We left the hostel early on Wednesday morning to get to the bus that was to take us to Fort Portal, the town in which we are due to meet the Semliki camp manager, Edson, in order to be driven to Semliki.
People were crammed onto the bus like sardines, but somehow Duncan and I managed to fit ourselves and our bags into what at first appeared to be an impossibly small space.
A quick scan of our fellow passengers and a chat to those nearest to us, revealed that we would be sharing the journey with, among others, a doctor, two soldiers, several babies and a chicken. This was certainly a far cry from a typical bus load back home!
My initial fears of a travel sickness-related disaster were soon put to rest when it transpired that the bus was surprisingly airy and so just about cool enough to avoid me feeling naseous. This feat was achieved by having windows that were stuck open rather than air conditioning of course!
Every attempt to sleep on the bus was soon thwarted when the bus hit one of the fairly severe speed bumps that seemed to be placed on every couple of kilometres of road. I’m not sure that the old bus had anything resembling suspension as even crossing the bumps slowly often threw me up out of my seat. This process left me with a very sore bum and exhausted from a lack of sleep, but it at least forced me to stay awake and appreciate the, often beautiful, scenery that flashed past as we sped along the road to Fort Portal.
When the bus finally arrived at its destination I was incredibly grateful to unstick myself from the plastic seat-covers and unwedge myself from the pile of luggage. With a slight delay whilst the bus driver attempted to drive the bus away with Duncan still on it, we were both left standing with large pile of bags on the side of an unfamiliar road.
With Edson not yet in town and not answering his phone we had no choice but to sit and wait. We sat watching the world go by on Fort Portal highstreet until, just when I was beginning to get worried, Edson phoned to say that he would be with us in 20 minutes.
He was as good as his word and soon I met the man who was to be taking care of myself and Duncan during our stay and was reassured by his immediately obvious good nature.
After our bags were loaded into Edson’s car, and several chores were done in town, we were ready to make the final leg of our journey to the camp at Semliki.
Written on Wednesday 7th July
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