19.02.2021
ca. 250 km Rwakobo Rock Lodge Lake Mburo – Airport Guesthouse Entebbe
The gravel track from the lodge to the main road was just short of 10 km and it was a bumpy ride … probably the last one for this tour. It passed through the lovely Nshara government ranch, where the magnificent Ankole Cattle graze peacefully – often alongside herds of Zebra. Uganda is also a major stronghold for what is unquestionably the most imposing of Africa’s domestic creatures – the remarkable long-horned cattle breed associated specifically with the Bahima pastoralists of Ankole, who still live traditional lives and are excellent custodians of the natural landscape and its biodiversity in the park buffer zones. On a ranch close to the lodge they were all being rounded up and the cows were milked.
Ankole Cattle come in several colours – ranging from uniform rusty-yellow to blotched black-and-white. What most distinguishes them, however, are their preposterous, monstrous horns, which grow out from either side of their head like inverted Elephant tasks and – in exceptional circumstances – reach dimensions unseen of. The ancestry of the Ankole Cattle has been traced back to Eurasia as early as 15000 BC, but the precursors of the modern long-horned variety were introduced to northern Uganda only in late medieval times – approx 500 years ago. We met several herds en route, all driven by herders. The road was theirs as well … and not even our trusted Landcruiser tried to stem against those horns …
Hardy and capable of subsisting on limited water and poor grazing, these introduced cattle were ideally suited to harsh African conditions, except that they had no immunity to tsetse-borne diseases, which forced the pastoralists to keep drifting southwards. The Ankole region in south-western Uganda is not as defiantly traditionalist as maybe the Omo Valley in Ethiopia or Maasailand, however, most rural Bahima today supplement their herds of livestock by practicing mixed agriculture of subsistence and cash crops. But the Ankole Cattle and their extraordinary horns – common in several parts of Uganda but most prevalent here in the vicinity of Mbarara and Lake Mburo – pay living tribute to the bovine preoccupation of Ankole past.
Near the village of Akageti we reached the main Mbarara-Masaka Road again. From there it was a fast drive on a newly surfaced and relatively wide road – but there was much traffic this close to the capital city of Kampala. Matovu stepped on the gas whenever possible – he turned into a regular Speedy Gonzalez whenever traffic allowed it. For us there was much to see.
We flew past many roadside fruit and vegetable markets. Bananas were everywhere, Jackfruit and Mango seemed to be coming into season as well. The markets seemed to be more frequent here than in the far countryside. We were getting closer and closer to Kampala and urban civilization and we felt it.
We passed extensive Banana plantations, Eucalyptus groves and Pineapple fields as well as villages and small towns lining the highway, which skirted the large town of Masaka on its far northwestern fringes.
I did not sleep in the car today … just yet … I was waiting for the Equator! But before we reached there, the highway crossed an approx 14 km wide swampy extension of Lake Victoria. Vast rice fields stretched along the road. Rice production in Uganda started in 1942 mainly to feed the World War II soldiers. However, due to a number of constraints, production remained minimal until 1974, when farmers appealed to the then government for assistance. In response, areas in eastern Uganda were identified and an irigation scheme was constructed with the help of Chinese experts. Today rice is grown mainly by small scale farmers almost throughout the country, but also with large scale farmers in a few places. Most rice in Uganda is grown in Eastern Uganda followed by Western Uganda due to the presence of lowland with high moisture content throughout the growing season. Local rice production in the country is estimated at 238000 metric tons. The rice harvest seemed to be going on with modern harvesters.
At this point we did not actually see Lake Victoria … only the swampy area. But it was more than obvious the lake was close. Vendores were selling dried fish of various kinds on stalls lining the road for the short stretch through the swamp. Lake Victoria supports Africa’s largest inland fishery. Initially the fishery involved native species, especially Tilapia and Haplochromine Cichlids, but also Catfish, Elephantfish, Ningu and Marbled Lungfish. Some of these had already declined in the first half of the 20th century due to overfishing. To boost fishing, several species of non-native Tilapia and Nile Perch were introduced to the lake in the 1950s. Nevertheless, the natives continued to dominate fisheries until the 1970s where their decline meant that there was a strong shift towards the non-native Nile Tilapia, non-native Nile Perch and the native Lake Victoria Sardine.
