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24^th - 26^th March – Days 176-178 – Njeru/Jinja, Uganda

Another day, another 1% project. Our day began as the clock struck midnight rattling along in a bus somewhere in western Kenya with that familiar feeling you get when you realise that this night isn't going to be productive. The seats, which are so conducive to having naps during the day when you'd actually like to look out the window and admire the scenery, suddenly appear extremely uncomfortable at night when you'd really appreciate the sleep. Every pothole feels like a small meteorite crater and the empty road really allows the driver to release his inner lunatic. You sleep for a few minutes here and a few minutes there and before you know it, you're at Busia, on the Ugandan border. You look outside and realise that you'll have to run around between passport offices with knee-deep puddles below your feet and torrential rain above your head. It's rainy season in Uganda.

Another 4 or 5 hours passed and we got dropped off in Njeru, close to the spot where the Nile leaves Lake Victoria and begins its long trip to the Mediterranean during which it will go through northern Uganda, Southern Sudan and Egypt, and become hideously filthy by the time it reaches Cairo. Here at the source, though, it's still relatively clean. At least we'll have to trust that it is as “Nile Special” one of Uganda's top beers, is made from water taken from the source. We're picked up by a guy from the project we are going to visit, an Adult Education Community College, and wander off through the mud to go for the visit. It's quite different here – Ugandans seem a lot warmer and also a lot more relaxed than the Kenyans, less hassly than Tanzanians. It's a good start. We also realise that this is probably the first country in which we're going to get seriously wet.

We would have preferred "The T and M Building" but you don't always get what you want.

The guys take the visit (or should I say, the visitors) very seriously and after the tour of the project site itself we are bundled into a car where we are driven over to Jinja and shown around the town as well as being taken to the source of the Nile. Here we were shown around by a self-appointed guide who showed us the source, and took us to a statue of Mahatma Gandhi (and why not?) who, when he died, wanted his ashes scattered into the great rivers of the planet. Here was one spot where the great man's remains were dropped into the water. Trying to play devil's advocate, I asked our guide what he made of a suggestion that the source of the Nile was in Burundi, and he gave me a long and eloquent speech about why it was in fact here – the name of the river before the Lake swallows it up is different, the fact that maps show the source as being here, the fact that 80% of the river's water comes from this source and that only a small proportion of it comes from Burundi. Here I suggested that the source of the Nile is then in the sky as much of the water comes as rain, and he countered me by asking how many months of the year was rainy season along the river's course. As the conversation went on the smiles got wider and we parted on friendly terms without having come to any particular agreement...

T and M hope not to fall into the Nile at its source given that that will, eventually, lead to them returning to Cairo.

"Robert Junior", project man and tour guide extraordinaire, shows that Ugandans have a sense of humour too.

The evening saw a small sampler of Uganda's beer together with Samson, one of the guys gfrom the project. He introduced us to the bar lady “Uncle Sarah”, ("I call her that because she calls me Auntie Samson" - take from that what you will!), and "Mama Chips", purveyor of Njeru's tastiest fish and chips. This food went and settled in our stomachs where it joined the beers and our ridiculously heavy lunch.

M chills out with Auntie Samson and Uncle Sarah...

...And splits a friendship fish with Samson, while T demonstrates why he will never become a professional photographer. Rule number one - don't leave your own legs in the shot

As we headed off back to our crash-pad I felt pretty uneasy, threw up half the night and ended up feeling rough most of the next day. Call it what you will but I suppose piles of Uganda's stodgy food plus a week of little sleep because of the lip infection equals a likelihood of feeling rough. Throw a few beers into the mixer and a bad situation becomes worse. M, as is becoming increasingly habitual for her, played the nurse and eventually cajoled me out for a walk over the bridge back into Jinja. It wasn't a particularly comfortable day but I got cheered up by the fact that the Chinese food at the “Ling Ling” restaurant was the best Chinese I've had for a very long time.

On first impression Uganda's pretty nice – green, beautiful, friendly people. Let's hope it continues that way!

T celebrates arrival in Uganda with another ride on the sickage train