Arrest (Part 2: Tuesday)

Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary
Masindi Hotel porch

note: sorry there are only 2 photos...we spent the rest of the day driving willy nilly all over uganda...

why isn't there a monday you ask? because I spent most of monday online at the ARA being productive - which means there weren't many exciting adventures to be had...sometimes there are just days like that, you know? Even in Africa...moving on to tuesday:

Tuesday 29 December 2009 – Carrie, Anna, and I depart Kampala for destination: Murchison Falls National Park in northern Uganda. Stopping along the way at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary we caught a glimpse of an endangered species in Uganda. In a reserve with space for up to 40 rhino's there are only 11 currently on the premises I think, with lots of international wildlife conservation community support (eg. gift from Disney's Animal Kingdom of 3-4 rhinos several years ago) and visitors fees, there are rangers that stay with the rhino's 24 hours a day to protect them from poachers. Would you believe that these monstrous creatures (weighing in at 2.5 tons) can move at a speed of 45 km/hr??!?! I was flabbergasted...Anyways, we got a filling and tasty lunch in their cafe and moved on to Masindi.

Filling up with fuel in Masindi we set out for the park, as the rain began to fall we planned to reach before dark. 2 ½ hours later we should have been reaching the park gates, but instead we were crossing over Karuma Falls...WAY out of the way…as it turns out, about 2 ½ hours beyond where we should have turned towards the park…the rain continued to fall and dark was fast approaching. We turned around…plan arrested…not at all sure where we had gone wrong with our maps…finally stopping at a gas station where we asked for directions back to Masindi…I knew there was a decent hotel there and at least we knew we could get back on track somehow and start afresh the next morning. Dark had come and the rain continued to fall...the road had arrested my focus completely…women riding on the back of bicycles in the pitch black of night in the rain with no headlights or reflectors, people meandering down the middle of the road on their way to who knows where…cows, goats…it took everything in me to not hit someone or something…not sure if we had missed the road we saw a couple traffic cops in their white uniforms with umbrellas and blue ponchos so I pulled over…for some reason, everyone we stopped to ask for directions felt the need to cross over to the driver’s side of the car, and due to the rain my window was up, and remember what putting my window down requires?! Right, fiddling around to find the crank handle in the ash tray or wherever it had fallen to, and putting it back in it’s proper position on the door, and then putting the squealing window down as the person stands there in the rain…anyways, the policeman in the white uniform…he was so smiley and had a kind face that put my fears of being lost in northern Uganda in the dark and rain momentarily to rest. He was happy to assure me that the turn towards Masindi was just ahead, past 2 sets of “umps”… “umps, umps…plural umpires?…what in the world is he talking about…oh right, humps! The old silent “h” trick…” I thought to myself. It’s why everyone prefers to call me Aidah. Even though there is a name Saidi that is closer in my opinion (albeit a male name), they have a hard time starting a word with “h”, so Aidah and umps it is ☺ So, we said goodbye to mr. smiley and continued on our way, asking a couple more times just to make sure we were going the right way. At 9:30pm we reached the Masindi Hotel.

...oh, I forgot to tell you about the windshield wiper fluid…right about the time we realized we were dreadfully lost, the rain had paused so my wipers were off…but then of their own accord they decided to turn on, and the wiper fluid started to spray…and spray some more…and didn’t stop until the reservoir was dry…no matter what I did, they paid no attention, having a mind of their own, all I could do was laugh ☺

…back to the Masindi Hotel...not only a hotel, but a historic hotel. Ernest Hemingway, Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart were patrons in their day…plantation porch, 4 poster beds and tile floors, good food, and a hot shower…what more could we have asked for?! We were VERY road weary and dirty from dust and mud and looked a wreck, and appropriately they stuck us in the table behind the pillar when we went to the dining room to eat dinner, so as not to lower the impression of the status of their clientele...if they put us behind the pillar maybe no one would see us looking like vagabonds...oh dear...

...there was also very funny before-bed pillow talk about smelly linens and a great uncle who very possibly doesn't have any hands?!?! ask Carrie...