The Saturday at the hostel had plenty of drama going on
after the night out, and whilst watching that unfold and catching up on Game of
Thrones, I finally got confirmation that I would be heading up to Amuria for
the next fortnight to help out on the baseline survey taking part in some
parishes and sub-counties in the Amuria district in the North East of Uganda. I
was told to meet at the office in Kampala at 10.30am on the Sunday.
I put one bag in storage and a load of stuff in a locker and
settled my bill for my first three weeks here of 630k UGX (roughly £160). The
boda ride to the office with a large rucksack was less than fun, but I arrived
at the office 5 minutes late with no sign of any of my colleagues. I was
concerned as I’d been having problems with my phone and dongle so had been incommunicado
most of the weekend and was worried that they might have set off without me.
I’d momentarily forgotten that this is Africa and I only had
to wait another 20 minutes or so before the others turned up. There was then
another 15 minute wait for the project consultant and his transport to arrive.
Thankfully it was a fairly new Mazda 4x4, very comfy for the long journey
ahead.
We drove through Kampala towards Jinja, a route I was now
familiar with from rafting the previous weekend. On the way the road goes
through a forest whose name escapes me. Part way through this forest there’s a
motorway service station of sorts. You pull up by the side of the road and are
immediately mobbed by people selling snacks and drinks. We got some hot cooked
banana that you eat skin and all, it takes like un-mashed matoke and some
drinks.
After Jinja we headed East on a brief section of dual
carriageway before turning North to head toward Mbale one of the larger ‘cities’
in Uganda in the shadow of Mount Elgon. If you continue on the eastbound road
you’ll eventually get to the Kenyan border and could continue on to Nairobi. We
had a brief comfort break at a petrol station in Mbale before heading off on
the hardest part of the journey from Mbale to Soroti. This journey of just over
100 km took the best part of two and a half to three hours. It was easily one
of the worst roads I’ve been on, with deep pits over most of the road. It
looked like it had been cluster bombed, but was just a poor road that had
deteriorated over time. I’m just glad it was dry as it would have been
horrendous in the wet. There were a few patches of good road on the way were
the work had already been completed to rebuild the road, but the majority of it
is absolute hell.
Finally we arrived at Soroti our destination about seven
hours after setting off. Soroti is a fairly large town where I’ll be staying
for the next fortnight thankfully as Amuria is a tiny town where the only
lodgings are reminiscent of the one the Top Gear boys stayed at in the Uganda
special. I’m staying at the Adonah Guesthouse just out of the centre of town
near to the imposing Soroti Rock. If I get some free time whilst here I’ll have
a wander up it as the view of the town and the surrounding area will be
amazing. I was shown to my bedroom which was a large clean double bedded room
with en-suite bathroom, TV and power points even the mobile internet connection
was pretty swift. This isn’t the back of beyond that I was led to believe.
Shortly after arriving, whilst unpacking I was asked to
place an order for supper. Disappointingly I couldn’t go for my usual room
service choice of a club sandwich, so had to make do with either something with
fish, or something without fish. I went for the fish-less option and ages later
I got another knock at the door and got my supper of chapatti, boiled potatoes
and gravy delivered. The boiled potatoes were pretty good for boiled potatoes,
the gravy was meaty and salty and it was good to dip the potatoes and chapatti
in it. There was even a side salad of tomatoes and red onions. Completely
unexceptional meal, 1.5 out of 5.
I watched a bit more of Archer an American cartoon for
adults about a dysfunctional spy agency which is pretty funny. Well worth a
quick watch if you can track it down.
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