Soon the goods offered at the street stall changed to Sweet Potatoes. For kilometer after kilometer stalls offering varieties of them were set up by the roadside. Sweet Potatoes are grown in practically every part of Uganda where crop cultivation is possible. They can be found in all altitudes and in all climate zones. However, in no part of the country are they the major staple food. They are typically a supplementary crop, either grown throughout the year to add variety to the diet or in particular seasons of the year to provide food at a time when the staple diet is in short supply. In the same region also Tomatoes seemed to be popular.
It was getting busier and busier on the highway … as soon as the road turned slight more north away from Lake Victoria – roughly 150 km into our drive today – we reached Kayabwe – a small town stretching along the Masaka-Kampala Road and by tourists known mainly for the location of the most photogenic Equator crossing in Uganda. Excitement was building up on the way there …
And then we saw the Equator sign already from afar. The road was lined with restaurants and souvenir shops, art galleries and cafés … in regular times it would be much more touristy here. Considering that most tourists either do a similar tour like we did or just went for Gorilla tracking, all of them would pass here. With the declined tourist numbers due to the circumstances, not much was happening here – nevertheless all businesses were open.
Matovu stopped at a restaurant where we sat outside on the porch for our late lunch. We had lunch boxes again … I left it, though. Quite frankly, I could not see sandwiches, Bananas and chicken legs anymore … I ordered some local food instead. At least I had to try it once! The rest of The Gang was too … carefully … to try it … if not petrified that I even had the idea of ordering local food in a local restaurant … Maybe it was also that the lunch box was included, while anything else would be extra … I did not mind and since I had no idea what I should order I asked Matovu who also decided to take local food. I ended up taking a dish called All Foods Goat … and a Bell Beer.
I got a huge plate of all kinds of things – there was Matoke mash, Yam, Manioc, Potatoe mash, Rice, Aubergine, even an Avocado – and a large bowl of Goat stew along with it. It was a lot … Breakfast had not been too long ago … was I that hungry? Probably not … But I tried it all and it was not bad. Rather filling … that plop of Matoke would have been enough already … It reminded me of my tour in Ghana-Benin-Togo 2018 when we had local food almost every day. One day we wanted to taste Fufu … instead of ordering one portion to share between the 3 of us … we ordered one each … and it was too much …
Matovu had ordered the same only with Beef plus the local Groundnut Sauce. Matooke and Groundnut Sauce is an Ugandan staple. Green Bananas grow in abundance here and are well loved by the people. The purplish Groundnut Sauce – called Gnut – made of ground up peanuts, is not the same as peanut butter or sauce. Peanut butter is made from already roasted groundnuts, but the Gnut sauce is from raw unpeeled groundnuts – hence the purplish colour. I got a taste of it, too. It was warm … the cooked sauce is referred to as Binyebwa. I am not a fan of peanuts, but it was good in combination with the rest of the food.
After everybody had finished lunch and I had paid for my food and beer – I think it was US$ 12 – we wandered along the road towards the Equator sign and browsed in the souvenir shops. I was searching for a colourful cross shoulder bag, but could not find one. So, for US$ 10 I bought a big bag matching the cooking glove I bought in Kibale already.
There were so many souvenir shops and everybody wanted to sell us something. There were paintings – looking very cool from afar, but close up they remined me of my painting-by-numbers attempts – and whatever a tourist could need. One of my favourites was the T-shirt with “My name is not Mzungu!” on it! If I wore T-shirts with prints, this would have been the one I would have bought …
But I was finished now and ready to see the Equator! And there it was – the Equator sign! Matovu had moved the car right in front of it! We had crossed the Equator near Queen Elizabeth National Park the other day and since we had left there to see the Gorillas in Bwindi, we had been travelling in the southern hemisphere … now we would be crossing back over into northern home hemisphere …
On my Africa Tour in 2002 I had passed here as well. On the way back from Bwindi I had hitched a ride with some Canadian UN staff on vacation who had been in the Gorilla tracking group with me. They had indulged me by taking a quick stop at the sign to click a photo – the public bus on the way to Bwindi had only sped past. Back then there were not as many shops and restaurants around here, though … in fact, I only remember the sign being there and not too much else. But there had been a fat white line across the street marking the Equator. That line had now vanished with road improvement … and the Equator has probably shifted as well.
