Surprises
BWINDI VS. KAMPALA
After a 10+ hour drive, deeply rutted roads, and full views of banana trees only lightly sprinkled with villages, I knew that I was really OUT THERE when I arrived in the dark at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. [It’s on the border with Congo and Rwanda for goodness sake!] I took the lantern outside my “banda” (round, concrete floor, thatched roof) and proceeded to use it for going through bags, journal, and the trail to the pit latrines–my mini flashlight serving as support crew. The next morning the dark was more difficult though as I prepared for my gorilla trek, lantern extinguished, only the dim glow of the flashlight. That night I once again managed to arrive at my banda in the dark and found myself patting the bed for my flashlight, even trying to use the little blue glow from my alarm clock. Frustrated, I asked the guard outside if he had an extra lantern; I couldn’t find my flashlight. “Mmmm? No light?” he asks and accompanies me in. As I reach to ask for his lantern, he reaches for the wall….and flips a switch. Bright light fills my banda. Electricity in the jungle?!? Why does this shock me so much? Here, back in Kampala–city of how many million?–electric power is a rare prize. [When I arrived at this internet cafe I was told: “Wait a bit, I turn on the generator.”] It’s a treat if I go to bed with camera battery charging and a fan blowing on me kindly. However, it’s a given that I will then wake up in muggy stillness and fumble my way to the shower, trying to determine toothpaste from hair gel.
THE EQUATOR
At the Ugandan equator sits 3 yellow basins with white paint markings. For a small fee of $5 ($10 if you want the “offical” certificate) a somber “scientist” will place water and 2 white flowers into the basins. Guess what? Water really DOES flow backward south of the equator, even if “south” is only 15 feet away! And, right ON the equator, the flower was flushed unceremoniously straight down the middle. And I thought it was all a ruse! Even more surprising? Fifty feet away you can buy the BEST iced mocha in the world.
VISUAL TRICKS?
The other night I walked toward my homely hostel after dinner in the lavish Mweya Lodge in Queen Elizabeth Park. After passing the lodge’s gate, I got a little spooked in the dark, jumping when the bushes moved next to me, CERTAIN that it was a lion. “Silly Cindy,” I assured myself. “Just because you are in Africa doesn’t mean wild animals roam the streets!” Calmed, I continued, wondering how far my hostel was anyway. Up ahead in my path I see a HUGE dark form. Squinted, tilted my head, blinked. Still there. Bravery gone, I scamper back to the gate and beg an escort. When the shape was no longer there, I was sure I had some type of heat-induced lunacy. Then the guard sniffed a few times and flashed his light off the path: “There.” A hippo–giant, grunting, grazing. Apparently he’s the greatest threat to humans in the park. I felt justified and continued on to bed, where I heard its obscene snorting, farting, belching all night. Moral: pride isn’t worth being eaten by a hippo.
STEREOTYPES
On the long drive back into Kampala yesterday, I noticed a tape sticking out of the radio. “Music?” I ask my 20-30 something Ugandan guide. “I love music! You can put it in.” “Really?” he asks and begins rewinding. I settle back into my seat, ready to be washed over with sounds of drumming, hip hop or reggae–all of which I had heard on the East Africa music videos. Sounds familiar, I strain, lean in. “Who is it?” I ask. “You know him? It’s country–Kenny Rogers.” Laughing to myself, I listen to 5 hours of Kenny replayed realizing that, faced with the constant assumption of the exorbitantly rich “mzungu” (white face), I had created a few stereotypes of my own.
Tags: Africa, Bwindi, hippos, stereotypes, Uganda
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