Jinja to Kampala - Day 301

Date: June 15th, 2010
Distance: 124km
Country: Uganda
Song of the Day: The Nile's Edge - VAST

I woke up late again. I decided not to go on either the rafting or the mountain biking trip. So I just packed up my stuff and said goodbye to the people at the hostel.

I wasn't done with Jinja quite yet though. I still needed to see the "Source of the Nile". I did eventually find a good place that overlooks where the (White) Nile river empties out of Lake Victoria. Got some cool pictures too. (Also, my video camera started taking pictures again. It does seem to happen like that...)

I decided to take a different route back to Kampala. It was about 40km longer. So for the most part there was less traffic. Plus the shoulder was generally better to ride on. Lots of hills though. It was a pleasant ride. The construction out here is mostly brick houses. Many of them are stuccoed and painted. With manicured lawns they look just like they could fit into small towns anywhere in the U.S.. Plus about lunch time I had a whole pineapple. There was a guy on a bike loaded with pineapples. For about $0.25 he sliced it up ready to eat. Yum.

With the late start and time wasted at the Nile, it was dark before I got to Kampala. There really isn't anything like a little hectic night riding in Uganda. Actually it wasn't that bad. I had my bike all lit up (unlike most of the other bikes on the road) so I was a bit hard to miss. There was also a detour over some rough dirt roads. (I guess I did get my serious off-road action in today.) While the road was worse, the cars were going slower and being a little more sane.

There was one crazy incident. The detour ended and all the cars drove off onto another road. The motorcycles continued straight. So I went along with the latter. It turns out the road ahead had been graded flat (for paving) and was blocked by some heavy construction equipment. Small vehicles like bikes and motos could get through though. Two guys had used this as an opportunity to set up what I think was an ad-hoc toll booth. They didn't ask me for money, but I think that is what they were hassling everyone else about. One of the guys was armed with a bow and arrow, which he claimed was for "bad people and criminals". Again they didn't ask for money or threaten me. It still was a bit weird though. That is one nice thing about bike touring, it does seem to impress/confuse people enough they generally leave you alone.

I did make it back to the hostel in Kampala. Got checked in, showered and headed off to bed.

-Dravis