For some reason I have been coming and going back and forth from Kampala ever since I arrived in Uganda. I have come into Kampala now four different times: when I first arrived in Uganda, after Murchison Falls, after Sipi Falls, and after the Ssesse Islands. Kampala is not that exciting of a city, but it is somewhat nice to keep coming back here because there are a number of us who keep coming back here and we keep running into each other over and over again. There are a limited number of travelers in Uganda… Its also nice that I no longer need a map when going out into the city.

After rafting on the Nile I stayed in the closest town, Jinja for the night and then headed up to Sipi Falls the next day with Dave, who had been on my Murchison Falls trip. The trip up was uneventful. The camp we had decided to stay at was really nice and relaxed. As an extra bonus, I had already met 3 of the 4 other people who were staying there. I had met Annabel one of my first few days in Kampala and Elyssa and Chris had been on one of the other rafts the previous day. We all spent a nice evening relaxing and eating the extraordinarily bland food the camp served together.

The next morning Dave, Elyss, Chris, and I headed out to go hiking around the three different falls that made up Sipi Falls. The hike was supposed to be about 3 hours long and not too difficult. I was soon wondering what I had gotten myself into. The road headed up almost immediately, which wasn’t surprising, but in addition to being really steep it was also very muddy and slippery. The mud got into the treads of all our shoes rendering the treads completely useless. Only occasionally were we able to wipe the bottoms and gain a few steps of traction. The going was generally more sliding than walking. I cannot count the number of times I almost lost my footing. (Times I did actually lose my footing: once.)

We eventually made it to the base of the waterfall and it was quite beautiful. All the waterfalls at Sipi were beautiful. Probably more beautiful than Murchison, but not nearly as powerful. That said, I’ve seen so many waterfalls on this trip that they are really ceasing to amaze me as they should. What stands out most about that first waterfall was how cold it suddenly was in the shade and wet spray.

(As an aside, I am watching monkeys playing in the trees outside the windows of the computer room as I write this. The owner here says they are a nuisance, but I quite like them.)

Happily, the most difficult part of the hike was over. There were no more long, steep, slippery uphill sections. Although there were plenty of long, steep, slippery downhill sections. And sections where you really did need to get handholds on the rocks to not fall. But that was actually fun. The second set of waterfalls I remember more for the small man made cave that had be dug out behind it. This allowed us to look up almost directly into the falls. There was also a table and me had a mid-morning snack which included chocolate and cheese – both luxuries out here. Very memorable. The third waterfall we saw from the top, a bit of a ways away. Nice.

When we got back to camp Chris, Elyssa, Annabel, and Andrew (the person staying at camp I had not know) were headed back into civilization. Annabel told me that another person had come in to camp that morning, a British gap-year woman named Alice. I thought – I met a British woman named Alice on gap year when I was in Kampala, but it couldn’t be her, because she’s volunteering in Kasese. Turns out the volunteer project fell through… Dave, Alice, and I spent the afternoon and the next morning relaxing before heading back into Kampala.

I was going to stay in Kampala for a while, awaiting a new ATM card that is Visa compatible. (Despite what the Lonely Planet guide says, MasterCard is NOT widely accepted in East Africa.) But then Alice mentioned that she was only going to stay a day before heading to the Ssesse Islands on Lake Victoria. I decided that I could not pass up the opportunity to go with her.

Our adventure began at 9 in the morning when we left our hostel, via boda-boda (motorbike taxi) to go to New Taxi Park where we could catch a share taxi to Masaka (1.5 hours we were told) from which we could catch the 2 o’clock bus to Kalangala on the Ssesse Islands. By 9:45 we were sitting on a bus at the Bus Park (where our boda drivers had taken us – we didn’t insist on going to the taxi park because we were told the bus was just a good – this was our mistake). We began our long wait for the bus to fill up. My new record for how long I have waited for a bus to fill up is 3 hours and 25 minutes. And the one and a half hour ride? Two and a half hours. Needless to say we did not catch the 2 o’clock bus from Masaka.

As soon as we got into Masaka we were surrounded by boda-boda drivers asking us where we wanted to go. We were told that if we left right away we could catch a car going to the Ssesse ferry from where we could catch a share-taxi to Kalangala. This was all true. What they failed to mention was that the car going to the ferry was a Sedan and that we would be sharing the back seat with three other adults and a child of about 10. In the front they got off easy – only four adults. It was, hands down, the most uncomfortable ride I have ever taken. We think it lasted about 45 minutes. Happily, we were easily able to get on a share-taxi all the way from the ferry to Kalangala. The ferry was pleasant and the share-taxi ride was uneventful even if long and bumpy. From the taxi we were easily able to get boda-bodas to the camp we were staying at. We arrived at camp just before 8 o’clock, just in time for the excellent buffet dinner.

The next day was pretty uneventful. Alice and I just relaxed on the beach, played cards, talked with another traveler (he’s been travelling about 8 years), and read our books… The day after that we woke up early and back to Kampala. Much easier this way. We managed to catch a bus going all the way from Kalangala to Kampala. Sure, the ferry was over an hour late and the sun was really hot while we were waiting, but all in all the journey only took about 9 hours.

And I have been in Kampala ever since. Its been just over a week now. I’ve been relaxing, got extra pages in my passport, got my bank card (yay!), saw Star Wars, caught malaria… You know, the usual stuff.

The malaria has been an experience and is, in fact, why I am still here. I was going to leave Kampala yesterday (Saturday), but about half way through Star Wars (Friday, around 2:30) my head started to feel fuzzy. By the time I got back to my hostel (around 4:30) I was not feeling good. When I got to my dorm room Matt (who has been here for about 6 weeks) said to me “I think I’ve got malaria.” I said “you too?” He, who has had malaria before, then told me where the nearest medical clinic where I could get tested was. I said thanks, but I don’t really feel up to it. He pointed out that maybe that was a sign that I really should go. My brain was still functional at this point, so I went. By 7 o’clock I was back at the hostel, feeling oh so much worse, but clutching a variety of drugs I had been told to take, pretty sure that the woman at the clinic had said that it was in fact malaria. But between her English and my weakened condition, who knows? Another of my dorm mates kindly opened my water for me and I took my first dose of drugs. Ate dinner and went to bed. Had a miserable night. Dragged myself out of bed 12 hours later. Spent a good portion of the morning napping. And then, suddenly, around noon felt a whole lot better. I could stay awake and walking 20 feet no longer seemed incredibly difficult! And I’ve been feeling fine ever since. Although I did get 10 hours of sleep last night and sleep in really late today… I will be off again tomorrow or the next day…