Entebbe here we come!

After our one-day apart, Sacha and I reunite for a short adventure to Entebbe before we take the bus back to Mbarara in a couple of days time, and an adventure it definitely is. Our first task is to navigate the bus park, which is total chaos, but with a level of African ‘organisation’ which has to be seen to be believed. When we make it to the Entebbe ‘bus stand’ we are immediately bundled into a ‘Matatu’ (like a minibus) that we’re told is definitely going to Entebbe. Seeing as there is no other means of confirming this, we look at each other shrug TIA and settle into the backseats. The backseats are definitely the ones you want to have, because the Matatu drivers here know no rules of the road, or if they do they prefer not to show it. The whole ride is hilarious, as our driver in particular has decided that he has the right to drive in all the lanes. This includes the path where people walk, and the lanes meant to be for oncoming traffic. No wonder Kampala’s rush hours are so terrible. Our driver weaves in and out every available space and Sacha and I cling onto each other for dear life, crying with laughter. “You guys must be so excited to go to Entebbe” our fellow passenger comments, “no no” we assure

him, “we’ve just never experienced a bus ride quite like this in our lives”. He looks at us like we’re a little insane, and to be honest at this point, we probably are.

By some miracle we make it Entebbe alive, and we head in the direction of the ‘Wildlife Education Centre’ aka zoo, where we will be staying for the night, and for only $15! This will be an experience! Luckily we don’t have too far to walk because it is absolutely roasting. Entebbe is probably the closest town to the Equator in Uganda and so the sun is both hot and strong. Plus I have a rucksack that is somehow now the same size as me on my back. I really need to learn to travel light.

When we arrive at the ‘Wildlife Education Centre’ we are checked in and shown to where we will be staying. Seeing as I have left planning entirely to Sacha I literally have no idea what to expect.

It’s probably a good thing I had no expectations, whilst our ‘bedroom’ is no worse than our little room back in Mbarara, the bathroom situation is literally something else. Once again mine and Sacha’s small differences become evident as she kills herself laughing at my expression of horror. I decide to wait before the situation is desperate before returning. And I thought I’d seen it all when we woke up with a cockroach in Sacha’s mosquito net.

Apparently not.

Thankfully I’m not left long to dwell on how I’m going to survive 24 hours with no bathroom because our stay at the ‘Wildlife Education Centre’ comes with a free tour around the zoo. This is something I can definitely get on board with. So we ‘freshen up’ as best we can with a whole bottle of hand sanitizer, put on some clean clothes, and make our way over to the animals, side-stepping monkeys as we go.

The first animal we meet on our tour is Charles the elephant (love that), who was orphaned when he was only a few months old; his parents were killed for ivory by poachers, something that is still common practice in Uganda. Therefore Charles has grown up in the zoo and lives with some antelope, but he still looks pretty lonely so we enquire with the tour guide as to whether they plan to rescue a lady elephant for Charles (happy wife, happy life!), but apparently the zoo doesn’t receive that much funding so Charles may have to be a bachelor for life. Ahhh.

Next we’re taken to see the medicinal gardens, where all sorts of different plants with healing powers are apparently grown. It took Sacha and I a lot and inner strength to stop the eye-rolling on this one. Especially when we saw the plant that cures malaria and hepatitis. Not sure I’d be willing to take my chances there. Noticing that we are highly unconvinced our tour guide moves us on to see the leopard, which they received in a swap with a zoo in South Africa. So not all the animals are rescued then… Oh well, whilst we only saw the back of it, a leopard is always beautiful to see.

The rest of our tour continued in much the same way, we saw Rhinos, Ostriches, some single lady lionesses, a widowed Giraffe (ahhh, it’s like a zoo of lonely hearts), chimpanzees, and a boa constrictor eating a chicken, which was gross but also pretty cool.

By the time our tour is over its around 4 in the afternoon, and once again Sacha and I haven’t eaten lunch yet. Terrible really. Luckily for us we’ve looked in the guidebook and there is a place up the road that specialises in Internet, pizza, and cake. Currently our three favourite things. Also it sounds like the perfect opportunity to use a bathroom that isn’t the one provided at the zoo, so an all around winner really.