Of course I needed such a photo here as well! The others looked at me somewhat irritated at first … But I made one of them take the photo for me and then one by one they thought it was not such a bad idea after all and took photos as well. In the end I could even convince them all to pose for a group photo of The Gang!
Before I needed to take a photo with all the trackable Travel Bugs for my geocaching hobby, too. There was a secret box somewhere here as well – I did not take or have the time to search for it. But luckily photologs were accepted. Done!
It was another approx 100 km to the Airport Guesthouse Entebbe – a roughly 2 hrs drive. Traffic was getting thicker the closer we came to Kampala. We passed a stretch were rattan chairs and Loofah of all sizes were sold at roadside stalls lining the highway for kilometers. As we reached the outskirts of Kampala we got stuck in a traffic jam and Matovu turned off the main road to take a bumpy shortcut to reach the new Kampala-Entebbe-Expressway. The last 30 km or so were then very quick as traffic was light.
I asked Matovu to take a quick stop close to Lake Victoria where the highway passed it just before Entebbe. I needed a photo to log that Earth Cache I had missed on the first day. He did it – grinding his teeth – but he did it. Only Dr D got out of the car to take the quick walk to the lake shore with me. There was a lot of garbage here and mud, so we did not linger long.
We both stepped in the mud – only I had my hiking boots on and washed the muck off in the shallow water of the lake. Dr D got all agitated for me not to put my feet in the water, because Lake Victoria is infested by Bilharzia, a tropical water-borne disease which infects millions of people in Africa. But I could assure him, I was only putting the soles of my boots in … not my feet or hands! He was wearing sandals, though, and had to try to get the muck off with some paper and grass …
Lake Victoria occupies a shallow depression in Africa and is with a surface area of approx 59947 km² Africa’s largest lake by area, the world’s largest tropical lake and the world’s second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after Lake Superior in North America. It has a maximum depth of approx 80 m with an average depth of 40 m and its area is divided among 3 countries – Kenya occupies 6%, Uganda 45% and Tanzania 49%. I took the required photo and we headed back to the car.
Around 17:00 we finally reached the Airport Guesthouse Entebbe. Check-in was quick since we had been here before. There was some mix up with the rooms – they wanted to put one of the guys into a tiny cubicle without a bathroom … after some discussion we all had a suitable room after all. Ree and me were in the annex and shared a porch. But we all had large rooms with our own bathrooms.
We sat in the garden chatting and waiting for our C-test. To leave the country a negative test is required and only one institute is taking the tests accepted by the authorities. But Matovu had organized that somebody from that clinic would come here to take the test. While we waited I had a double G & T – alcohol desinfects … The others gargled with Dr D’s special mouthwash again.
About half an hour later the bookkeeper of the clinic came to get our money – we had to pay US$ 65 each for the test. I accidentally gave him US$ 75, but in the end his count was wrong and he was honest enough to ask if somebody had not received their change … that was when I realized I had given him US$ 10 too much. Well … what I always say … if I could count I would have become a purser. But I cannot count … so I became a tourleader …
Then the doctor arrived. Exemplary as we were, we all wore our facemasks. He put on full PPE – Personal protective equipment – before he started with the tests. We could all sit leisurely in the garden. Showing our passports, he marked our names on the test tubes first – all labels finished before the actual tests started.
Finally he put new gloves and a faceshield on and started with the actual test – I was first …. we could choose if he stuck that cotton swap in our nose or mouth … since I was used to the mouth having had a fair share of C-test during the last year, I opted mouth. But I hated it nevertheless. Quickly it was done, though. We just had to make sure he put the sample in the tube with the correct label.
I then had to vacate my seat and the others took turns for their tests as well. Quickly it was all done and we were promised that early tomorrow morning the results would be in. Matovu would get them for us. Now it was waiting … I was not worried, though.
