travelling – Andrea Magnano

A roadtrip through Africa: Uganda part 2 – Kampala

Rule number 1: when someone, in Africa, says “don’t worry” don’t, for any reason, trust him. Be aware that a catastrophy will eventually occur.

When we got in the car to Kampala, I was warned that thre 45 km drive, thanks to the new motorway built by the Chinese Government (we’ll talk about this in the future), could last no more than 1 hour. By my side, after all the flights and useless waits, that was extraordinary good news.

My optimism was definetely misplaced, tough. As soon as we went out from the security area of the airport, we had to face the Kampala traffic., which is something that you can’t believe, imagine and forget. It took us almost 5 hours from Entebbe to Africana hotel, near the city center.

In the following days, I realized it’s pretty common, also due to blackouts (not so infrequent) or thunderstorms, to spend almost half a day in the traffic because everybody gets stucked (I don’ know the reason).

A few facts about Kampala

Unlike other countries in Africa, density population in Uganda is quite high (160 inhabitants per square km) and this this influences many aspects of every day life (driving and moving is almost impossible).

Kampala is the biggest city in Uganda and is said to have 1,5 million inhabitants, but other estimates affirm there are even more than 3 millions people living in the city center and in the suburbs.

The city is famous because it was built by the British putting together different settlements on hills stretching along Lake Victoria (originally there were seven hills but now, since the population is growing, the number is more than double).

Just like all the other capitals built during the British colonialism, there are no squares (a square is needed only in democracy), therefore all markets, social life etc happen along (or in the middle) the streets.

Kampala is a complex mix of different cultures, ethnicities, cultures and religions. There are lots of places of worship (Anglican and Catholic churches, mosques and Bahai and Hindu temples). For Christians, the most famous and important place is Munyonyo Martyrs Shrine, where, between 1885 and 1887, 12 Catholic and 13 Anglican converts were executed.

The Bahai temple in Kampala
The hills of Kampala
Catholic presence in Kampala
The memorial plaque for the martyrs

Eating in Kampala

Since it is an international city, it is not difficult to find the desired type of restaurant, cafe and fast food (the most important ones are inside the shopping malls). However, if you want to visit a very special local place with traditional cuisine you must absolutely try “Africa Hot Pot”.

International dinner
An old coke bottle at Africana Hotel
Africa Hot Pot special meal

END OF PART 2

A roadtrip through Africa: Uganda part 1 – Arrival in Kampala

Sometimes life just passes by and sometimes you get calls you do not expect.

May 2017

For that occasion, on the other end of the phone there was H. E. Grace Akello, the Ugandan Ambassador to Italy (she is currently in India).

Even if I didn’t know how she managed to get my mobile number, she invited me in Rome to discuss about a project in Uganda. Obviously, since I never had the opportunity to visit the “Pearl of Africa” country (we shall discuss about this motto in the future), I immediately agreed.

One week later I was in her office in Rome, she explained me that the Government of Uganda was in search of partnerships with European private companies for the development of the agriculture sector and she wanted me to visit Uganda in the upcoming summer.

July 2017

After 24h flight from Milano to Doha and from Doha to Kampala (including 10h stop in Qatar), I finally landed at Entebbe airport (it should be the only international airport in Uganda).

I was so happy with my special VISA that I thought I could be out in a couple of minutes. I was wrong.

Some funny facts from my 5h wait at the immigration office of Entebbe airport:

a guy from Ethiopia started to shout against some policemen and tried to take their weapons. The result? In 5 minutes they sent the special forces from the army.
a 5 members family (again from Ethiopia), who was just before me for the security controls lost all their documents (ID, passports etc) and they were immediately classified as terrorists (even if nobody knows the exact definition for this word). The result? Even more special forces.
as common to a lot of other countries, the custom control is where they check if you did not steal someone else’s luggage, nobody really cares about what you take with you.

Security controls – Entebbe International Airport

So, after several queues of people (one for passport control, one to change some money, one to buy a local sim card, one for baggage inspection etc), I was finally able to meet my local guides: Robert and Foster.

Robert works for the Youth Development Program, Foster for the ideology and communication of the government. They both had to take me on tour through their country, show me the actual situation of the agriculture in Uganda and introduce me to local farmers.

END OF PART 1