Uganda: Jinja to Kampala & on to Masindi

Monday 15th June: Uganda. Jinja to Kampala and Masindi:

We departed Jinja @ 10am for the 80 km drive to Kampala. It has a reputation for heavy traffic and sure enough it was gridlock from 10 kms out. Lucky for us, Land Rover was on our side of the city so we got there about 1215. The service agents name was Mombasa & we persuaded him to squeeze us into to an already packed workshop.

We had to wait until after lunch but they started work as soon as they returned and we were on our way by 3pm. We had new brake pads fitted; brake fluid emptied & refilled with new fluid , so hopefully no more issues with the brakes. Kampala is one of the party capitals of Africa, it's streets are lined with a variety of unlicenced bars, known locally as Kafunda and it is possible to drink around the clock.

Uganda has reputedly the worlds highest consumption of alcohol and there is a thriving trade in adulterated alcohol. A spin off of this is the fact that Uganda suffers from the highest rate of road fatalities in the world, another reason to ensure good brakes! As a lot of the adulterated alcohol is lethal, it can cause multiple organ failure resulting in death. As cities like this don’t interest us too much, we headed for Masindi in North West Uganda and that would enable us to get to the Murchison Falls the next morning. While we were waiting for the work to be done on Dusty at Land Rover, I booked rooms at the Masindi Hotel and we arrived there about 7 pm after a 4 hour drive from Kampala.

It is a beautiful hotel, built in the early 1900’s and patronised by celebrities such as Ernest Hemingway, Humphrey Bogart & Katherine Hepburn. Thankfully, they weren’t resting on their laurels & the hotel has been renovated to a high standard while retaining the character. Bogart & Hepburn were there because the backdrop to the film ‘African Queen’ was Murchison Falls. Apparently, Ernest Hemingway was an unexpected visitor because his plane crashed into the river after clipping a wire which was crossing the gorge at Murchison Falls. Both he & his wife were rescued and taken to the hotel. A rescue plane was sent for them and that crashed on take off. They survived yet again. We had drinks followed by dinner and went off to our rooms for a welcome sleep.