We met the 3 other Germans again who were actually one day ahead of us. We had seen them in Bwindi the day we arrived and they had returned from their Gorilla adventure. They were touring with the same company. But their guide was not as connected as our Matovu. They had actually been supposed to fly today. Yesterday they were in the city at this institute for their tests and funnily enough one of the 3 had tested positive. There must have been a mix up, because a second test came through negative. However, as they came to the airport that second test had not been accepted and they had to rebook their flight, go for another test to the city and return to the guesthouse to wait for the result. What a mess ….
All that testing done, there was enough time before dinner to run to the supermarket to get those Uganda Warangi Gin bottles and some Banana Chips to take home as souvenir. Dr D came with me. I bought several small bottles of Pineapple and Coconut Gin, but had forgotten my credit card at the guesthouse and not enough Ugandan Shilling left. I borrowed some from Dr D, but then found another UGX 10000 note in the depth of my trouser pocket … So I had enough after all … A lady in front of us paid with UGX 50000 notes which depict Uganda’s pride – the Gorilla! I asked if I could take a photo, because it looked cool.
Back at the guesthouse we had dinner. We had ordered it for 19:00 in the garden. It was not included anymore, but what the heck. I had ordered fish and salad again, like on the very first day. It was as good. We sat and talked for a while, but then I went to my room to sort through some photos to post, took notes for the journal and eventually I slept very late.
20.02.2021
Going home!
Today we had to leave! I was up very early … it might have been the anxiety to know the test result … or the sadness that this incredible tour in extraordinary times was over too soon today … I starting getting organized for the flight … packing for a flight is always a little different from packing for a roadtrip … But then I decided to take the laptop and sit on the porch writing instead. It was early … what time did Matovu say he would come with the test results this morning? … I vaguely remember he said something like 08:00 … maybe African time … Ree joined me on the porch for a bit and then we saw Matovu show up with the doctor from yesterday … still in my pyjamas I wandered barefoot over to the garden … I still was not worried, but a little nervous as always before the test result came in … you never know … but as Ree and me walked over, we saw some of the others already smiling and waving their papers … – Good morning, Matovu! How is it? … He smiled … I am sure he had received the all-clear information already from the doctor … Negativ! – Phew! That is positive!
Relieved and happy I sauntered back to my porch and took a photo of the test to message home … my sister had already made fun of me yesterday when I had sent the photos from the testing … maybe I would have 2 more weeks of vacation … better stay there anyway … nothing has changed at home … still all closed … the time difference was only 2 hours and she was up already to go to work … And she was impressed by the fancy document – I mean a QR code, a stamp and this huge green Negative … German laboratories could learn …
I sat and wrote a bit more, but then went to change. Breakfast was ordered for 09:00 and we sat in the garden for a last time. We had no program for this morning … in hindsight Dr D and me agreed, we should have thought about it yesterday and could have maybe visited the Botanical Garden or something instead of hanging out in the guesthouse all morning till our airport pick-up at noon …
After a long relaxed breakfast chatting and reminisizing about our amazing 2 weeks, I went back to finish packing and get ready. By 11:00 we had to check out and also pay the bill. Then I sat on the porch writing and finishing my last celebratory picolo … Ree joined me and we chatted for a while exchanging travel stories, before we went to go and sit with the others in the garden.
Around 12:00 Matovu picked us up for the airport. For a last time he had to play tetris with our luggage to stuff everything into the trunk of the Landcruiser … why does it always seem to be more luggage when departing? A last group photo of The Gang was in order as well … even the guesthouse guard dog decided to wish us farewell and posed with us …
It was a quick drive to the airport. From the parking it was a short walk to the terminal where we had to wave good-bye … and show our appreciation … to our Matovu. This time Dr D did the deed – he had made the collection already this morning. Matovu was not allowed in the terminal – only passengers with a ticket and a negative C-test were authorized to enter the premises. And from here on facemasks were mandatory … until we would leave Frankfurt Airport … no … until I got off the train at home … How many hours that woudl be? … probably almost a full day … Good thing my sister had supllied me with several masks just for that purpose …
The first time the papers got checked at the entrance of a large tent in front of the building … that was only to be allowed to go to the authorization desk … There several officers were checking the C-tests by the QR-codes … only tests from that official institute were accepted … That took a while since we were not the only passengers and each QR-code had to be scanned individually … Mind you – that negative C-test was only to be allowed to enter the airport and to actually leave the country and fly! It was not a requirement to enter the transit area in Addis Abeba or enter Germany! Only to get out of Uganda!
