slower. If you didn't want to get wet that why the heck are you rafting some of the wildest rapids in the world?!? Her husband was a really nice guy though and he had been to some crazy places all over the World.
I wish I had more time to explore "the Pearl of Africa" as Winston Churchill once described it but my time in Africa is starting to run short and I still have a lot of miles left to cover in front of me. If you haven't seen it yet, watch the "Last King of Scotland" which shows some of the country's beautiful scenery and explores some of its tragic history.
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A Jungle View
Comments
The memories of white water rafting!
Hi Dan... just to let you know that I'm still following your journey and will be interested to see where you go next... are you coming to Australia? If you go up the west coast, and bump into Carnarvon, let me know:) Now that you are 7 months into your journey, how are you finding it? Meeting interesting characters like the Chinese girl definitely makes up for a great experience... loved reading about your white water rafting... takes me back to my awesome experience in Ecuador. Gee I miss travel... work sucks. Take care mate, Shane (fellow travelpodder... shanewilson).