Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Koboko - the jewel in the crown!


Hello from the jewel in the crown, Koboko, Uganda.

Today was a loooooong, nine-hour drive from Kampala to Koboko in the north-west corner of the county. I can’t say anything yet about the town itself because truthfully, I don’t have a clue. We left Kamapla this morning at 8:00 and we didn’t arrive here until 5:00, and the hotel is on the outskirts of town so all I’ve seen is the inside of a compound. The road was paved for a lot of the trip but a lot of it was under construction so it was graded dusty gravel – and some of it was still paved but it VERY rough condition, which is worse than unpaved. When the pot holes threaten to swallow whole villages it’s time to hunker down and grin and bear it.

But……………. and this is what made the entire experience more than worth the price of admission – we came around a corner and on the side of the road we pulled up right next to a group of elephants! Not in a game reserve, not on a guided tour, no…..  right on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. How freak’n cool is that!

And how do you know you’re truly in Africa?
You leave a hotel in the morning that may have faded a bit with the passing years but is still a very nice business hotel the likes you’ve seen in any city. With a lounge, restaurant and uniformed staff at every corner – and nine hours later you arrive at something most recently frequented by Stanley and Livingstone. Where the water is cold, the lights are dim, the mosquito net and coal oil lamp is definitely NOT decorative, and the power is dependent on the generator that is roaring comfortably in the background ..... but the staff are just as inviting and if anything you feel even more at home.

Signing off, happy and excited from Koboko Uganda

Cheers!





 

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