Getting it Right
Day 284
We were up early and had arranged a taxi from the night before to take us to the post office for the bus to Kabale. I was pleasantly surprised to find our driver waiting for us in the early morning light as we walked out to the taxi and loaded our packs in. The air was refreshing cool as we drove into the city centre. Kampala was just beginning to awake at 7am as people rushed off to work just as we were deposited at the post office to wait for our bus. Without assigned seats we were told to arrive early to be sure of a seat for the journey, although when the bus pulled up it was just over half full so we had no problem getting seats for both of us. We were off, finally leaving Kampala to the countryside of Uganda.
It took just over an hour to get clear of the snarled traffic of Kampala before we reached the lush green countryside. We passed banana plantations, rice fields and small villages, the landscape in Uganda is beautiful, a nice change from the brown of Kenya and Tanzania. It reminded me of Southeast Asia. The post bus was pretty decent. Sure I think it stopped every 2km to pickup someone and of course in every town to deliver or pickup mail, but it wasn’t packed and it slowly but surely was getting us to Kabale. We met David, a young Ugandan aboard the bus. Actually he sort of just moved around and sat next to us, I think he just wanted to chat with the foreign tourists aboard. He said he was studying at the University in Kabale. His English wasn’t the best, which is odd because most people speak great English here. He was an odd character to say the least. “Speed humps, up there, hold on. It’s cold in Kabale, is it this cold in Canada?” He repeated those words more than a few times, which we found amusing. Fr one, it’s was not cold in Kabale, maybe cool but not cold and nowhere near as cold as Canada. David couldn’t really understand what minus 10 Celsius would feel like. His idea of cold was 10 Celsius. He was an odd guy but harmless and was just curious about where we came from and what we thought of Uganda. Of course the one thing he did know about Canada was wheat, I kid you not once again we are known for our wheat production.
We arrived in Kabale about 9 hours after leaving Kampala and the weather was definitely cooler as David had promised. Kabale sits at 1869 meters above sea level so even though we are just below the equator the temperature is quite cool and the dampness in the air made it feel cooler than it was. We were dropped off at the Kabale post office and were looking for the House of Edirisa, an interesting museum/hostel we had read about. We walked down the muddy main street and soon found the funky white and black front of Edirisa. It stood as quite a contrast to the surrounding tin roofs and concrete buildings. We were welcomed at the entrance by the friendly manager of Edirisa and shown around the place.
House of Edirisa is the sort of place that you hope you would find in more places in the developing world. They are using tourism to benefit the local community and making local culture accessible to tourists. One of the main reasons we travel is to discover different ways of life in far off lands, maybe nowhere is that way of life as misunderstood as Africa. Edirisa was started as a museum by Festo Karwemera a local village elder of the Bakiga Tribe. Around that cultural museum a hostel and restaurant were added and Edirisa has grown to become involved in several community projects. Staying in a museum sounded like a pretty cool idea so we were sold on the idea and it was really the only reason to stop in Kabale. After being shown to our room that was decorated with local tapestries we went out to explore the town. Across the road was the Hot Loaf Bakery that was recommended and we went in for some decent but cold samosas, still nowhere near as good as Brampton. From there we just walked down the busy main street and bought some water and a sim card for out mobile. Kabale isn’t much to look at but the surrounding green hills with the low cloud were a welcome sight after the smog and noise of Kampala. What wasn’t a welcome sight was when I tried to leap over a puddle to what looked like solid ground. I leapt and landed into ankle deep mud, actually judging from the amount of cattle walking the main street this was probably a mixture of mud and cow shit. My sandal was filthy, mud caked my leg to above my ankle and it absolutely stunk, that horrible mud smell.
We went back to the hostel, I washed my foot and sandal in the shower, although I made a huge mess of the shared shower and the water wouldn’t go down. I was having a great afternoon. Besides the mud I was having a great afternoon. We both loved the idea of Edirisa, not only was our money going to a good cause but we were learning something about the local culture as well. Edirisa is more than just a hostel and museum though and they are involved in several local programs, I suggest checking out their website to learn more about them. Kabale it self is a relaxed town and Uganda is quickly proving to be our favourite African country to date. We enjoyed a tasty dinner at the Edirisa restaurant before turning in for the night. It’s great to see a place such as this in Africa, run by local people who are doing a good job at it and are passionate about their work. A success story in the tourism industry in a place where tourism usually benefits a select few.
Tags: Uganda
Michael Coroneos
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