Entebbe airport arrival

First impressions of the airport - well it looks pretty much like an airport anywhere else in the world.

It's not huge, and there aren't that many planes on the ground.  Disembarking, it feels warm and humid but not oppressively so.  Lucky as we're wearing jeans and fleeces as Edinburgh was baltic this morning.

Immigration is fairly simple - they take your money for the visas, no need for passport photo as they take your picture with a camera on the desk.  They also take your fingerprint using an electronic machine - never had that before.

Immediately after immigration is a money changing place, so I got $100 worth so that we had some cash if required.  

Straight through customs with our bags - no-one interested at all. And out into the public arrivals hall.

I was expecting this to be a little difficult, but there was a nice man with a sign which had my name spelled correctly waiting to give us a lift to our accommodation.  There were one or two money changers wandering about, but no-one hassling at all.  Turns out the airport is very secure, and quite hard to get to.

The car park is a bit chaotic, due to the lack of lights and the number of drivers picking up clients.  Safari tours, taxis etc.  But we get onto the road within 40 minutes of landing.  Our driver stopped at a small shop, to allow us to buy some bottles of water - nicely chilled in a big fridge - then took us to the Ugandan Wildlife Education Centre.  

A security man made us fill out a book with our details - name, passport number, country, occupation, DOB,     mothers maiden name, inside leg measurment, favourite film star etc.  Then we were finally allowed to go to our banda, and head for bed. 

We were now starting to feel the humidity/heat.

Flights

Apart from the taxi arriving at 3.45 am to take us to the airport, everything with KLM was fine.  I had checked in on line so already had the boarding cards, they happily accepted our 3 piece of luggage including the case with all the camping equipment at 22.7kg. Allowance was for 4 pieces.  We were through the Edinburgh security system with about an hour and half to spare.

Coffee was had - not bad, but so expensive.  Captive market should not mean being completely ripped off.

Arriving at Amsterdam we found we had only a 2 minute walk to our next gate (remembering the last time we went through Gatwick - 2 and half hours to get from one flight to the next .. argh.)  So we wandered around the cheese and tulip shops til boarding time.

Then we found out something that may have been handy - our flight to Uganda was routed on a triangular route via Kigali, a city we are going to be visiting in a couple of weeks time.  Had we known this we might have been able to organise a holiday flying into Entebbe and out of Kigali, saving the long drive back to Entebbe.  Even our hire car company would have been happy for this as they operate in both countries.  At no point in my booking of flights was this mentioned.

Flying during the day gave me an opportunity to do something which I really enjoy - staring out of aeroplane windows at mountains (the Alps),seas (the Med), deserts (the Sahara), rivers (the Rhine, the Danube, and the Nile!!!).  Unfortunately it was dark by the time we landed in Kigali, so no views of Rwanda yet. Although after the very short - 45mins- flight from Kigali to Entebbe it was possible to see the lights reflecting  off the surface of Lake Victoria.

Been there done that

Got home to find that our estate agent had sold our house will we were in Africa, so we've a lot to sort out before I can spend much time on this blog.

Other than to say both Uganda and Rwanda are fantastic in their own ways.  And we have a few tales to tell, plus hopefully lots of useful information for anyone going there on holiday.

Last minute things

I printed off all the e-mails from places we have booked.  Printed google maps to help locate all the places we have booked! 

Printed a map on how to get to the Nakumatt supermarket in Kampala, to ensure supplies are bought.

Packed our stuff - you should see the drug cabinet - we could open a little pharmacy.

Checked the weather forecast - bugger - looks like wet and wild.  Why does the wet seem 

to follow me around?  I once spent 4 months in New Zealand and it rained 74 days.  I went to Namibia and it rained for the first time in 18 months as I got off the plane.  I even travelled in the Atacama desert and it rained there - officially the driest place on earth - the bus driver didn't know how to operate the windscreen wipers as he hadn't driven in the rain before.

Rain falling in the pool in the Atacama

I seriously hope the roads are going to be ok.  And that we don't have to camp in the mud.

Checked in on line, so boarding passes are printed.

Taxi arrives at 3.45am.  Oh my, oh my.

Nearly time to go

Less than a week to go - still haven't had a reply from the Ugandan high commission regarding crossing the border at Kagitumba.

Luckily however the people at Mihingo lodge have said we will be able to get across there and also be able to buy our visa as well.  However I have been told that we might be able to buy multi entry visas at Entebbe when we arrive - just hope we won't be too tired to remember to ask for them.

Car hire company will deliver our car to us around 9.00 am on Saturday morning, can't wait to see the old battered jeep they've arranged for us.

Last minute preparations include getting a first aid kit from a medic friend - including sutures, syringes, pick line(?) dressings etc.  Fingers crossed.

Charging batteries - spare batteries bought from ebay didn't arrive, paypal dispute going on to try to get the money back.  Lesson learned - don't buy batteries from Singapore and expect them to deliver within 2 months of purchase.  So we are going to have to cope with only one battery for camera and video.

Trial pack went well - managed to get all camping equipment into one large suitcase at 22.1 kg.  KLM baggage allowance is very generous - 4 bags at a max of 23kg each.  So loads of space left over - Karen may actually be able to take the 23 pairs of knickers she wants.

Questions remaining unanswered  - can you buy peanut butter in Uganda/Rwanda?

Camping equipment

We've had a few camping trips this year, yet still seem unable to go away for a weekend without filling the car with equipment.  So we have to try to pare it down to the absolute minimum.

Tent - North Face Rock - tiny and lightweight.  Hopefully lion/hyena proof :-).

Stove - MSR whisperlite - multi fuel, as it appears gas is not readily available.



Already been to New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, Namibia, Botswana, Scotland! - bombproof

Pots and pans - aluminium - from an old Trangia set

Plates/cups - Orikaso fold flat - absolutely fantastic stuff.  Folding cups are great, and easy to wash and carry.

Torches - Petzl headtorches - only the best will do

Sleeping mats - Thermarest - again simply the best money can buy.

Sleeping bags - not sure on this one, whether to take full bags or just sleeping liners - keeping an eye on night time temperatures, currently around 18-20C.  This would be warm enough for me to sleep in a liner, but probably not for Karen.

Chairs/table - getting the car hire people to purchase these for us in Kampala, simply couldn't get them on a plane.  They do make camp life much more comfortable than trying to do everything on the ground - especially with my dodgy back  

Cameras

I'm not going to bore you with camera choices - but I did buy a video camera especially for this trip.

Don't know how to use it properly or how to edit the results, but it would not be good to visit gorillas without    at least getting some moving pictures.

Will take stills with my SLR - taken a lot of memory, and hoping to get the battery charged easily enough in hotels/bandas.

Got a cool little tripod? that attaches to an open car window - for those long lens shots on safari.  Also taking a full tripod to get over the shakes.