Sunday - travel from Kampala to Soroti

We reached our hotel in Kampala sometime after 2am but luckily didn't have an early start for our journey to Soroti, 400km away.

We set off at 11am in Land Cruisers and what a fascinating journey it was, people walking with supplies along the road, carrying water, firewood and other products. There were goats and cows wandering around at the edges and into the road and many settlements.

Everyone was smartly dressed and wearing vibrant colours, especially the women. We saw buildings selling bed frames, drinks, meat and literally dozens of fruit and vegetable sellers.

We had two stops, one in Jinja where we will stop for longer on Thursday to visit the source of the Nile and one at the foot of the Mount Eldon range which rises to over 4200 metres. There was also an unscheduled one to fix a flat tyre!

After a briefing session and a meal most of us retired early as we have to eat breakfast tomorrow at 5.30am and leave at 6 to travel to the Teso region! After three days of travelling it will be good to get out into the communities!

Arrival at Entebbe

Well we arrived at Entebbe airport on time, and were greeted by security women in masks, gloves and aprons who took the questionnaires that we were asked to fill in on the flight as to whether we had any Ebola symptoms, all a bit scary....

We then all just about fitted on this bus but then some complications meant we had to stop at a petrol station and wait for some replacement vehicles, finally set off again at 1am with an hour or so drive to Kampala.

Final preparations!

I'm about to set off to catch a train from Abergavenny to London, think I've got everything that's on the kit list and amazingly it has all fitted in my bag! Shame I can hardly lift it though!!

This morning started for me with a final appointment for some root canal work at the dentist - not ideal the day before flying to Africa I know, it was rescheduled by the dentist from earlier in the week....

So I'm feeling a mixture of nerves and excitement before the flight tomorrow, just hoping I will make it to Heathrow for 8.15 tomorrow morning!

Here's a map to show what regions we will be visiting after landing at Entebbe Airport tomorrow night:

I will post more later about what we will be doing and our itinerary :)

One week to go!

I have been selected to go on the WaterAid Supporters' Trip to Uganda by Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, my employer here in mid Wales. I found out back in March that I had been chosen, and the time between then and now has really flown by!

One week to go until I am on my way there, and I have had all the vaccinations, got my malaria tablets and my First Aid kit sorted, bought suncream, rehydration sachets (they have warned us to expect stomach upsets!) and insect repellent.

Now just to get everything packed before I travel down to Heathrow on Friday 14th November!