My First Time.....

 Remember back in the days in school , creative writing sessions? The teacher would ask us to write about our first time experiences. First day in school, first day at the National Park, first time on a plane and others. The topics would be exciting if it was something you had done, like first day in school; but challenging if you had to use your creative imagination for things you had never done.

It's a Friday , so we still can throw it back, Flash back maybe  .... I'm going back to the year 2016, in the month of August. That's when I had my first time . Yes, my first time out of the country 😊  I know what you were thinking, sorry ... hahahaha.

In this year, I was working in a private school as an admin Assistant ( bursar, secretary and errand person) and also volunteering for a certain local NGO. The said NGO was holding a Campaign through Walks to Create awareness  on conservation across East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania & Uganda) and I knew that was the perfect opportunity for me to travel out of the country for the first time. The walk had began in Nairobi around mid June through the Nairobi- Namanga highway. I joined the team in their last weekend before they crossed into Tanzania, with the promise I would join them in Uganda later in August.

I began my plans to travel to Uganda. I first had to apply for a passport but a friend advised me to use a temporary pass because the Passport processing would take a long time. Second , I needed to have a camping tent. The team was moving around and most of the days they spent nights camping. Fortunate for me, someone gifted me a tent. 

This tent still remains the Most Expensive Gift I ever received 

 The last thing was to create a budget for my trip.This mostly depended on the means of transport and the accommodation for at least two days before finally meeting the team at their border crossing point. With consultation with the NGO director, he asked me to reach out to a certain person who was assisting with the logistics in Uganda. I did that and got all the information I needed. I settled on travelling by road and staying in Kampala for three nights before proceeding with the journey.

Two days later, the contact in Uganda, his name is Nkurinziza, asked me if i would like to stay with his family in Entebbe instead of paying for a hotel in Kampala. You know what ?, I said yes without a second thought. Anything to save me cash. But I would inform the Director and he cautioned me to be careful since he hadn't met him yet and was only helping with logistics as a volunteer too.

Someone told me the other day that, "life is made up of  the crazy stuff. Things you do and can laugh about in the future. It's even exciting when there's a risk ..."  I think have been practicing that way before it was said to me.

With all plans made ,the day arrived and I was at The Mash Poa Bus Office two hours ahead of the scheduled departure time. Just like the old times in childhood , the nervousness before a trip and the fear you'd be left , I wasn't risking this one too. 

 

We had a short break at Nakuru town and proceeded to the Busia border arriving at 1 am. Here, apart from the immigration checks, there's the currency exchange. All along in my planning , I thought one could only do the exchange in a bank, but at this moment I decided to do it here which would save me the time I would go searching for a bank. The exchange is  done by "hawkers", people walking around holding bunches of notes asking others if they "need money" I was so confused and  afraid to ask but I finally approached one. Told  him I needed to exchange Twenty thousands Kenya shillings. Without hesitation, he tells me that would be six hundred and forty Thousands Ugandan shillings. I look at my sling bag, it sure can't hold that much money. Quick response, "Let me just exchange five Thousands" as I hand him the cash.  In return he gives me 4 notes, I look at them surprised and think to myself "Kwani nimeporwa" ( have I been conned) It's three, 50,000 notes and one 10,000 note. A total 160,000 Uganda shillings.  I was that day years old when I learnt other East African countries had a currency of higher denomination that 1000. I always assumed that was the highest note across.

Upon returning the the bus, our conductor approaches me. He tells me he noticed I was a bit confused while doing my currency exchange. He warned me to be careful next time since people get issued with fake notes. He checked mine to ensure I wasn't conned before we left. 

 It's two am when we cross the boarder and I text my host to let him know. It is clear I will arrive in Kampala at least two hours before the scheduled time. We got to Kampala some few minutes past 5 am. I had to stay in the waiting lobby, with hope my host doesn't fail me, because i couldn't make a call. Nobody had told me about roaming services. He doesn't fail and reaches at 7 am as agreed and within a short time, we're on our way to Entebbe.

 

My host family had me for four days before I left and went to a different part of Uganda to meet the team. It was Nkurunziza, his mom, one of his sisters and her two sons and the domestic manager.  During the four days stay, I visited Victoria Mall, Uganda wildlife Education Centre -Entebbe Zoo and went to the shore of Lake Victoria. I also had an opportunity to sample street food. 

Culture shock... One night, I was served boiled sweet potatoes with bean stew for dinner.  I knew sweet potato is a "breakfast food " Ugali here is made with cassava flour.

When Mama asked me given a chance to make them a Kenyan meal what I would cook, I gave her the recipe for Mukimo..  Unfortunately, the ingredients were not readily available . 

 The morning I left, Nkurunziza escorted me back to Kampala city and ensured I boarded the right bus to Mutukula. Mutukula is a small town on The Uganda -Tanzania border. That was the point of entry for the team from Tanzania. It was a journey that took me almost seven hours with two stops along the way. We spent the night in a hotel in this border town .

The following morning, two gentlemen from the team  and I were given the task of visiting the District authorities to get the official certification to hold public meetings and the walk in that region. We got directions from one of the staff at the hotel and we set out. We got there, were warmly welcomed and served promptly. The District officer was curious though  on how we got there and when we explained it was through public transport, it seemed to intrigue him in a way. He would go ahead and inform us that it was risky for foreigners to move around in that region on their own since there was a community of cannibals that lived there and they were more likely to prey on foreigners. We actually laughed at it and took it lightly . Shortly we were on our way back to the hotel. 

As we narrated our day to the team , I told them how the officer tried to scare us with the presence of cannibals in the area. Turned out it was not meant to scare us, it was  genuine caution. The same evening one local Tv Station, back in Kenya had ran a feature story on The Man Eaters of Rakai . The team had actually watched it and were worried about us until we got back safe.  

 https://nilepost.co.ug/2022/02/01/how-rakai-became-the-headquarters-of-cannibalism-in-uganda

We left Mutukula the following day and went to Lake Mburo National Park. We would set camp here and stayed for four days holding meetings in the neighboring communities and exploring the park. It was at this point that I had to return home , my time in Uganda was limited and I had to resume work. As the team was moving to a different region, they took me to Mbarara town where I would catch one of the buses from Kigali coming to Nairobi. 

The return journey took me a little over 24 hours From Mbarara to my house in Naromoru. With  a one hour layover in Kampala, Boarder check at Busia and a breakfast stop in Nairobi.  

That was quite an adventure for my first time out of the country. I have since been out to other two countries. I cant wait to tell the story for each 😍 . 

I'm still in contact with my host family and My plan this Christmas  is to return to Uganda to visit them and  will make sure to carry the necessary supplies to make them a variety of Kenyan food. 

 

Have you been out of the country? Where did you go and what as the experience like? Havent been out yet, whats on your bucket list? Where would you like to travel to? Let me know in the comments or the contact form .