Another hearty breakfast, today of Omelette, was followed by a 1hr45min drive to the Equator. The equator passes through Uganda for some distance however, as our driver Paul told us, this is the nearest point to Kampala and the next point that is commercialised is some 5hrs drive away.
We visited some of the craft shops at the Equator and several of the group made further purchases for family and friends at home. We had a demonstration from a local man of the water going down the plug hole differently depending on the side you are standing of the equator and had a good group photo for the album!
Whilst there, the equator was also visited by a man we were told is the Head of Police in Iran. He has been in the country for a couple of days advising the Ugandan Police Force on how to combat terrorism. This led to a lengthy discussion about Ugandan Politics with Paul on the way back to Kampala.
The group has started to see several recurring things on our travels, one of these being animals at the side of the road. It is not uncommon to see live chickens caged at the side of the road as well as Cows tied to posts and Goats wandering freely. This led to a comment today by Jess about taking a goat home, and when questioned why? Emily replied ‘The Goats here look like they have more general knowledge’!
When back in Kampala we went to the Speke Resort for some lunch and to swim in the pool, the sun went in for some of the time but it was a lovely warm afternoon and the group had great fun in the pool and on the chairs surrounding it.
Arriving at the Resort was quite an experience with armed guards and everyone having to get off the bus to go through a metal detector. But there was also a clear divide between the Uganda we had been driving through, with children running bare foot along the side of the dusty road and countless shops offering a huge variety of objects for sale; to a place where it was 20,000 Shillings to enter (about £5) which is 10x more than the average daily wage in Uganda, and where most people were white and speaking English.
Today being transported by bike we saw a car bonnet and a wooden frame that must have been 5ftx7ft being held by the passenger on the back!
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