To leave the tent and actually enter the terminal, there was the first security check. At this point water bottles were still allowed and it was all no problem, I did not even have to take the laptop out … Check-in was very slow … they did check the C-test again as well … I stayed to watch my backpack being labeled properly as usual. Next was the immigration passport control … they checked the C-test once more … Good thing was, there were no line-ups anywhere, we moved through quickly.
After immigration there were all of 2 duty free shops … I could not resist and bought a big bottle of Uganda Warangi Coconut Gin for US$ 8 … it was only slightly more expensive than yesterday in the supermarket. But duty free I could take as carry-on while the checked-in bag had already been on the weight limit with all the souvenirs I had bought …
Before moving through the final security check, we all finished our water … I gulped down a 0.5 l bottle of it in one go and also my left over V & T as quickly as possible … While they did look for water bottles, they did not pay much attention to the rest … I did not have to unpack the cameras … just take the watches and shoes of …
There was a souvenir shop in the transit area … I was willing to spend some more money … but everything was so expensive … and I actually had enough souvenirs … Gorillas, Chimps, Gin, a bag … The gate was open and we all passed to find a seat … they did not just check the boarding pass … they checked the C-test again and even took a photo of it …
We found seats by the window and everybody used the free WIFI … I needed a drink … outside the gate in the transit was a self service fast food place … I asked, if I could go out of the gate again … they allowed it, I just had to hand in my boarding pass. So I went over and bought a last Nile Stout. The guy said I would not be allowed to take it into the gate … but I just put it in my bag and nobody cared. I sat with the others and enjoyed it while waiting for boarding.
It was not too long a wait until boarding started. Already at the gate it did not look as busy as on the flight here … And even the plane seemed to be a bigger one.
Indeed, the plane was much larger and it was virtually empty … not like when we arrived and it had been a reagular sardine can … most of us were having window F seats behind each other and I for sure had the 3 seat so myself. It was always more comfortable with more space, but in those special times even more assuring … But since there had been so many C-test checks before boarding the plane … I was pretty sure the risk was minor in any case.
The flight was on time … not that we would have been worried … we had a 7 hrs layover in Addis Abeba … I had chosen an F seat, because I had secretly been hoping to spot Mount Kilimanjaro on the horizon … but I did not … there were clouds as far as we could see … it would have been too far away anyway …
Even on the short 2 hrs hop to Addis Abeba food and drinks were served. I chose Beef meatballs and white wine. It was good. I even watched half a movie, but most of the time I stared out of the window.
We landed in Addis Abeba on time and it was raining again … just the same as when we arrived in Africa 2 weeks ago … It had been raining then, too … It was shortly before sunset this time. We had to pass security, which was no problem.
Then I wandered around for a while to figure out where to settle for the long layover … The others found recliners to lay down for the wait … I wanted a power outlet if possible and a drink … I looked around the souvenir shops and duty free again … but I did not find anything I might need. But browsing killed some time as well.
In the only bar, I eventually found a table and settled down with a G & T and the laptop to write on the journal and sort photos. There was so much to process … photos to be edited … memories to be jotted down … it was no better time than now … there was not much else to do here.
I held on to my G & T for a long time and made good progress on the journal using the free WIFI. The airport got busier as the evening wore on. And had the bar been virtually empty when I arrived, it was quite crowded by now. For a long time I tried to get a second G & T … I literally hailed 3 different waiters and each one of them said – Yes! Yes! I will tell my colleague! – but nothing ever happened. Since I had paid my first drink when it was delivered, I eventually gave up, packed up and left in search of an outlet to charge my laptop.
