I arrived in Kampala at around lunchtime on the 17th February 2018 after around 36 hours of travelling. As always when arriving in a new country having had little to no sleep for 2 days the immigration process was longer and more convoluted than it needed to be, but I eventually escaped the immigration queue, retrieved both my bags which had thankfully arrived in one piece and stepped out into Uganda.
It was hot and sunny and as we drove through Entebbe towards Kampala, but very green and lush, even allowing a glimpse of lake Victoria as we drove through. The traffic was absolutely crazy, cars and minibuses everywhere, sometimes on the wrong side of the road, all of which seemed to almost constantly be honking their horns.
I will skip over my first two days in Kampala as I discovered my newest architectural hate - all buildings in Uganda have vents built into the side of them. This is great to keep the buildings cool, but less good at keeping the noise out, and as I was staying in a hotel on the side of the main road it was pretty noisy. I was thankfully only there for 2 nights and come Monday morning my belongings were packed away again and moved to the VSO office to begin orientation.
It was a jam packed 2 days of briefings on topics ranging from Ugandan food, to how to book transport to health and security briefings. It was a lot to take in and a lot of new names and faces! But at least the VSO office is beautifully situated.
I was supposed to head straight to Moroto after 2 days of briefing, but as ever in Uganda, plans didn't quite run smoothly. I was delayed for a week, which was a bit frustrating, but gave me the opportunity to see a bit more of Kampala and to make sure I had everything I needed before I travelled. Sadly as no VSO volunteers were based in Kampala I didn't get a chance to meet any existing volunteers, which was a real shame, as when I did VSO in Mongolia the opportunity to meet current volunteers during orientation was really valuable.
Kampala itself is not the most exciting city I have ever visited. It does not have many tourist attractions. Most shops are organised into malls and in between offices and houses are located in gated compounds. But by the weekend I had obtained a list of recommended restaurants in Kampala and I sampled a fair few of them, knowing I wouldn't have the same food options once I relocated to Moroto.
Independence Monument, Kampala
View over Kampala from Acacia Mall
I was also able to make a good start on purchasing the items I would need for my house in Moroto - lots of these things were able to be purchased in Moroto, but we were advised to pick them up in Kampala as there would be more variety and choice. And we needed everything, from saucepans to stoves, to beds and kitchen tables!
Finally after almost 2 weeks in Kampala it was time to begin the long journey to Moroto - estimated journey time - up to 12 hours!
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