Sun, July 8 - Driving back to Entebbe

Overlooking the Nile from the Breakfast Bar

Red-cheeked Cordon Bleu

Breakfast was at seven, so it was light enough to take in Nile views while we munched rolls and omelets.  We packed up and left at 8 AM and drove back up the escarpment and into thick forest.  Paul stopped the vehicle several times to try and find a few birds that we had missed.  The dirt road was excellent and he cruised along at about 40 MPH through very thin traffic.  

Goodbye to the Park

Baboon City

We emerged from the forest into civilization, a mix of agriculture and  small villages. We passed some fields of corn with a row of tiny wooden/stick shacks between the crops and the road, where some families were cooking a meal over a fire.  The level of poverty is quite extreme everywhere we’ve been in Uganda.  So many people living in dirt-floored, windowless mud or stick huts!   Although it is also one of the friendliest countries I have ever seen with everyone waving greetings to us!

Fruit Stand

Pots and Pans Store

We ate our box lunches  - at an outdoor restaurant, strangely enough, as we could have ordered lunch there rather than eat yet another box lunch!

As we approached the Kampala urban conglomeration the traffic increased with Sunday drivers returning home from the countryside.  We hit some real traffic jams as pedestrians from open air markets crisscrossed the highway in front of us and cars drove chaotically.  

Hauling Charcoal

Sunday Market

We finally reached a brand new toll road that bypasses part of Kampala, so new the toll wasn’t being collected yet, and sped along reaching Entebbe around 5:30.  Paul and Eriab had each driven over 200 miles over rough roads and in some heavy traffic  with no break since after lunch!  They seemed their usual cheerful selves, but I would have felt better, and safer, if they had stopped once in a while.

They returned us to the lovely Papyrus Guest House where we started our whole adventure so long ago!  We all got day rooms and re-organized our luggage, showered and gathered to say goodbye to Brian who was flying to Nairobi, where he lives, at 9 PM,  We settled on the terrace for one final dinner: veg curry and beef steak with our last Nile beers!

Our Day Room

The Last List!

At 8:15 Paul and  Eriab took us to the Entebbe airport where we immediately had to carry our luggage up three flights of stairs!!   A sweaty start to our trip, and then through security.

We checked our bags with KLM, and then wandered through a hall of shops until we got to our gate.  We chatted with Alan and Sandra who are on the same flight as us to Amsterdam,  but continuing on to London.   An announcement told us to go down a flight of stairs to the gate where we had to go through a security check all over again, complete with pat down!

We finally boarded at 10:30 into our Economy Comfort seats with nice legroom.  KLM served us a small chicken turnover with a glass of wine and we both fell asleep for about five hours until we were over Greece and watched the lights below.