That was quite a mission … there were only very few outlets in the vast terminal … and all were either busy or not working … so I kept wandering around … for a bit I sat with the others to chat … they were all just hanging about, too, reading or sleeping … in the minimarket I bought an Ethiopian Beer and found a window seat, watched the planes on the runway and used the last battery power of the laptop in hope that a power outlet would become available nearby soon …
FinallyI noticed an outlet being vacated a couple rows over and quickly moved there, so I could pluck in the laptop and powerbank to top up. This late in the evening the airport was busiest. The departure display showed flights going all over Africa and Europe. Ethiopian Airlines had a regular flight hub going here. Noticeably many western tourists were travelling … if not as many as in regular years, but still …
Around 22:30 I met up with The Gang and we all lined up at the gate. The flight seemed to be 15 min delayed, but the gate was already really crowded. It definitely looked as if the plane would definitely be fuller than on the way here … Everybody wore their facemasks … but with the 1.5 m distance it was not far off … We tried as good as possible, I guess … The flight left just after midnight.
21.02.2021
I had an aisle seat for the long flight and luckily the middle seat was empty. I settled in and watched a movie while waiting for the drinks service. Taking a white wine I hardly touched the food they had served for dinner … I had chosen Beef and it was … rather disgusting … It neither looked like beef not tasted like it … grrrr … It was probably the first time in my longs years of travelling, that the airplain food was truly aweful … I needed another white wine to clean the palate … then I decided to sleep … and I slept long … I am not sure if I slept through breakfast or if they just did not serve breakfast … after the gross dinner experience it was probably for the better …
But I woke up in time to fill in the newly required arrival papers for Germany. We all had been sure – and had checked online – that those would have only been filled out if arriving from a declared risk area and since we had been in Uganda, which was one of the few countries in the world that were not such a thing … why should we fill it in? Even the transit in Ethiopia should not count … but well, it was not a big thing, so I did it … just in case somebody would ask … The flight attendant never collected their copy, though …
Right on time – even slightly ahead of schedule – we landed in Frankfurt Airport. It was cold! As we exited the plane, there was a first police passport control at the gate … as they saw the German passport they waved me through … they only checked foreign passports … then it was a long walk to immigration and the line was long … very long … this early in the morning only 2 officers were on duty and one of the automatic passport checks was open … The airport stuff meticulously watched the 1.5 m distance rule … We had clearly returned to Germany again …
Behind the automatic passport check I had to report to the officer nevertheless … why did they have the machine running, if they checked manually anyway? … The officer was not in a good mood this early in the morning … clearly being miserable he rudely flapped at me, why I had not filled in the online arrival registration form – I did not have to! Because I am not returning from a risk area! – But you have to fill it in anyway! – No, I tried, but when I typed in Uganda, it would not let me continue! – Have you filled in the paper registration, then? – Yes, here it is! – Why you have 2 copies? – Because the flight attendant gave me 2 and never collected their copy … – Give it to me! – Yes, sir! – OK! Good. Bye! – Auf Wiedersehen, sir!
Surprising was that absolutely nobody wanted to see a negative C-test … OK, it was not a rule yet, but … why not? In any other country in the world it was necessary … Not so to arrive in Germany … Since we were not coming from a designated risk area, we would not have go into quarantine either … But eventhough the flight had essentially arrived from a risk area – Ethiopia – it did not look as anybody really cared … there was a mandatory C-test to be taken upon arrival and a required quarantine for people coming from there, but it did not look as if anybody cared or checked or made sure it was all done properly … everybody just walked out after immigration … no test facility in sight … only a few small signs about the rules … but no huge billboards or arrows or reminders …
Next was customs and they did not even look at me … By 05:30 I joined the others at the luggage belt. Using the airport WIFI I checked the train schedule … The first train in my direction was leaving at 06:48 … OK, I would have to change trains twice, but … I should be able to make it and would be home by 13:00 … but then … we waited … and waited … and waited … nothing happened … the belt was not moving at all … the display stated only “luggage delayed” … by now all passengers were loitering around the luggage delivery carousel … no 1.5 m distance anymore … no staff to care either … no staff to ask what was happening … no staff at all in the entire luggage hall … Maybe one other flight arrived during the time we were there … nothing else … it was empty …
After about 1.5 hrs the belt moved … everybody got excited … only a few pieces of luggage came out, though … none of ours … then the belt stopped again … Waiting again … The next train would leave 07:36 … it required only 2 changed … I could still make it … if my bag came out NOW and I ran … but nothing happened …
2 hrs after the flight had landed, the display turned automatically off … normally all luggage should and probably would be delivered by now … not today, however … no information at all anymore … and nobody to ask either … By now most everybody was slightly annoyed … Somebody asked at a lost luggage desk … Maybe we could just report the luggage missing and get it delivered home? … Not possible! And they had no information either … Then a lone staff officer appeared and several people besieged him … he had no information, but at least he could call somebody and have it checked …
My train was gone and I did not have to rush anymore. The next one was only at 09:01 … Dr D and Bud had missed a few trains as well … but in their directions the connections were more frequent … Rees husband had come to pick her up and had gone home again … they live only 20 min or so from the airport … how convenient … HD and Ms Ping had their cars parked at the airport parking, so they were not worried either …
Then … FINALLY … around 07:30 the belt started moving! YES! … Rees bag came out first and as we waved her farewell she called her husband to come back. Then Dr D and Bud got their bags and ran for their trains both leaving at 08:09 from different platforms … My bag came at sort of the same time as those of HD and Ms Ping around 08:00 and we left together. The offical customs check was not even manned anymore by now … we just walked through the green channel … but there were not even officers around anymore … It was quite a way to walk to the train station and I waved the others farewell at the turn off for the parking.
In the overpass from the airport to the long distance trainstation I noticed a C-test Center … Not many people were there … I just walked past – I was not required to take another test or quarantine. Nobody bothered me as I walked past, either … I would have thought maybe here their would be another check … but no … the security staff at the door did not even look at me as I passed …
Now I had time … A good hour until my train. But that gave me the opportunity to visit the supermarket in the train station mall and buy drinks for the long train journey and coffee & sandwich for breakfast. I sat in the mall with view of the display … it was cold everywhere … My sister sent me a message that in Frankfurt a WW II bomb would be defused this morning and most of the trains would be rerouted or delayed this morning … I had already seen the information on the display and trains were already late … but I got lucky and my 09:01 made it through as per schedule.
The platform was almost empty and so was the train when it arrived … Germany had been in shutdown since before Christmas and not many people were travelling long distance on public transport. I think, in some regions there was still the maximum 15 km movement radius in place as well … and it was Sunday morning … Now, I was on the way home … IF there would be a check I could just make up a story … In the literally empty train I found a seat with table. There were maybe 2 more people on the same coach … The train was relatively short as well … in regular times it would probably be at least twice as long …
Settling in I plucked in my laptop and continued editing photos. I used the ICE Free WIFI to watch some movies, had my Picolos and took naps as well. The snow – that had ruled my departure 2 short weeks ago – had nearly gone … only small patches remained.
The good thing on this late train connection was, that I only had to change once in Dresden. En route the train had a good 15 min delay … maybe I would miss my next train, though, because I had only 12 min changing time …
In the end the train caught up on some of the lost time and in Dresden my sister and her husband came to help me run for the connection … I had 4 min for the next train … down the stairs and back up to the next platform … or I would have to wait 1 hr for the next rain … after so many hours travelling already, all I wanted was arriving! … and we made it … also thanks to my brother-in-law carrying half of my junk! As I waved good-bye to my sister from the departing train, I called Mom to pick me up at 14:23 … By 15:00 I was home!
Now, that had been an absolutely outstanding tour of Uganda! I was so happy, I had made the decision to sneak away in the middle of lockdown. It was a very special 2 weeks – had it really been 2 weeks? … It had felt like timetravel back to almost normal times … It had been an awesome roadtrip with Matovu, our driver/guide extraordinaire. And I had met some cool travelers – The Gang! – Thanks, guys, for putting up with me!
We had clocked up roughly 1700 km on often adventurous African roads plus several safari drives, visited 6 of the 10 National Parks scattered across Uganda and seen numerous Gorillas … Elephants … Giraffes … Hippos … Zebras … Monkeys … met friendly people … gazed at stunning landscapes … took in breathtaking sunsets and had almost forgotten about the momentary prevailing German misére … It was exactly what I had needed to get my groove back!
I believe, there is no sickness of the heart too great,
it cannot be cured by a dose of Africa.
John Hemingway
